Long-Necked Paduang (or Padong) Tribes

The Paduang are a sub-group of the Shan, who aren't entirely considered minorities as they have always occupied the areas of Northwest Thailand and the Shan states of Myanmar. The Shan speak a dialect similar to Thai and are even known as Thai Yai, having been assimilated into Thai culture.

There are pockets of Paduang around Mae Hong Son. The Paduang attract many curious visitors on account of their long-necked women. A tradition of beautifying women by adding brass rings to their necks has been preserved largely for generating tourism. Although the neck appears cruelly elongated, it is the collarbone which has been displaced rather than the stretching and weakening of the neck.

Some said that the custom might have come to prevent the women to leave the village and marry in other tribes, or to be taken as slaves by the Burmans, as the collar made them ugly to other tribes. The Pa Dong being a small tribe, women are not allowed to marry outside the tribe. But when asked the oldest Long-necked woman, 74 years old, who wore the ring since she was five, all she could say is that it was the tradition. And tradition is the reason that all the women we spoke with, gave us.

The neck-ring is not, as often believed, made of an accumulation of rings through the years, but of a brass spiral which is changed for a longer one when the child grows. It does not lengthen the neck, but pushes down the ribs. The spiral can be taken out without real danger.