A longyi (; ) is a sheet of cloth widely worn in Myanmar (Burma). It is approximately long and wide. The cloth is often sewn into a cylindrical shape. It is worn around the waist, running to the feet, and held in place by folding fabric over without a knot. In ancient times, lethwei fighters would hitch it up (paso hkadaung kyaik) to compete. This folding technique is still being used in modern days when people play chinlone.
History
thumb|A man wearing taungshay paso in the late 1800s
The modern longyi, a single piece of cylindrical cloth, is a relatively recent introduction to Burma. It gained popularity during British colonial rule, effectively replacing the paso and htamein of precolonial times. The word longyi formerly referred to the sarong worn by Malay men.
In the precolonial era, men's pasos used to be a long piece of called taungshay paso () and unsewn. Alternately the htamein was a long piece of cloth open at the front to reveal the calves, with a dark strip of cotton or velvet sewn on the upper edge, a patterned sheet of cloth in the middle and a strip of red or white cloth sewn below, trailing on the bottom like a short train. Paso was commonly worn by men in 19th century Burma and Thailand. The amount of cloth in the paso was a sign of social status.]]
thumb|A woman dressed in the old htamein style prevalent until the 1900s
A western visitor to Rangoon in the 19th century wrote:
thumb|A 19th-century watercolor depicting longyi merchants
Visiting Amarapura, Henry Yule described the pasos and their equivalent for women, the htameins, as "the most important article of local production", employing a large proportion of the local population. The silk was imported from China. He wrote: