145-686: The Kuomintang in Burma ( Chinese : 泰緬孤軍 ; pinyin : Tàimiǎn gū jūn ; Wade–Giles : T‘ai-mien ku chün ) or Kuomintang in the Golden Triangle , which was officially known as the Yunnan Province Anti-Communist National Salvation Army ( Chinese : 雲南反共救國軍 ; pinyin : Yúnnán fǎngòng jìuguó jūn ; Wade–Giles : Yün-nan Fan-kung Chiu-kuo Chün ) were troops of the Republic of China Army loyal to
290-465: A longyi , and booked a train to Rangoon using a pseudonym. Within weeks he had recruited thirty of his old revolutionary colleagues and smuggled them out of the country via Japanese intelligence networks. These " Thirty Comrades " were taken to the Japanese-occupied island of Hainan for further training. Aung San was twenty-five, the third-oldest of the group. While training on Hainan all thirty of
435-584: A retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
580-678: A Four-Nation Military Commission (Burma, the United States, the Republic of China, and Thailand) to negotiate the KMT withdrawal. On 30 May 1954, General Li Mi announced the dissolution of the Yunnan Province Anti-Communist National Salvation Army. However, 6,000 irregular KMT troops remained in Burma. Fighting continued sporadically from the irregular troops until coordinated military operations from 1960 to 1961 between
725-627: A base of operations and the KMT troops as a nucleus for an invasion army. Indeed, China's policies in the early 1950s justified Burma's anxieties. First, Communist China's promulgation and subsequent creation of an autonomous state for the Chinese Shans was an apparent attempt to foster separatist tendencies of the Burmese Shans and attract them to China. Second, since its victory in the Chinese civil war, Communist China had been giving advice and supplies to
870-503: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
1015-613: A colonel and put in charge of the force. He was later invited back to Japan, and was presented with the Order of the Rising Sun by Emperor Hirohito . On 1 August 1943, the Japanese held an independence ceremony in Rangoon, in which they formally granted Burma independence on condition that it would be under a wartime administration for the duration of the war. Burma was also required to declare war on
1160-658: A good impression in the meeting. World War II ended on 12 September 1945. Following the end of the war the Burma National Army was renamed the Patriotic Burmese Forces (PBF), and then gradually disarmed by the British as the Japanese were driven out of various parts of the country. The leaders of the Patriotic Burmese Forces, while disbanded, were offered positions in the Burma Army under British command according to
1305-529: A heavy tax on the opium farmers. This forced the farmers to increase their production to make ends meet. One American missionary to the Lahu tribesmen of Kengtung State even testifies to the torture the KMT committed to the Lahu for failing to comply with their regulations. The annual production increased twenty-fold from 30 tons at the time of Burmese independence to 600 tons in the mid-1950s. The KMT troops were, in effect,
1450-789: A law degree. His intention at the time was to "take a shot at the examinations for the Indian Civil Service ... and go into politics". Along with other student leaders he founded the All Burma Student Union (later known as All Burma Federation of Student Unions ) in 1937, in which he was elected general secretary. In 1938 he became the president of both the All Burma Student Union and the Rangoon University Student Union, but his pursuit of these commitments did not leave him enough time to study, and he failed his examination in 1938. After 1938 he resolved to abandon
1595-525: A lawyer, instead focusing on doing business. U Phar died at the age of 51, when Aung San was in 8th grade. Aung San's paternal grandmother was Daw Thu Sa, whose family traced their lineage from the royal family of the Pagan Kingdom through its last king, Narathihapate . Daw Thu Sa had several cousins who had worked within the government of the last Burmese kingdom . One of her cousins, Bo Min Yaung , had been
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#17328447996991740-578: A month in China. The KMT made two more abortive attempts in July 1951 and August 1952 that took heavy casualties, after which they never invaded Yunnan again and instead "settled along the border to gather intelligence and monitor signs of a possible Communist Chinese advance into Southeast Asia." The United States supported the KMT army, which strained the Burma-United States relationship and raised protests from
1885-488: A neutralist policy in order to avoid antagonizing either the pro-Western minorities or the pro-Soviet or pro-Chinese communists. On the other hand, Burma was located between neutral India to the west, Communist China to the north, and war-torn Laos and pro-West Thailand to the east. Situated in the middle of these states with differing ideologies and deep antagonisms, this made it necessary for Burma to maintain friendly terms with all of them. The Burmese government feared that
2030-456: A powerful Thai police commander and client of the CIA, General Phao Sriyanond , who shipped the opium from Chiang Mai to Bangkok for both local consumption and export. The intrusion of KMT troops into Burma posed serious problems of internal and external security for the newly independent country. Internally, the KMT's overtures to the local insurgents exacerbated the existing civil conflict between
2175-845: A press conference during a stopover in Delhi , while on the way to meet Attlee in London, he stated that the Burmese wanted "complete independence" and not dominion status , and that they had "no inhibitions of any kind" about "contemplating a violent or non-violent struggle or both" in order to achieve it. He concluded that he hoped for the best, but was prepared for the worst. He arrived in Britain by air in January 1947 along with his deputy Tin Tut , who he considered his brightest official. Attlee and Aung San signed their agreement on
2320-737: A secret meeting in Bago between the Burma National Army, the Communist Party of Burma, and the People's Revolutionary Party (which later reformed into the Burma Socialist Party). After this meeting, Aung San's forces began to secretly store supplies in preparation of their fight against the Japanese. In late March 1945, as Allied forces advanced towards Rangoon, Aung San led the BNA in a parade in front of Government House in Rangoon, after which they were sent by
2465-491: A similar organization, alternatively known as either the "People's Revolutionary Party" or the "Burma Revolutionary Party". This party was Marxist, formed with the goal of supporting Burmese independence against the British. It survived and was reformed into the Burma Socialist Party following World War II . Aung San was not paid for most of his work as a student or political leader, and lived for most of this time in
2610-477: A single army jeep carrying gunmen in military fatigues drove into the courtyard of the Secretariat Building , where Aung San was having a meeting with his new cabinet. There was no wall or gate protecting the government building, and although Aung San had been warned that someone may have been plotting to kill him the sentries guarding the building did not challenge or stop the car in any way. Four men from
