Shan State
Shan State (ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, pronounced: [ʃáɴ pjìnɛ̀]; Shan: မိူင်းတႆး [mə́ŋ.táj]; Thai: รัฐฉาน) is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China to the north, Laos to the east, and Thailand to the south, and five administrative divisions of Burma in the west. Largest of the 14 administrative divisions by land area, Shan State covers 155,800 km², almost a quarter of the total area of Burma. The state gets its name from the Shan people, one of several ethnic groups that inhabit the area. Shan State is largely rural, with only three cities of significant size: Lashio, Kengtung, and the capital, Taunggyi. Taungyyi is 150.7 km north east of the nation's capital Naypyitaw.
Shan State, with many ethnic groups, is home to several armed ethnic armies. While the military government has signed ceasefire agreements with most groups, vast areas of the state, especially those east of the Thanlwin river, remain outside the central government's control, and in recent years have come under heavy ethnic-Chinese economic and political influence. Other areas are under the control of military groups such as the Shan State Army.
Muse, Burma
Muse (Burmese: မူဆယ်, pronounced: [mùsʰɛ̀]) is the principal town of Muse Township also spelled as Mu Se Township in northern Shan State, Myanmar. It is situated on the Shweli River, and is connected by a bridge and road to Ruili (Shweli, [ʃwèlì], in Burmese) in Yunnan Province, China.
History
The old bridge dubbed the "Gun Bridge" by the locals on account of the frequent traffic of armaments from China to the military government of Burma was closed in 2005, replaced by a new bridge with a wider span and parallel to it.
Since 2014 the governments of Myanmar and China are seeking to resolve a border dispute in the area of Namkham and Muse.
Transport
Muse is today connected to Mandalay via Lashio by the National Highway 3 450 km Asian Highway route 14 (AH14), The old Burma Road links the new road to Bhamo in Kachin State which links to the Ledo Road. Mandalay-Lashio-Muse Road included part of the Burma Road and was rebuilt and upgraded for heavy traffic in 1998 on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis (BOT) by the Asia World Company headed by the son of the former opium warlord Lo Hsing Han. It has cut the journey time from 2 days, even a week in the rainy season, to just 12–16 hours. Muse is also connected to central Burma via the Mandalay-Lashio Northern Shan State Railway.
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