From Royal Courts to Rohingya Refugee Camps: Chinlone as Cultural Survival
- Rohingyatographer
- Oct 7
- 6 min read
Curated by Ayub Khan Dkl. Photography by Md Reaj Uddin, Md Ederis, Md Hossein, Mohammed Ismail Bin Nur, SR Reyes, Sahat Zia Hero and Ayub Khan Dkl
In the dusty courtyards of Cox's Bazar refugee camps, the rhythmic clicking of rattan against foot cuts through the air. It is the sound of Salloon Kela, the Rohingya name for Chinlone, Myanmar's ancient cane ball game. For the displaced Rohingya people, this 1,500-year-old tradition has become an act of cultural resistance.
When nearly 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2017, they carried little more than memories. Yet in the camps, something remarkable emerged—the revival of Chinlone as both cultural preservation and community healing.
Chinlone traces its origins over 1,500 years to the Pyu civilisation (200 BCE-900 AD), with archaeological evidence including a silver cane ball discovered at ancient pagodas. Originally conceived as royal entertainment, the game evolved into Myanmar's national sport by the 1950s.
In an extraordinary moment of early cinema, Chinlone was documented at London's Crystal Palace in July 1896. Lumière cameraman Alexandre Promio filmed Burmese performers demonstrating solo cane-ball routines as part of the "Burma in London" exhibition—creating one of the world's earliest moving images of the sport.
For the Rohingya of northern Arakan, Salloon Kela was deeply woven into community life—men, boys, and elders gathering in evening courtyards, maintaining their cultural connection to Myanmar's broader heritage even amid systematic exclusion.
"Chinlone is part of our Myanmar culture—even in the camp, it keeps us Rohingya connected to our roots," Salim says
Rohingya Chinlone follows two competitive formats (15 or 21 points) with minimal equipment: one net, two bamboo poles, and one cane ball. Teams consist of five players—three active, two reserve—with referees maintaining order.
The court spans 36 feet total, divided by an 18-foot net suspended 5 feet high between bamboo poles. Only feet, knees, and heads are permitted—hands result in point loss. The game begins with hand-passes to centre players, who must strike the ball across the net by foot.
Beyond competition exists Awaing (circle play), where players form circles passing the ball in meditative, artistic displays focused on unity rather than victory.
Under Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, systematic Chinlone tournaments have transformed refugee camps into spaces of cultural preservation. The innovative approach names teams after Arakan villages—Buthedaung, Maungdaw, Boli Bazar—making every match a moment of remembrance.
In Camp-27, sixteen teams from three blocks represent lost homelands: Block A honours northern townships, Block B celebrates southern Maungdaw villages, and Block C carries central region names. This structure ensures that each victory or defeat connects players to ancestral geography. For example, in Camp-27, a total of 16 teams were registered from three main blocks (A, B, and C):
Block A (5 teams)
1. A-1 (Buthedaung) — a township in northern Arakan State.
2. A-2 (Boli Bazar) — from a well-known village in the northern part of Maungdaw Township.
3. A-3 (Gozi Bill) — a village in northern Maungdaw.
4. A-4 (Nari Bil) — a village in northern Maungdaw Township.
5. A-5 (Nakkura) — a village in northern Maungdaw.
Block B (6 teams):
1. B-4 (Bagghona) — a village on the southern side of Maungdaw.
2. B-5 (Bordil) — another southern Maungdaw village.
3. B-6 (Hasshu Ratha) — a well-known ward in southern Maungdaw.
4. B-8 (Monnipara) — a village in central Maungdaw.
5. B-9 (Merulla) — a southern Maungdaw village.
6. B-10 (Shiddapara) — a village in central Maungdaw.
Block C (5 teams):
1. C-1 (Maungdaw) — named after the main township in northern Arakan.
2. C-2 (Raimmar Bil) — a village in northern Maungdaw.
3. C-3 (Kuinna Para) — from the southern part of Maungdaw.
4. C-8 (Shwezar) — a village in central Maungdaw.
5. C-10 (Etilia) — another village in central Maungdaw.
For the Rohingya, Chinlone serves as living proof of belonging to Myanmar's cultural heritage. In a context where the Myanmar government denies their very existence as indigenous people, every tournament becomes an act of cultural resistance.
The game serves multiple functions in exile: maintaining physical and mental wellbeing among traumatized populations, creating intergenerational knowledge transfer, and preserving the cultural thread connecting Rohingya to ancestral Arakan. As refugee camp tournaments continue and new generations learn the ancient rhythms, the Rohingya demonstrate that cultural identity survives displacement.
The RRRC's innovative tournament structure—naming teams after lost villages—creates powerful spaces of memory and belonging. Through sport, the community maintains connection to homeland while building resilience in exile.
As one young player expressed: "We may have lost our land, but not our game—it's part of who we are". In the rhythm of Salloon Kela, the Rohingya rediscover what exile cannot erase—their unbreakable connection to home.
