Pa Chin: see Ba Jin.

Chin-hua, China: see Jinhua.

Chin Hills or Arakan Yoma, mountain range, W Myanmar, along the boundary between Myanmar and Assam, India. It rises to 10,018 ft (3,053 m) in Mt. Victoria. The range is covered with pine and teak forests. Chin State, (c.14,000 sq mi/36,260 sq km; 1983 pop. 368,949), a mountainous region dotted with small villages, is inhabited by the Chin tribes, a Tibeto-Burman people.

Chin, dynasty of China (265-420): see Tsin.

Mountainous region, northwestern Myanmar (Burma). Extending along the Indian border, it forms the central part of an arc that stretches from the Arakan Mountains to the Patkai Range. The Chin Hills vary from 7,000 to 10,000 ft (2,000 to 3,000 m) high. They and the arc are part of the north-south-trending mountain belt of Southeast Asia, which has hindered east-west movement; the region was populated by the Chin peoples from the north. It is a frontier zone between Myanmar and Indian cultures.

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or Shan-hsi conventional Shansi

Province (pop., 2002 est.: 32,940,000), northern China. It is bordered by Hebei, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces and Inner Mongolia. It has an area of 60,700 sq mi (157,100 sq km). The capital is Taiyuan. Largely a vast plateau covered by great loess deposits, it was the home of early Chinese agriculture. Most of the people are Han Chinese; other ethnic groups include Hui (Chinese Muslims), Mongols, and Manchus. Since ancient times it has been an integral part of the various northern kingdoms of China, serving as a buffer against invaders from the north and as a key trade route. It was one of the major avenues by which Buddhism came to China from India. After the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1911–12, the warlord Yan Xishan ruled as absolute dictator until the end of World War II. Japan occupied part of the province during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). Communist forces assumed control of Shanxi in 1949. It has vast reserves of coal and iron and the largest titanium and vanadium deposits in China and is a major producer of cotton.

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