2755-535: A social philosophy based on the "standardization of human life". Aung San later became friends with U Thant through their mutual friendship with U Nu . After Aung San entered Rangoon University in 1933, he quickly became a student leader. He was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students' Union (RUSU). He then became editor of the RUSU's magazine Oway (Peacock's Call). Aung San
2900-482: A source of international embarrassment for the United States" that it initiated a Four-Nation Military Commission (Burma, the United States, the Republic of China, and Thailand) in Bangkok on 22 May to negotiate the KMT withdrawal. After months of negotiations and recalcitrance from the KMT, the three-phase withdrawal finally took place on 7 November and continued into December 1953. The second and third phases were conducted
3045-553: A state of poverty. He was recognized by his peers for his strong work ethic and organizational skills, but was sometimes criticized by them for having poor public relations skills or for a perceived arrogance. He never drank alcohol and abstained from romantic relationships. Following the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Aung San helped to found another nationalist organization, the Freedom Bloc , by forming an alliance between
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#17328447996993190-512: A strategy of pursuing Burmese independence by staging countrywide strikes, anti-tax drives, and guerrilla insurgency. In August 1939, Aung San became a founding member and the first Secretary General of the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Aung San later claimed that his relationship with the CPB was not smooth, since he joined and left the party twice. Shortly after founding the CPB, Aung San founded
3335-593: A week. By late 1951, the KMT repaired the old airstrip at Mong Hsat constructed by the Allied forces during World War II . The enlarged airstrip could handle large four-engine aircraft and allowed the KMT troops to obtain newly manufactured American weapons from Taiwan . CIA advisers also accompanied the KMT army in the Yunnan invasion in May 1951, and some of them were killed during the offensive. When KMT guerillas retreated into Kokang,
3480-594: A year of independence as the ethnic insurgents (the Karen, Mon and Karenni) as well as the Communists resorted to arms against the government. Gradually, the Burmese Army strengthened and managed to eliminate almost all pockets of resistance. By 1950, many insurgents surrendered to the government during periods of amnesty. The success of the Burmese Army was due largely to its advantage over the rebels in arms and discipline. While
3625-850: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
3770-642: Is based on the true story of the KMT's experience in Burma's border and invasion attempts in Yunnan Province. Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until
3915-483: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
4060-461: The 1947 Burmese general election , but he and most of his cabinet were assassinated shortly before the country became independent. Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi , is a stateswoman, politician, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. She was Burma's State Counsellor and its 20th (and first female) Minister of Foreign Affairs in Win Myint 's Cabinet until the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état . Aung San
4205-474: The Blue Print for a Free Burma was drafted. This document has been attributed to Aung San, though its authorship is disputed. In February 1941 Aung San, working with Japanese intelligence, left Hla Myaing in Bangkok and secretly re-entered Burma and began efforts to contact and recruit additional Burmese agents to work with the Japanese. He entered the colony secretly through the port of Bassein , changed into
4350-538: The British Raj , following the brief Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885, Bo Min Yaung became angry, and made up his mind to resist the British. The rebellion failed. After his refusal to surrender, he was captured and executed by the British. Some sources have reported Bo Min Yaung's relationship to Aung San differently, claiming that he was Aung San's paternal grandfather, rather than his paternal grandmother's cousin. For his work towards Burmese independence and uniting
4495-461: The Dobama Asiayone declared its intention to use force in order to overturn the government, leading the authorities to crack down on the organization. On 23 January Police raided their headquarters at Shwedagon Pagoda , arrested Aung San, and held him in prison for fifteen days on charges of conspiracy to overthrow the government, but these charges were dropped. Upon his release Aung San proposed
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4640-610: The Kandy conference agreement with Lord Louis Mountbatten in Ceylon in September 1945. Aung San was not invited to negotiate, since the British Governor General, Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith , was debating whether he should be put on trial for his role in the public execution of a Muslim headman in Thaton during the war. Aung San was never tried or faced any consequence for the execution of
4785-518: The Kensiu language . Aung San Bogyoke Aung San ( Burmese : ဗိုလ်ချုပ် အောင်ဆန်း ; MLCTS : aung hcan: , pronounced [àʊɰ̃ sʰáɰ̃] ; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar 's struggle for independence from British rule , but he was assassinated just six months before his goal
4930-644: The Kuomintang that fled from China to Burma in 1950 after their defeat by the Chinese communists in the Chinese Civil War . They were commanded by Lieutenant-General Li Mi . It attempted several incursions into Yunnan in the early 1950s, only to be pushed back into Burma each time by the People's Liberation Army . The entire campaign, with logistical support from the Republic of China which had retreated to Taiwan ,
5075-562: The Mon and Arakanese did not even have any separate political representation. The ethnic Burman majority in the central plains were also split by political ideology. Like the Communist parties in Vietnam and Malaya , the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) acquired a high degree of organizational strength and popularity from its anti-Japanese efforts. Furthermore, the People's Volunteer Organization (PVO),
5220-622: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
5365-526: The United States , and Thailand , was controversial from the start, as it weakened Burmese sovereignty and introduced the KMT's involvement in the region's lucrative opium trade. In 1953, the frustrated Burmese government appealed to the United Nations and put international pressure on the Republic of China to withdraw its troops to Taiwan the following year. As a result, the United States initiated
