It  is  difficult  to  get  at  the  exact  extent  of  Mongol-
Chinese  suzerainty  and  fiddling  in  the  Shan  states  and
Burma.  There  is  little  reason  for  supposing  that  the
Chinese  ever  regarded  this  outlying  region  as  other  than  a
sort  of  Mongolian  frontier  or  Tibetan  hinterland,  as  buffer
states  "  to  prevent  injury  from  violent  contact,"  over  which
they  exercised  or  aimed  to  exercise  merely  nominal  control,
even  though  they  took  some  part  and  had  to  take  some  part
in  the  affairs  of  both  Shans  and  Burmans.  Sometimes  they
came  down  with  an  army,  like  a  stern  father  with  a  horse-
whip administering  healthful  disciphne  on  his  truculent
children.  It  may  be  granted  that  Pagan  was  sacked  with
the  sanction  and  aid  of  the  Chinese,  and  that  then  or  a  little
later  the  Chinese  took  a  hand  in  "  comforting  "  the  country
and  arranging  for  tribute.  The  latter  seems  never  to  have
been  very  large,  and  is  never  even  mentioned  by  the  Shans.
