num_pages: 262
description: With their unusual boundary gates, annual Swing Festival and exotic costumes, the Akha are one of the most colorful mountain-dwelling peoples in Southeast Asia. Over the centuries they have developed a rich and complex culture that provides customs and behavioral rules for all of life's possible contingencies. Originating in China's Yunnan Province, the Akha spread into Vietnam, Laos, Burma and Thailand and in recent generations have been subjected to the vicissitudes of war, revolution and modernization. In spite of such pressures they have managed to maintain the basic values and tenets of a thousand-year-old tradition.
language: English
title: The Akha: Guardians of the Forest
titlecomplete: The Akha: Guardians of the Forest
ratings_count: 1
publisher: Teak House