5510-464: The minister of trade , was Aung San's older brother. Mahn Ba Khaing , the minister of industry , was one of the few Karen politicians not to have boycotted involvement in the new government. Sao Sam Htun , the minister of the Hill Regions, was a Shan prince who had taken an active lead in convincing the other ethnic minorities to join Burma in becoming independent. Ohn Maung was a deputy minister in
5655-452: The thwe thauk ("blood drinking") ceremony, a tradition inherited from the Burmese aristocracy. The participants collected their blood from a cut in their arms, mixing the participants' blood together with alcohol in a silver bowl, and drinking it while pledging eternal comradeship and loyalty. Three days later the BIA entered Burma behind the invading Japanese Fifteenth Army . The BIA left most of
5800-519: The 1947 Constitution and the rights of the Shan and Karenni states to secede. According to Mary Callahan (2003), the KMT crisis presented a formidable threat to Burma's sovereignty and proved to be a catalyst that forced the Burmese Army's institutionalization, turning it from a band of guerilla fighters into a professional army. Callahan argues that the Burmese Army's transformation gave it enormous autonomy and authority to define who were citizens and enemies in
5945-578: The 93rd Division and their descendants have since formed several communities in Thailand , most notably Santikhiri in Chiang Rai Province. The escape of the KMT and their dependents from Yunnan Province to Burma has been given a sympathetic portrayal in A Home Too Far , a 1990 Taiwanese war drama film directed by Kevin Chu starring Andy Lau and Tou Chung-hua . It is based on a novel by Bo Yang , which
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6090-492: The Allies. The Japanese had planned to make Aung San the leader of the country, but in the end they were more impressed with Dr. Ba Maw, and made him the leader instead, giving him virtually dictatorial control under their direction. Aung San was made the second most powerful person in the government. The government was modelled after Japan, and intentionally eschewed democratic principles and patterns of government. The army, still under
6235-620: The British parliament as soon as possible; and Britain would nominate Burma's entrance into the newly founded United Nations . The agreement was not unanimous: two other delegates who attended the conference, U Saw and Thakin Ba Sein, refused to sign it, and it was denounced in Burma by Aung San's critics, including Than Tun and Thakin Soe . No delegates representing Burma's ethnic minorities were present, and both Karen and Shan leaders sent messages warning that they would not consider any agreement signed at
6380-472: The Burmese Army conducted a series of successful military operations in 1960–1961 that finally "broke the back" of the KMT irregulars. Furthermore, on 15 February 1961, the Burmese Army managed to down and capture a patrol plane that attempted to drop supplies on the KMT. That incident provided the Burmese government concrete evidence that Taiwan had been supplying the KMT guerillas with military supplies of American origin. The diplomatic crisis that ensued prompted
6525-596: The Burmese Communists and allowed them to use Chinese territory as a military and political training center. Third, China displayed its belligerence in Yunnan Province by amassing an estimated 200,000 troops, as well as building and repairing roads that led to Burma. Finally, Communist China made claims on territories on the 1,500 mile Sino-Burmese border that both sides had yet to officially demarcate. Fortunately, despite China's militancy, Burma's fears did not materialize as Beijing acted with restraint toward Burma during
6670-559: The Burmese government and the ethnic and Communist insurgents. Starting in late 1951, the KMT made contacts and formed a loose alliance with the Karen National Defense Organization (KNDO), the largest of the still active indigenous insurgent groups. A combination of factors made the KMT-KNDO alliance useful for both groups. Both were aligned in their disagreement with the neutralist foreign policy of Burma and both looked to
6815-471: The Burmese government demanded that the KMT either surrender or leave Burma immediately. The KMT field commander who received the Burmese request not only refused to comply but declared that the KMT troops had no intention of either surrendering or leaving the area, and would retaliate with force if the Burmese Army initiated military action. In response, the Burmese Army launched a drive from Kengtung City and captured Tachilek within weeks. Forced out of Tachilek,
6960-404: The Burmese government following the Japanese conquest of the territory. Between November and December 1941 Aung San and his party were successful in recruiting approximately 3,500 Burmese volunteers from the Siam-Burma border to serve in their army. On 28 December 1941, Aung San and the rest of the Thirty Comrades formally inaugurated the Burma Independence Army in Bangkok . The event involved
7105-408: The Burmese government obtained the assistance of Olive Yang and the Kokang Kakweye to force the Kuomintang forces out of Kokang. Yang and the Kokang Kakweye succeeded in 1953, but then collaborated with the Kuomintang in trafficking opium to Thailand throughout the 1950s; the Kuomintang continued to use these opium routes for decades. Following their failed attempt to re-enter China in August 1952,
7250-435: The Burmese government. The United States hoped that the KMT forces would harass southwest China and divert Chinese resources from the Korean War . The KMT army in Burma could not have expanded as it did without the logistical support from the United States, Thailand and Taiwan, as well as the financial support derived from the KMT's involvement in the region's opium trade. The United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
7395-399: The Burmese military, led by Ne Win, overthrew the civilian government in a coup and instituted military rule . The Burmese military justified the legitimacy of their government partially by citing the legacy of Aung San in leading the country in WWII, when he was both a military and political leader. Following his coup Ne Win used official statements and propaganda to promote the idea that, as
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#17328447996997540-450: The Burmese state's failure to deal with the insurgencies, but also stunted Burmese efforts in national integration and economic construction. Other scholars have been critical about the manner in which the United States handled the KMT issue. Kenneth Young's (1970) thesis highlights the Cold War context of the concurrent Korean War as well as the complicated foreign relations between Burma, Thailand, China (both Nationalist and Communist), and
7685-475: The China border on the east, and Thailand on the south. The KMT army removed all Burmese government officials and became the only effective yet harsh government that ruled over the population of one million. The KMT-controlled territories made up Burma's major opium-producing region, and the shift in KMT policy allowed them to expand their control over the region's opium trade. Furthermore, Communist China's forced eradication of illicit opium cultivation in Yunnan by
