Zou

The Zou people (Burmese: ဇိုလူမျိုး; also spelled Yo or Yaw or Jo or Jou ) are an indigenous community living along the frontier of India and Burma, they are a sub-group of the Zo people (Mizo-Kuki-Chin). In India, they live with and are similar in language and habits to the Paite and the Simte peoples. In Burma, the Zou are counted among the Chin people.They are a hill people , “Zou” may plainly means “Hills” denoting the Zous are “people of the hills” or “of the hills”, and “Zou” has also a different meaning in Zou language that is “complete” or another word for it is “finish”. But, the Zou people believed that they incepted the name ‘Zou’ from their forefather ‘Zou’ or ‘Zo’, believed to be the progenitor of the broad Chin-Kuki-Mizo people. The Zous can be found in different parts of India and also of the world.
In India, the Zou are officially recognized as one of the thirty-three indigenous peoples within the state of Manipur, and are one of the Scheduled tribes. According to the 2001 Census, the Zou/Jou population in Manipur is around 20,000, less than 3% of the population. The community is concentrated in Churachandpur and Chandel districts of Manipur in North-East India.