Excerpts from "Shin Yuan Nin Gen" (

[brelief@xxxxxxx]

Subject: Excerpts from "Shin Yuan Nin Gen" (Going Back to the Roots) by  Kanbawza Win

FROM: BURMA Research Journal Vol 2, No 1

Excerpts from "Shin Yuan Nin Gen" (Going Back to the Roots) by Kanbawza Win

The crop of military leaders starting from U Ne Win, whose name is Shu Meng,
are half cast Chinese, names like General San Yu, Colonel Tan Yu Siang,
General Than Shwe are Burmanized names of Chinese ancestry.  Thus in
contrast to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's heritage, no Burmese soldier ever knew
who is the father of U Ne Win not to mention his grandfather a Pauk Phaw.
All have their roots in China and in their hearts of heart they might feel
originally that they are Chinese and that being close to China is the most
convenient way to preserve their power.  So it is obvious why the present
Chinese leaders are helping the present Burmese military junta.  It has also
been rumoured that the ruling Burmese General has been quietly told by the
Chinese leaders to change the country to Myanmar which is more akin to the
Chinese word Myantien than the official name of Burma.  Hence the Junta has
to find some justification to change the country to Myanmar.  A peaceful
Chinese colonization of Burma resented by most of the people of Burma.  The
Chinese leaders are conscious that Hongkong and Taiwan will have to be the
priority before Myantien (a) Myanmar, so as a preliminary step they have
secretly requested the Junta to change the name of the country from Burma to
Myanmar to see whether the Buremse generals would comply.  Hence this is but
one of the underlying rationales for changing the country's name, which
every patriotic Burmese including the ethnic groups vehemently opposed.

Sinonization of Burma

Many articles have been written by scholars about the sinonization of Burma
under the present military regime.  Dr. Mya Maung wrote

"In the streets and market place of downtown Mandalay, the proud tradition
of using polite Burmese towards greeting by Mandalayians has evaporated, now
replaced by an alien tongue and rude Burmese dialects.  The change was
fostered deliberately by the present military regime of Burma, the SLORC."
(Asian Survey Vol XXXIV, No. 5, May ?95)

The shift to an open door economy attracts a direct investment from a
private corporate world.  In particular, Chinese trade investment, economy
and special military aid were sought.  By 1990 SLORC has struck an arms deal
worth over $1.4 billion with China, now Burma's most power and biggest ally.
Since then, Chinese goods of all kinds have been steadily flooding Mandalay
and other urban centres of Burma.  A gigantic China-Burma border trade,
including illicit drugs, conservatively estimated at $1 billion annually had
been thriving ever since the formal legalization of border trade in 1989.

(a) Construction Sector in Sinonization

>From that time, the majority of roads and bridges built or renovated in
Burma facilitate Burma- China border trade.  With the help of Chinese, the
junta has been building new roads and renovating a number of old trading
routes in the northern states of Kachin, Chin, and Shan. Among the old roads
renovated and reopened for use are the Burma Road and the Ledo Road that
came to fame in the latter stages of World War II.  The three districts of
Yunnan Province adjacent to the Burmese border are Yingchiang, Lungchuan and
Tengchung.  In Jan. 1993, a 35 mile road from Yingchiang to the Burmese
towns of Taihone, Moe Mauk and Bahmo was constructed and is now open for
use.  In April 1993, the Lungchuan district authority completed the
construction and opened a 56 mile road from Lianghe to Bahmo.  On May 15,
1993, SLORC held an inauguration ceremony for opening the Myitkyina-Sadon
Sailaw Mngmin Road.  Its construction as a link to the Burma road had begun
in 1992 under an agreement between Burma and China. The 21 mile road
connects the capital of Kachin State, Myitkyina with the Tengchong district
of Yunnan Province.  On May 30, the Chinese news agency, Xinhua, announced
the opening of another Sino Burmese trans-border highway connecting Zangeng,
a port entry of Yunnan Province and Bhamo, a thoroughfare in northern Burma.

The main route from Burma-China border trade as been the old Burma road
connecting Mandalay via the Shan cities of Lashio and Muse, with the
Chienwse border outposts, Wantin and Ruili.  Burma border outposts are
Namkham, Muse and the small Shan town of Kyukok located across the Wantin
rivulet.  In May 1991, the Burmese Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw signed an
agreement with his Chinese counterpart, M Qi Muai Yuan, to build two bridges
across the border over the Shweli river linking Muse, Wantin and Ruili.  The
first bridge was completed and opened for use in October 1992.  In January
1993, a series of Chinese arms shipments across this bridge, dubbed locally
as the "Gun Bridge"was reported.  The deliveries included light infantry
weapons, rocket launchers, mortars, recoilless rifles and armored personal
carriers.  Between 1990 and 1992, and reportedly using the renovated old
roads and new ones, the Chinese shipped to Burma 16 war planes (F6), 169
armored vehicles, 25 anti aircraft guns, 6 Heinan type cruisers, several
hundred trucks and thousands of tons of light weapons and munitions.....

