Rongmei Origin Traced to China, Not Manipur: Historical and Scholarly Insights

The Ancestral Land of the Rongmeis is CHINA and not Manipur as they claimed who entered Manipur during late 1880s

In the series of migration, the Rongmeis also settled in the present day Pherzawl and Churachandpur for sometime and further migrated to LAIJANG, the Chieftaindom of TINTONG HAOKIP and JAMPI Chieftaindom of KHOTINTHANG SITLHOU which were located in the present day Tamenglong. Some other adventurous group migrated upto ASSAM in the present day Nagaland and Assam.

"The Rongmei (Kabuis) migrated from the Fugian province of China" - Dindai Gangmei 

"The Rongmeis (Miruang/ Milong) settled in the present day Mizoram during the 17th and 18th centuries "- (Liangkhaia, B. Lalthangliana).

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Origin and Migration of Rongmei (Kabui): A Naga Tribe of Manipur.

By:

Gaidimlung Phaomei

Research Scholar, Department of History

Panjab University,

Chandigarh.160014

" ......The three sub-tribes namely Zemei, Liangmei and Rongmei shared a common belief that they originally emerged out of a cave (Kabui, 2008:12). The first man who came out of the cave was called “Pokrei” and the woman was called “Dichalu”.

The ethnic groups of Manipur namely, Meities, Nagas, Kuki-Chin and other communities are believed to be the descendants of those migrating people (Golmei, 2004:15). Dindai Gangmei also state that the Rongmei migrated from the Fujian Province of China. He explained that Fujian was earlier known as Minhow or Mahow. He claimed that migration began from Mahow, Taubhei and then travelled through Vietnam and Cambodia Sarawak along the shore of South China sea and then entered Chiangmai in Thailand, treaded through a tract of land between Shan state and Karen state in Myanmar, and Yunan Province and then finally at Makhel in Manipur. He also claimed that the Rongmei joined the groups who fled from the forced labour during the construction of the Great Wall of China (Gangmei, 2008:1-5). B. S Guha says, ethnically, the Rongmei belong to Mongoloid, a group of the southern mongoloids who migrated southwards across the Himalayas in the pre-historic period to Northeast India and Southeast Asia. 

Makhel was a point of migration during their migration from South West China to Burma (Myanmar) and island southeast Asia, and then North ward movement back to Manipur, then to north Manipur before branching out to their respective tribal habitats (cited in Budha Kamei, 2015). B. Pemberton wrote, “The Muneepoorees (Meiteis) of the present day are the descendants from a Tartar colony of China” (Pemberton, 1835:36). It is a well known historical fact that Manipur is one of the routes between South Asia and South East Asia and Central Asia. Various ethnic groups belonging to southern Mongoloid group, the Tibeto-Burmans, and a sizable section of Tai (Shans) came to Manipur from pre-historic times down to the present day.The present ethnic groups of Manipur, viz., the Meiteis, the Nagas, and the Kuki-Chins are the descendants of those migrating people.....".

Reproduced by:

Kuki Reformation Forum (KReF)

19th July, 2025

Courtesy: 

World Kuki-Zo Intellectual Council (WKZIC)-GHQ.

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