Stock photography, photos: Longneck Girl Weaving - Thailand Stock photos of A young Longneck girl weaving. The „Longneck‰ Paduang women put brass rings around their necks in the belief it makes them more beautiful. This distorts the growth of the collarbone and makes them look as if they have long necks. This row of brass rings doesn‚t actually stretch the neck, but in fact compresses the vertebrae and collar bones. An adult woman generally has twenty or more rings around her neck. This neck ring adornment is started when the girls are 5 or 6 years old. The Paduang are a sub-group of Karen (Bwe Group) living in Kayah state of eastern Burma on the Thailand border. Their number is less than 40,000 people. The Paduang call themselves Lae Kur or Kayan. They have their own language belonging to the Kenmic group in the Tibeto-Burman language family. The Karen themselves are not one homogeneous group but rather a loose confederation of heterogeneous and closely related tribes. Among the smallest Karen tribes in Thailand are the Karen Paduang. Village of Ban Nam Phiang Din ˆ Northwest Thailand. Photograph: © Robert Burch Click for a larger image and more information Keywords associated with this stock photo: longneck, women, girl, woman, indigenous people, Thailand, southeast asia, asia, mae hong son, Karen, paduang, portrait, ban nam Phiang Din