7830-442: The Communist Party of Burma, but after they began criticizing him for working with the British he banned all communists from his Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League on 3 November 1946. Aung San was to all intents and purposes Prime Minister, although he was still subject to a British veto. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee invited Aung San to visit London in 1947 in order to negotiate the conditions of Burmese independence. At
7975-429: The Communist Party of Burma. He also agreed to appoint Aung San to the position of counselor for defense on the Executive Council (a provisional cabinet made in lieu of the upcoming Burmese national election). On 28 September 1946, Aung San was appointed to the even higher position of deputy chairman, making him effectively the 5th Prime Minister of the British-Burma Crown Colony. Aung San had at first worked closely with
8120-427: The Dobama, the All Burma Students Union, politically active monks, and Dr. Ba Maw 's Poor Man's Party . Dr. Ba Maw served as the anarshin ("dictator") of the Freedom Bloc, while Aung San worked under him as the group's general secretary. The group's goals were organized around the idea of taking advantage of the war to gain Burmese independence. The organization, goals, and tactics of the Freedom Bloc were modeled on
8265-444: The Indian independence movement, including Jawaharlal Nehru , Mahatma Gandhi , and Subhas Chandra Bose . When Aung San returned to Burma, he found the Burmese government had issued a warrant for his arrest, and the arrest of many other leaders of the Thakins and the Freedom Bloc, due to those organizations' efforts to organize a revolution against the British, at least partially with Japanese support. Besides his other warrants,
8410-616: The Indian revolutionary group " Forward Bloc ", whose leader, Subhas Chandra Bose , was in regular contact with Ba Maw. In 1939, Aung San was briefly arrested on the grounds of conspiring to overthrow the government by force, but was released after seventeen days. Upon his release Aung San proposed a strategy of pursuing Burmese independence by staging countrywide strikes, anti-tax drives, and guerrilla insurgency. In March 1940, he attended an Indian National Congress Assembly in Ramgarh , India, along with other Thakins , including Than Tun and Ba Hein. While there, Aung San met many leaders of
8555-442: The Japan-backed State of Burma led by Dr. Ba Maw . As the tide turned against Japan, he switched sides and merged his forces with the Allies to fight against the Japanese. After World War II, he negotiated Burmese independence from Britain in the Aung San- Attlee agreement. He served as the 5th Premier of the British Crown Colony of Burma from 1946 to 1947. He led his party, the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League , to victory in
8700-400: The Japanese Army intervened. The capital of Burma, Rangoon , fell to the Japanese as part of the Burma Campaign in March 1942. The BIA formed an administration for the country under Thakin Tun Oke that operated in parallel with the Japanese military administration until the Japanese disbanded it. In July, the disbanded BIA was re-formed as the Burma Defense Army (BDA). Aung San was made
8845-420: The Japanese to the front. A few days later, on 27 March, the BNA switched sides and attacked the Japanese instead. 27 March came to be commemorated as Resistance Day, until the military regime renamed it " Tatmadaw (Armed Forces) Day". After the Burmese army began the attack on the Japanese, it was renamed the "Patriotic Burmese Forces" and its command structure was divided into eight different regions. Aung San
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#17328447996998990-406: The KMT appeared to change its policy of using Burma as a base of operations for the invasion of Communist China to permanent entrenchment in the Shan area. The KMT stopped concentrating their forces near the China border in late 1952 and spread out across the Shan states as well as parts of the Kachin State . Eventually it gained control over the Shan territories between the Salween River on the west,
9135-406: The KMT army in Burma and it grew steadily over the next few years as more stragglers made their way across the border and the army recruited from the local population. By March 1950, there were around 1,500 KMT troops occupying territory between Kengtung City and Tachilek. By April 1951 that number grew to more than 4,000 and by year-end it rose to 6,000. It would then double in 1952. In June 1950,
9280-409: The KMT established a new base camp at Mong Hsat in July 1950. Mong Hsat was the second largest town in the state of Kengtung and was ideally situated for the KMT. It was centrally located in a fertile basin endowed with approximately sixty square miles of rice cultivation area, and it was surrounded by hilly terrain on all sides that acted as natural defense barriers. The town was only eighty miles from
9425-430: The KMT presence, the Shans grew increasingly disaffected with Burmese rule. When it came to time for the Shans to deliberate on their status within the Union in 1958, the negative experience of the Army's repressive actions was an additional argument for greater autonomy. As a result, the Burmese Army led by Ne Win , determined to maintain the integrity of the Union, mounted a coup against the government and abrogated both
9570-467: The KMT troops and their dependents began crossing into Burma in late December 1949 and early January 1950. Those KMT troops were members of the Eighth Army commanded by Lieutenant-General Li Mi, the 26th Army under Major-General Liu Kuo-chuan and the 93rd Division under Major-General Mah Chaw Yu . They settled in Kengtung —one of the Shan states near the Thai-Burma border—at the village of Tachilek . [see Young; Taylor; McCoy] General Li Mi took command of
9715-427: The Kandy Conference, he reorganized his formally disbanded soldiers as a paramilitary organization the People's Volunteer Organization (PVO), which continued to wear uniforms and drill in public. The PVO was personally loyal to Aung San and his party rather than the government. By 1947, the PVO had over 100,000 members. In January 1946 a victory festival was held in the Kachin capital of Myitkyina . Governor Dorman-Smith
9860-423: The Karen people in Kawkareik until 1950, when he traveled back to Thailand and then to England, where he lived until his death in 1980. Little information about his motives was revealed either during or after the trial. Kin Oung, the son of the deputy police inspector who arrested U Saw, claimed that U Saw bought the arms found at his house from the black market after they had been sold by British soldiers, not by
10005-587: The Norwegian cargo ship Hai Lee to Xiamen , China. Neither Aung San nor Hla Myaing gave their real names, identifying themselves as "Tan Luang Shun" and "Tan Su Taung". They wandered the city for several weeks with no precise plan and little money, until they were intercepted by Japanese secret police who convinced them to go to Japan instead. The pair left for Tokyo via Taiwan and arrived in Japan on 27 September 1940. In May 1940 Japanese intelligence officers led by Suzuki Keiji had arrived in Yangon posing as journalists in order to gather information and to seek
