There are already hundred thousand Myanmar refugee living in Thailand already, but you didn't see even a thousand of them flock to BD; rest assured in times of crisis,they will flock to Thailand or China , they never see BD as an option.
Their attire during folk dance is quite distinct when compared.
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But years of evolution makes people distinct, Kachin people look like they are made for survival in Hill ,Meitei people are plain people that is part of the hills,it sounds confusing ,but meitei and rest of ethnic people are divided like this ,hill - valley
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Though the plains of valley itself is part of a large elevated land mass,so you feel the elevation even in valley
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Unlike other NE people,Meitei are distinct valley people,to them living in hills where there's lack of arable land,free flowing source of water,and ease of logistics is incomprehensible.
Hence even after conquering Nagaland the king of manipur left by stamping his footprint in the capital of nagaland.
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Also due to being valley specific ethnicity ,they developed physically more,mountain people tends to be more smaller in general be it sherpa in tibet/nepal in gurkha nepak or any other groups.A smaller frame probably helps in climbing and burn less energy during trekking.
Myanmar would develop more if only external forces stopped funding ethnic tentions. Kachin ethnicity has had ties with the western shills rather than china imo. But regarding burma, meitei still lament the how the british carved up resource rich Barak valley from Manipur.Myanmar also took their best artisans during war and caused destruction of many ancient edifices.The prized teak that were used for building many of the Myanmar temples and palaces were sourced from Barak.It's also rich in minerals.Small Meitei community had to be very ingenious & effective to survive bordering SEA's largest empire.Without Meitrabak buffer ,NE would likely have been swallowed by Myanmar and also parts of Bangladesh.