In exploring the origins of the Chin people, one cannot avoid examining a range of theories — even the most unconventional. Some local experts focus directly on the Ch’in (Qin) Dynasty of China (221–206 BCE), which unified the warring states, standardized writing, currency, and measurements, and laid the foundation for the Great Wall, leaving a profound legacy on Chinese civilization. Chin scholar Lian Sakhong reflects on this idea as follows (Chin is also known as Ch’iang or Ch’ing in some writings):
Gin Za Thang simply follows Than Tun’s and G. H. Luce’s theory of the origin of Tibeto-Burmans and other groups of humans, believed to be the ancestors of the Southeast Asian peoples. According to Professors Than Tun and Gordon Luce, [8] the Ch’iang were not just the ancestors of the Chin but of the entire Tibeto-Burman group, and they ‘enjoyed a civilization as advanced as the Chinese, who disturbed them so much that they moved south’ (Than Tun 1988: 3). Regarding this, Professor Gordon Luce says:
With the expansion of China, the Ch’iang had either the choice to be absorbed or to become nomads in the wilds. It was a hard choice, between liberty and civilization. Your ancestors chose liberty; and they must have gallantly maintained it. But the cost was heavy. It cost them 2000 years of progress. If the Ch’iang of 3000 BC were equals of the Chinese civilization, the Burmans [and the Chin] of 700 AD were not nearly as advanced as the Chinese in 1300 BC (Cited in Than Tun 1988: 4). — (Sakhong, n.d., para. 40-41)
Perhaps, this stands as a symbol of the legendary liberty of the Chin people.
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Ref: Sakhong, L.H. (n.d.). The Origin of the Chin. Chin Human Rights Organization. https://www.chinhumanrights.org/the-origin-of-the-chin/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
Eternal Agora 