Wa

There are about half a million Wa living in the isolated hills of northeast Myanmar (Burma). Up until the early 1970's, their tradition of inter-clan headhunting kept outsiders away and the Wa themselves fragmented. The communists, who dominated the area during 22 years of civil war with the government, curtailed the headhunting and gave them a greater sense of unity as a people. They also prohibited religious practice in favour of atheism, and left them weary, destitute, short of men and dependent on the opium trade to feed their people.

The Wa State is an unrecognised state in Myanmar. The name Wa derives from an ethnic group, who speaks a language in the Austroasiatic family of languages. Wa State is an undefined area that encloses eastern Shan State. Approximately 400,000 Wa live in China, mostly in the Yunnan Province.

Many of the Wa are animists, and a small proportion of the population follows a derivative of either Christianity or Buddhism. The Wa were once known as the Wild Wa for their "savage" behaviour as head hunters.