10150-425: The PRC and Burmese governments expelled the remaining irregular KMT troops from Burma. Though most were evacuated to Taiwan, some remained in Burma or formed communities in Thailand . Various internal conflicts broke out in Burma after the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948; as noted by historian Martin Smith, "the dilemmas of national unity and traditions of armed struggle date back to
10295-451: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
10440-421: The Thailand border and hence supplies could be easily obtained from outside Burma through Thailand. The Burmese Army made several attempts over the next two years but were unsuccessful in ousting the KMT from Mong Hsat. The main reason for KMT's intransigence was its intention to use Burma as a refuge to reorganize, train, and equip themselves for the purpose of launching an invasion to retake Mainland China. Under
10585-465: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
10730-423: The United States to exert strong pressure on Taiwan to evacuate its remaining troops from Burma. Between 31 March and 17 April 1961, Taiwan evacuated around 4,400 KMT guerillas and dependents. The rest, a handful about 450 to 700, either remained in Burma or fled to Thailand and Laos. In general, scholars agree that the KMT crisis was an event of significant impact on Burma's history. The KMT intrusion into Burma had
10875-551: The United States. He argues that Operation Paper, the covert CIA program devised to aid the KMT troops in Burma, was a complete failure for the United States. Not only had the United States failed to contain Sino-Burmese relations, it had alienated Burma through its handling of the KMT issue and its failure to restrain the Chinese Nationalists. Furthermore, Alfred McCoy (1991) questions CIA's complicity in KMT's involvement in
11020-557: The West for aid. While the KMT had modern weapons and other military supplies, the KNDO had contacts, local knowledge, and easier access to food supplies. To make matters worse for the government, some of the American-manufactured weapons also made their way (apparently through KNDO) into the hands of the Burmese communist rebels. The net effect of KMT's intrusion into the Burmese civil conflict
11165-530: The arms as Major Lance Dane, but claimed that Dane and his associates were later "secretly released" after being imprisoned. Kin Oung claimed that the name of one of Aung San's assassins was "Yan Gyi Aung". Aung San's parents were U Phar and Daw Su. U Phar was a lawyer who was described by others as introverted and reserved. According to Aung San, U Phar studied law and passed his bar exam third in his class of 174, but after his education ended he never went on to work as
11310-500: The car, armed with three Tommy Guns , a Sten gun, and grenades, ran up the stairs towards the council chamber, shot the guard standing outside, and burst into the council chamber. The gunmen shouted, "Remain seated! Don't move!" Aung San stood up and was immediately shot in the chest, killing him. The gunmen sprayed the area where he was standing with gunfire for approximately thirty seconds, killing four other council members immediately and mortally wounding another three. Only three in
11455-651: The colonial era, and they have found new expression in every political era since independence." After Burma fell under colonial rule as a consequence of the Anglo-Burmese Wars , Britain administered the region as a province of British India as opposed to an independent entity. While the Burman majority in Central Burma were under direct British control, ethnic minorities in the border regions were placed under indirect rule by Britain. The 1947 Burma Constitution retained
11600-566: The colonial federal arrangement between the central government and the peripheral states: Shan and Karenni sawbwas were granted a status similar to that of the rulers of the princely Indian states, with autonomy over administration and law enforcement. On top of that, the Shan and Karenni States also had the extraordinary right of secession after ten years in the Union. In contrast, the Kachin , Chin and Karen remained under central administration, while
11745-411: The command of General Li Mi, an offensive was launched into Yunnan Province in May 1951 involving around 20,000 men. KMT troops moved northward and captured Kengma and its airfield some sixty miles inside China without resistance. However, as they advanced further north, the 40,000-strong People's Liberation Army counterattacked. Li Mi's army suffered huge losses and retreated back to Burma, after less than
11890-399: The conference legally binding to their communities. Two weeks after the signing of the agreement with Britain, Aung San signed an agreement at the second Panglong Conference on 12 February 1947, with leaders representing the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples. In this agreement these leaders agreed to join a united independent Burma, under the condition that they would have "full autonomy" and
12035-516: The control of Aung San, took their motto, "One Blood, One Voice, One Command" at this time. It is still the official motto of the Burmese military . As the tide of war turned against Japan, Aung San was increasingly skeptical of Japan's ability to win the war and made plans to organize an anti-Japanese uprising in Burma, secretly forming the " Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League " in August 1944. He organized
12180-461: The cooperation of local parties for the intended Japanese invasion of Burma, occupying an office at 40 Judah Ezekiel Street for that purpose. Among their network of local collaborators they made close connections with the Thakins , of which Aung San was a leading member. The familiarity of Japanese intelligence with prominent political actors in Burma ensured that they were aware of Aung San's activities by
12325-540: The country, Aung San is revered as the architect of modern Burma and a national hero. A Martyrs' Mausoleum was built at the foot of the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1947, and 19 July was designated Martyrs' Day , a public holiday. Aung San's original mausoleum was destroyed by the blast on 9 October 1983 when the President of South Korea , Chun Doo-hwan was nearly assassinated by North Korean agents. Another monument
12470-410: The decades following Aung San's assassination many people came to view him as a symbol of democratic reform; during the 8888 Uprising in 1988 against the military dictatorship , many protesters carried posters of Aung San as symbols of their movement. Many people at the time saw Aung San as a symbol of what Burma could have been, but was not at the time: prosperous, democratic, and peaceful. In 1962
12615-526: The district superintendent of Henzada , a man named "Xavier", had issued a reward of 500 rupees for anyone who could capture Aung San. Some of Aung San's colleagues advised him to go to the Shanghai International Settlement and make contact with communist agents there, but he was in a hurry to leave and was unable to find passage on a ship travelling to that city. On 14 August 1939, Aung San and another Thakin colleague, Hla Myaing, boarded
