a Tai (Dai) people related to the Shan of Burma and the Lao of Laos, originally from southern China, which settle along the Salween river valley and the upland Shan Plateau; not a hill tribe, as the Shan inhabit the river valleys of the uplands.
The Shan (; ; ) are an ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Myanmar (sometimes known as Burma), but also inhabit portions of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent parts of China, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The Shan number approximately 6 million, but a population census has not been taken.