Editing Longyi (section)

==History==

[[File:Burmese man.jpg|thumb|A man wearing ''taungshay paso'' in the late 1800s]]

The modern ''longyi'', a single piece of cylindrical cloth, is a relatively recent introduction to Burma. It gained popularity during British [[colonial rule]], effectively replacing the '''''paso''''' and '''''htamein''''' of precolonial times.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thant Myint-U|title=The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma|publisher=Macmillan|year=2008|pages=182|isbn=9780374531164}}</ref> The word ''longyi'' formerly referred to the [[sarong]] worn by [[Ethnic Malays|Malay]] men.<ref name="judson">{{cite book|last=Judson|first=Adinoram|title=Judson's Burmese-English dictionary|publisher=Government of Burma|year=1893}}</ref>

In the precolonial era, men's pasos used to be a long piece of {{convert|30|ft}} called ''taungshay paso'' ({{lang|my|တောင်ရှည်ပုဆိုး}}) and unsewn. Alternately the ''htamein'' was a {{convert|4.5|ft}} long piece of cloth open at the front to reveal the calves, with a dark strip of cotton or velvet sewn on the upper edge, a patterned sheet of cloth in the middle and a strip of red or white cloth sewn below, trailing on the bottom like shorts [[Train (clothing)|train]].<ref name="ferrars">{{cite book|last=Ferrars|first=Max|author2=Bertha Ferrars |title=Burma|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.279758|publisher=S. Low, Marston and Company|year=1900}}</ref><ref name="ind">{{cite book|title=Imperial gazetteer of India|publisher=Superintendent of Government Printing|year=1908|volume=10|pages=46}}</ref> Paso was commonly worn by men in 19th century Burma and Thailand.<ref name="Yule1858" /><ref name=bowie>{{cite journal|last1=Bowie|first1=Katherine A.|title=Assessing the Early Observers: Cloth and the Fabric of Society in 19th-Century Northern Thai Kingdoms|journal=American Ethnologist|date=February 1993|volume=20|issue=3|pages=138–158|jstor=645416|doi=10.1525/ae.1993.20.1.02a00070}}</ref> The amount of cloth in the paso was a sign of social status.<ref name=bowie />

[[File:Burmese SPDC members greet Abhisit Vejjajiva.jpg|thumb|left|In an October 2010 state visit, Burmese [[State Peace and Development Council]] members greeted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva in ''[[acheik]]''-patterned longyi typically worn by women. Observers attributed this to ''[[yadaya]]'' practices.<ref>{{cite news |title=Why Did Burma's Leader Appear on TV in Women's Clothes? |first=Robert |last=Horn |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053563,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301022607/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2053563,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 1, 2011 |newspaper=TIME |date=2011-02-24 |access-date=8 March 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Than Shwe Skirts the Issue |author=WAI MOE |url=http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/opinion_story.php?art_id=20782 |newspaper=The Irrawaddy |date=2011-02-17 |access-date=8 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314131826/http://www.irrawaddymedia.com/opinion_story.php?art_id=20782 |archive-date=14 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>]]

[[File:Burman lady.jpg|thumb|A woman dressed in the old ''htamein'' style prevalent until the 1900s]]

A western visitor to [[Rangoon]] in the 19th century wrote:
{{quote|Nearly all the men are naked to the waist, or wear a small white open linen jacket, with a voluminous ''putso'' [paso] wound tightly round their loins and gathered into a great bundle or knot in front.<ref name="BrasseyBroome2010">{{cite book|author1=Annie Brassey|author2=Mary Anne Broome|title=The Last Voyage, to India and Australia, in the Sunbeam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vvn3Pt0HyzEC&pg=PA121|date=23 December 2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-02471-6|pages=121}}</ref>}}

[[File:Bodleian Ms. Burm. a. 5 fol 134.jpg|thumb|A 19th-century watercolor depicting ''longyi'' merchants]]

Visiting [[Amarapura]], [[Henry Yule]] described the pasos and their equivalent for women, the htameins, as "the most important article of local production", employing a large proportion of the local population. The silk was imported from China.<ref name="Yule1858">{{cite book|author=Sir Henry Yule|title=A narrative of the mission sent by the governor-general of India to the court of Ava in 1855: with notices of the country, government, and people|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeofmissi00yulerich|year=1858|publisher=Smith, Elder and co.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeofmissi00yulerich/page/n203 154]}}</ref> He wrote:

{{quote|The putso piece is usually from nine to ten yards long. When made up for use the length of web is cut in halves, which are stitched together so as to give double width. It is girt round the waist without any fastening.<ref name="Yule1858" />}}

However, with the onset of colonial rule, [[Lower Burma]] and urban areas more readily adopted the ''longyi'' worn in the Malay and Indian style, which was considered more convenient to wear.<ref name="ferrars"/><ref name="ind"/>