12760-438: The early 1950s effectively handed the opium monopoly to the KMT army in the Shan states. Prior to the arrival of the KMT, the opium trade had already developed as a component of the local economy during the British colonial era. The main consumers of the drug were the local ethnic Chinese and those across the border in Yunnan and the rest of Southeast Asia. The KMT coerced the local villagers for recruits, food and money, and exacted
12905-530: The entire KMT crisis period. In turn, Rangoon was careful to keep Beijing informed of the KMT issue. After its military efforts and appeal to the United States failed to resolve the KMT problem, Burma submitted a formal complaint to the United Nations in March 1953, producing reams of photos, captured documents, and testimony convincing enough to win a vote of censure for China. By then the KMT issue had become "such
13050-404: The ethnically diverse state. This transformation laid the foundation for its eventual consolidation of authority in the 1950s that culminated in its takeover of the government. Robert Taylor (1973) makes a similar argument about the significant consequences KMT intervention had on Burma's political, economic and ethnic problems. The KMT army's involvement with the local rebels not only contributed to
13195-536: The fighting to the Japanese Army but occupied the areas behind Japanese lines after the British had retreated. The arrival of BIA units in many areas of Burma was followed by escalating communal violence, especially against Karen people and others who held privileged positions and whom they believe to have oppressed the Buddhist Burmese during the British administration. The violence lasted for several weeks until
13340-454: The following year during the periods 14–28 February and 1–7 May, respectively. The KMT troops and their dependents crossed the Thai-Burmese border and were flown out from Chiang Rai to Taiwan. It was obvious that the KMT carried out its evacuation halfheartedly; Burmese observers at the staging areas frequently protested that the supposedly Chinese evacuees looked more like Shans or Lahus, and
13485-465: The forebears of the private narcotic armies operating in the Golden Triangle . Almost all the KMT opium was sent south to Thailand. The trade between the KMT and their Thai allies worked such that weapons and military supplies were brought in to Mong Hsat on the incoming trip (either by mule train or aircraft) and KMT opium transported south to Chiang Mai on the outgoing trip. The KMT usually dealt with
13630-472: The former private army of the nationalist leader Aung San , split between socialist and communist sympathizers, and the latter went underground to join the Communists. This was followed by a series of mutinies in the Union Military Police and the Burmese army . With the inner circle of competent leaders murdered , and army units mutinied along ethnic and ideological lines, the civil war started within
13775-545: The insurgents had superiority in numbers, they were unable to coordinate their activities because of their divergent goals and ideologies. Just when the Burmese government thought it had achieved some measure of political stability and could focus on the urgent task of nation building, the KMT threat arrived on its northeastern borders. When the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) entered Yunnan Province in December 1949,
13920-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
14065-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
14210-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
14355-453: The meeting Aung San stated his intentions to ally with the British until the Japanese had been driven out of Burma, and agreed to incorporate his forces into Slim's British-led army. When Slim asked Aung San whether he was taking a risk by unexpectedly coming to his camp in the uniform of a Japanese officer and adopting a bold attitude, Aung San answered that he was not, "because you are a British officer." Slim later wrote that Aung San had made
14500-418: The men took pseudonyms beginning with the word "Bo", meaning "officer", which had become a title used by Westerners in Burma. Aung San took the nom de guerre "Bo Teza" ("Teza" means "fire"). The Thirty Comrades trained for six months on Hainan with Suzuki Keiji and other Japanese officers. Aung San, Ne Win , and Setkya all received special training, since the Japanese intended to place them in senior positions in
14645-975: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
14790-400: The middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is
14935-530: The military regime in the 1990s tried to eradicate all traces of Aung San's memory. Nevertheless, several statues of him adorn the former capital Yangon and his portrait still has a place of pride in many homes and offices throughout the country. Scott Market, Yangon's most famous market, was renamed Bogyoke Market in his memory, and Commissioner Road was retitled Bogyoke Aung San Road after independence. These names have been retained. Many other towns and cities in Burma have thoroughfares and parks named after him. In
15080-399: The ministry of transportation who had just entered the conference room to deliver a report before the assassination. Abdul Razak's 18-year-old bodyguard, Ko Htwe , was killed before the gunmen entered the room. Burma's last pre-World War II Prime Minister, U Saw (who had himself lost an eye surviving an assassination attempt in late 1946), was arrested for the murders the same day. U Saw
15225-665: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
15370-421: The opium trade, considering the CIA's role in facilitating the supply network for KMT and the alliance between the KMT and high-ranking Thai officials. After the joint Sino-Burmese military campaign evicted the KMT remnant guerrillas from the Shan states in 1961, the guerrillas retreated across the border to Thailand and dominated the opium trade in the "Golden Triangle" region until the 1980s. Remnant members of
15515-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
15660-492: The penultimate Governor of Burma , Colonel Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith , an Anglo-Irishman with whom he would regularly discuss his personal difficulties. In early 1946, approximately a year before his death, Aung San complained to Dorman-Smith that he felt melancholic, that he did not feel close to his old friends in the Burmese military, that he had many enemies, and that he was worried that someone would attempt to assassinate him soon. A little after 10:30 AM on 19 July 1947,
15805-454: The presence of the anti-communist KMT troops on its borders would antagonize Communist China and provide it with an excuse to invade Burma. Indeed, at a time when the Korean War that involved the United States and China was ongoing, such a fear was not unfounded. On its part, Communist China was concerned that the United States might open a second front in its southern provinces by using Burma as
