Bulang

The Bulang are isolated in a handful of counties in the far south west corner of Yunnan Province. This places them mostly on the border of Myanmar.

For centuries the Bulang have been followers of Buddhism, and it is ingrained as part of the Bulang identity. Most young men will serve as monks during their lives. They are followers of the Theravada branch of Buddhism. The Bulang, along with the Dai, are one of only a very small number of groups that follow this branch of the Buddhist religion. This sets them apart from the vast majority of Buddhists in China. Theravada Buddhism is far more common in neighboring countries like Laos, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Though it’s believed that there are might be as many as 50 Christians among the Bulang, this is the result of evangelistic activity before 1949, and very little work has been done since then. Though there is an effort to translate the scriptures into the Bulang language, this is being done in Thailand for the Bulang living there, and the population in China will not be able to read the script.

Pray for open doors to establish a presence among the Bulang, and for the availability of scripture in a script they can read.