In recent years researchers have determined that Dim is a distinct people group with a vernacular differing from standard Tedim. Today, “Tedim” is often used as a label for all Chin groups in northern Chin State, which number more than 250,000 people. This makes the term more regional than specific to a particular ethnic group.
Location: The little-known 2,500 Dim people inhabit two small areas of northern Chin State in western Myanmar. Their main area is north of Tedim Township, including the villages of Tungzang and Laitui; while two additional villages, Dimpi and Dimlo, are located south of the township. Dim people also live in the towns of Tedim and Tonzang, as well as in several ethnically-mixed villages. The Dim territory is bordered by five other Chin language groups, which have been profiled individually in this book: Tedim, Saizang, Teizang, Khuano, and Vangteh.
Language: Dim is considered a dialect of the larger Tedim Chin language. In 1902, a religious leader named Paucinhau created a unique script consisting of 1,050 symbols. The script was extremely popular with the Tedim people, as having their own written language gave them a sense of worth. By the time many Tedim Chin people began to embrace Christianity in the 1950s, the Paucinhau script had faded into obscurity and was replaced by the Tedim Chin Bible, which uses Roman characters.
The name "Tedim" was derived from a pool in the hills that used to twinkle in the sunlight. It was called te-dim (twinkling) in the local language. For centuries the people groups in this part of the country engaged in inter-tribal warfare and slave taking. After guns became common in the 19th century, raids caused the deaths of thousands of villagers. Burmese people were often the main targets when the Chin wanted more slaves.
The extent of the slave trade in the Tedim area can be seen in this 1896 report by a British officer: “It is true that a man has the same right to kill or sell his slave as his dog, and that a chief uses his female slaves as concubines if he wishes to do so…. The northern Chins armed themselves with guns with the proceeds of their Burman slave traffic, and the extent to which the traffic was worked is explained by the fact that in the past five years we have recovered some 700 slaves from the northern Chin alone.”
For countless generations, the Dim and other Chin groups in the Tedim area were animists. In the late 19th century, a man named Paucinhau started to have dreams and visions and uttered prophesies. A sect called Paucinhauism, or Lawki, emerged and spread like wildfire. By the time the first missionaries, Arthur and Laura Carson, baptized their first Chin convert near Tedim in May 1905, tens of thousands of people in the area were already zealous followers of Paucinhau’s teachings. The people loved to drink alcoholic beverages called zu at their traditional feasts, but the Baptists prohibited drinking, which slowed the growth of Christianity in the Tedim area for decades.
Heaven-sent revival first swept through the Tedim area in the late 1960s, birthing a people movement as various tribes in the area, including the Dim, experienced forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ. It was said: “The revival wave soon covered the whole country…. Services were simple. Someone might recite a portion of the Gospel he had heard or read somewhere, prayers were offered, and the meeting was given over to the singing of hymns. As the people were filled with happiness, services could even last a whole night.”3 Today, practically all Dim Chin people are Christians, apart from a small number of Buddhists and animists. Since 1977, the Dim Chin believers have used the Tedim Chin Bible and other Gospel resources.
Scripture Prayers for the Dim in Myanmar (Burma).
| Profile Source: Asia Harvest |