15950-437: The principal of the high school there. Aung San rarely spoke before the age of eight. As a teenager, he often spent hours reading and thinking alone, oblivious to those around him. In his youth he was generally unconcerned with his appearance and clothing. In his earliest articles, published in the "Opinion" section of The World of Books , he opposed the ideology of Western-style individualism supported by U Thant in favour of
16095-403: The pursuit of a conventional career and committed himself to revolutionary politics. In October 1938, Aung San left his law classes and entered national politics. At this point, he was anti-British and staunchly anti-imperialist. He became a Thakin ("lord" or "master": a title often used as an informal title for Westerners in Burma; the usage by Burmese proclaimed that the Burmese people were
16240-518: The rehabilitation of Burma. Following the 1947 election Aung San began to form his own cabinet. In addition to ethnic Burmese statesmen like himself and Tin Tut, he also persuaded the Karen leader Mahn Ba Khaing , the Shan chief Sao Hsam Htun, and the Bamar leader U Razak (who was of Tamil ancestry) to join his cabinet. No Communists were invited to participate. In the final years of the British administration of Burma , Aung San became good friends with
16385-408: The rest of the party leadership. He subsequently co-founded the People's Revolutionary Party (later the Burma Socialist Party ) with the primary goal of Burmese independence from the British. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Aung San fled Burma and went to China to solicit foreign support for Burmese independence. During the Japanese occupation of Burma, he served as the minister of war in
16530-607: The right to secede in 1958, after ten years. Karen leaders were not consulted and were not a part of the agreement. They hoped for a separate Karen State within the British Empire. The date of the signing of the Panglong Agreement has been celebrated in Burma as "Union Day", even though Ne Win effectively dissolved any agreement with Burma's minority communities following his coup in 1962 . The general election held in April 1947
16675-462: The room survived. In addition to Aung San, eight other people were killed, seven of whom were also politicians. Thakin Mya was a minister without portfolio who had been a student leader and a close friend of Aung San. Ba Choe , the minister of information , had been the editor of a prominent nationalist journal. Abdul Razak , a Tamil Muslim, the minister of education , had been a headmaster. Ba Win ,
16820-496: The royal treasurer during the reign of King Mindon . King Mindon awarded Bo Min Yaung the title of "Mahar Min Kyaw Min Htin", an honorary title similar to knighthood given to those who are not close relatives of the Burmese royal family. He had a reputation for having a gentle and soft personality. Bo Min Yaung had a younger brother of the same name who had a great impact on Aung San's patriotic outlook. The younger Bo Min Yaung
16965-462: The soldiers directly. Kin Oung claimed that the arms, before being smuggled into the black market, were in the process of being transported to Singapore in preparation for their withdrawal from Burma, so U Saw's possession of these weapons was not necessarily evidence of British complicity in Aung San's murder but rather the greed of the individual soldiers. He identified the officer responsible for selling
17110-503: The student boycott council and second as the student representative for the government's University Act Amendment Committee, which the government formed in response to the strike. Later in 1936, after the student strike was over, he was elected the vice president of the Rangoon University Student Union. Because of his participation in the student strike he was not able to sit for the examination in 1936, and received his Bachelor of Arts in 1937. After his graduation Aung San began studying for
17255-466: The terms of Burmese independence on 27 January: following the Burmese election in 1947 Burma would join the British Commonwealth (like Canada and Australia), though its government would have the option to leave; its government would control the Burmese Army once Allied armies had withdrawn; a constitutional assembly would be drawn up as soon as possible, with the resulting constitution presented to
17400-556: The time he arrived in Japanese-occupied China. Aung San spent the rest of 1940 in Tokyo, learning the Japanese language and political ideology. At the time he wrote that he was opposed to Western individualism and that he intended to create an authoritarian state modelled on Japan with "one state, one party, [and] one leader". While in Japan he dressed in a Japanese Kimono and adopted a Japanese name, "Omoda Monji". During this time
17545-627: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
17690-970: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
17835-594: The true masters of their country) when he joined the Dobama Asiayone ("We Burmans Association"). He acted as its general secretary until August 1940. While in this role, he helped organize a series of countrywide strikes that became known as the ME 1300 Revolution. The name of this movement was based on the Burmese calendar year 1300: in the Western calendar this year occurred between August 1938 and July 1939. On 18 January 1939
17980-509: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
18125-487: The unintended consequence of precipitating the nationalist sentiments into several ethnic insurrections led by the Shan, Wa and other ethnic groups. Initially the Shans were largely loyal to the newly independent Burmese government throughout the KMT crisis as they were a signatory to the historic Panglong Agreement that granted them secession rights. However, as the Burmese Army was increasingly deployed into Shan State to suppress
18270-453: The university authorities reinstated Aung San and Nu. The events of 1936 had a profound effect on the future of Aung San. Before 1936 he was not well known outside of Rangoon University, but during the student strike his name and image were published and discussed in daily newspapers, and he became known nationwide as a nationalist revolutionary and a student leader. He also served in his first student leadership positions, first as secretary of
18415-462: The village headman. The delegates agreed that the new Burmese army would be composed of 5,000 of Aung San's Japanese-trained Bamar soldiers, and 5,000 British-trained soldiers, most of whom were either Chin , Kachin , or Karen . Aung San wrote to U Seinda in Arakan , saying that he supported U Seida's guerrilla fight against the British, but that he would cooperate with them for tactical reasons. After
18560-449: The war. When Allied forces retook Rangoon on 2 May 1945, the BNA were symbolically sent into the city two days before any other soldiers. The Allies helped to arm Aung San's forces somewhat after their defection, supplying the BNA with 3,000 small arms. Aung San first met with General Bill Slim on 16 May 1945, appearing unexpectedly in Slim's camp in the uniform of a Japanese major general. At
