Modern technology is helping keep Shan tradition alive... "When Sai Lek, an ethnic Shan living in Chiang Mai, bought his first mobile phone—an outdated, oversized Nokia—he wasn?t too bothered about it being cutting edge. Practicality was the key: if life in Burma can go on without a mobile phone, it?s a different story in Thailand, where mobile communication is not just de rigueur, it?s a way of life. So, it was something of an irony to discover that this portable symbol of freedom and prosperity could actually be used as a tool to preserve, of all things, Shan identity. While the default languages on Sai Lek?s phone were the standard Thai and English, he soon discovered that by using the drawing function, he could reproduce the entire Shan alphabet..."