18705-512: The weapons they carried were "rusting museum pieces" instead of the recently acquired American manufactures. On 30 May 1954, General Li Mi announced the dissolution of the Yunnan Province Anticommunist National Salvation Army. However, 6,000 irregular KMT troops remained in Burma. Fighting began again a month later, and continued sporadically for the next seven years. With the assistance of Red Chinese troops,
18850-571: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
18995-452: Was Burma's first foreign minister, by throwing a grenade into his car. The assassins were never caught and nobody was ever charged with his murder. A theory that the British were involved in Aung San's assassination was investigated in a documentary broadcast by the BBC on the 50th anniversary of the assassination in 1997. What did emerge in the course of the investigations at the time of the trial
19140-559: Was a life-long anti-imperialist and studied socialism as a student. In his first year of university he was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students' Union and served as the editor of its newspaper. He joined the Thakin Society in 1938 and served as its general secretary. He also helped establish the Communist Party of Burma in 1939 but quit shortly afterwards due to vehement disagreements with
19285-549: Was born in Natmauk , Magway District , on 13 February 1915 during the British Raj . The family was considered middle-class. He was the youngest of nine siblings; he had three older sisters and five older brothers. Aung San's name was given to him by his brother Aung Than. Aung San received his primary education at a Buddhist monastic school in Natmauk, but he moved to Yenangyaung in grade 4 because his eldest brother, Ba Win , had become
19430-463: Was built in its place. Within months of Aung San's assassination, on 4 January 1948, Burma was granted independence. By August 1948, a civil war began between the Burmese military and various insurgents, including communists and ethnic militias. The internal conflict within Myanmar continues to the present day. Aung San's name had been invoked by successive Burmese governments since independence, until
19575-434: Was described by contemporary students as being charismatic and keenly interested in politics. In February 1936 he was expelled from the university, along with U Nu , for refusing to reveal the name of the author of an article he had run in the student newspaper called "Hell Hound at Large", which criticized a senior university official. The expulsion led to the three-month long Second University Students' Strike, after which
19720-513: Was given command of the first region, comprising the areas of Prome , Henzada , Tharrawaddy , and Insein . His designated political advisor was Thakin Ba Hein , a Communist Party leader. On 30 March, the Allied commander in Southeast Asia, Louis Montbatten , formally recognized the Burmese army as "an Allied force". The Burmese National Army continued to harass the Japanese throughout the remainder of
19865-592: Was invited to attend, but neither Aung San nor anyone from his party were, due to "their connection with the Burma Independence Army". In an audacious move, Aung San turned himself in for the execution of the village headman. As arresting him would mean a nationwide armed rebellion by the PVO, Dorman-Smith was replaced by a new Governor General of Burma, Sir Hubert Rance . Rance agreed to recognize and negotiate directly with Aung San, possibly to distance them both from
20010-405: Was murdered in his house, and F. Collins, a private detective who was investigating Aung San's assassination. According to General Kyaw Zaw, these murders were evidence that somebody was trying to cover up their involvement in the assassination. In September 1948, nine months after Burma's independence, somebody assassinated Tin Tut, who had been one of Aung San's closest advisors and who at the time
20155-607: Was not ideal; the Karens, Mon , and most of Aung San's other political opponents boycotted the process. Since they ran virtually unopposed, every delegate in Aung San's party was elected. In the end Aung San's AFPFL won 176 out of the 210 seats in the Constituent Assembly , while the Karens won 24, the Communists 6, and the Anglo-Burmans 4. In July, Aung San convened a series of conferences at Sorrenta Villa in Rangoon to discuss
20300-619: Was realized. Aung San is considered to be the founder of modern-day Myanmar and the Tatmadaw (the country's armed forces), and is commonly referred to by the titles " Father of the Nation ", "Father of Independence", and "Father of the Tatmadaw". Devoted to ending British Colonial rule in Burma, Aung San founded or was closely associated with many Burmese political groups and movements and explored various schools of political thought throughout his life. He
20445-573: Was remembered by Daw Thu Sa as being popular in his hometown for his handsomeness, strength, writing ability, and swordsmanship, which he practiced every day. King Mindon employed him in diplomatic service, and by the reign of Burma's last king, Thibaw , he had been appointed to administer the region of Myo Lu Lin, close to the northern side of the Pegu Mountain Range in Upper Burma . After learning of King Thibaw's abdication and subsequent exile to
20590-543: Was subsequently tried and hanged for his responsibility in the assassination, but there have been many other claims of responsibility from multiple parties ever since Aung San's death. Some claimed that a rogue faction in the British intelligence service was responsible. Besides Aung San, most of his cabinet, and U Saw, there were a number of other assassinations and attempted assassinations carried out against other men who had been close to Aung San at that time. Two of these included Aung San's English lawyer, Frederick Henry, who
20735-474: Was that it distracted the Burmese Army from its counter-insurgency efforts and increased the quantity of weapons available to the anti-government rebels. Externally, the existence of anti-communist KMT troops on its borders with China compromised Burma's neutralist foreign policy. As different groups within Burma desired to support one or the other bloc in the Cold War , it was in the government's interests to follow
20880-516: Was that several low-ranking British officers had sold firearms to a number of Burmese politicians, including U Saw. Shortly after U Saw's conviction, Captain David Vivian, a British Army officer, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for supplying U Saw with weapons. Vivian was freed from prison when Karen soldiers captured Insein Prison in May 1949. According to General Kyaw Zaw he then lived with
21025-574: Was the primary agency in charge of the covert program called " Operation Paper " that transported weapons and supplies to the KMT from Taiwan via Thailand. With President Truman 's approval and support from Thailand's Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram , the CIA put together a secret air supply network that shipped weapons and supplies to General Li Mi's forces in Mong Hsat from Thailand. The first shipments started in early 1951, when unmarked C-46 and C-47 aircraft were making at least five parachute drops
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