 (b) The Role of Drugs in Sinonization

 (c) The Role of Relocation in Sinonization

According to the official census of 1993, Mandalay's population is over
653,000 with only 2,670 aliens.  The unofficial estimates of the total
population of Mandalay, however, are one million because of the large influx
of unregistered illegal aliens.  (Kyaw Win Myint "The 1993 Model Mandalay"
Dana Economic Magazine, in Burmese p. 53) The majority of the alien
population comprises foreign born Chinese who reportedly become Burmese
nationals overnight by acquiring National Registration Cart (NRCs) in the
black market.  According to reports, many Chinese families from Yunnan
Province have crossed over the border to settle in a number of villages
inside northern Burma.  This virtual takeover of central Mandalay actually
began with two devastating fires in 1981 and 1984 that destroyed sections of
the downtown areas.  In 1984, when Burmese businessmen and residents could
not finance the reconstruction of shops, buildings and homes according to
the specifications mandated by te military government, they were forced to
sell their real estate to rich ethnic Chinese investors and merchants.
Since then, Mandalay's native Burmese residents have gradually moved away
from the centre to the peripheral areas of the city.  Making way for the
peaceful take over of the city by the Chinese.

After 1989 and especially during 1990, the SLORC forced a massive relocation
of Burmese in Mandalay to new satellite towns in the name of City
Beatification and Development Program.  Its ostensible purpose was to
attract foreign tourists and investors.  However, Khmer Rouge style
relocation of over one million of the urban population from the central
cities to satellite towns across Burma points to the real purpose of
subjugating and dispersing the concentration of political dissidents of
central cities.  The program was launched intensively prior to the May 1990
multi-party election that was won in a landslide by the National League for
Democracy (NLD), the opposition party of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who was put
under house arrest in July 1989.  Forced relocation was part of the SLORC's
nationwide campaign to facelift major cities.  Besides Mandalay, Pagan (the
famed ancient city of architectural wonder and a main tourist attraction
that houses thousands of Buddhist temples and pagodas built by Burmese
kings) and Amarapura in Upper Burma were also targeted.

 (d) Liquidating of Buddhist Monks as Sinozation

The massive relocation of Mandalayians was accompanied by the subjugation of
Buddhist monks who had led a political protest against the SLORC .  The
tradition of political protest by leading Buddhist monks against unjust rule
dates back to the days of Buremse kings and British colonial rule.  Since
1988, Mandalay monks have continued to protest against the SLORC's unjust
rule and brutal suppression of the people, including the dishonoring of the
May 1990 election results.  On August 8, 1990, over 7,000 monks participated
in the Mandalayians commemoration of the second anniversary of the 0--8-88
massacre of demonstrators by the Burmese army across Burma and it was
crushed by the army resulting in several arrests and deaths.  On August 27,
1990 the senior abbots of Mandalay met and ordered religious sanctions under
which monks should not perform religious services for military families.
These powerful religious sanctions of the Mandalay monks spread like
wildfire across Burma throughout September causing alarm and trauma to the
ruling SLORC.  By October, the religious sanctions against the military
families had spread as far as Rangoon.  Many monasteries were surrounded by
soldiers and dissident monks were arrested.

The chairman of the SLORC, General Saw Maung, issued Oct 1990 Order 5/90 and
6/90 that sought to revoke the religious boycott against military families
and dissolve as illegal all Buddhist organizations other than the nine legal
sects.  Buddhist monks of the so-called illegal organizations were accused
of meddling in politics and carrying out anti-government activities.  The
Mandalay monks refused to comply with these orders, resulting in the arrest
of several hundred monks.  The army surrounded and raided more than 100
monasteries in Mandalay, and reportedly over 400 monks were arrested by the
SLORC government.  Buildings near the monasteries were also razed and
destroyed.  Arrested monks were stripped of their robes and officially
designated as laymen, including the most famous monk, U Yaiwata, who has
been incarcerated since that time.  Others were punished with a minimum of
three years imprisonment.  On Oct. 22, 1990, Order 7/90 was issued by SLORC,
empowering the military commanders under martial law to disrobe and imprison
monks who continued to boycott the military families and protest against the
government.  Following the issuance of that order, leaflets calling for an
end to religious boycott were dropped over Mandalay monasteries from army
helicopters, later soldiers invaded 133 monasteries, beating and arresting
hundreds of monks.  The ultimate subjugation of the Buddhist clerical order
was brought about by passing Law No. 20 on Oct. 30, 1990, which defined a
proper code of conduct for a Buddhist monk and stipulated severe penalties
for violations by monks and monk organizations.

 (e) The Economic Factor in Sinonization

In the 1990s, after the forced relocation and subjugation were completed, a
different process of population relocation and restructuring of Mandalay
took place.  Real estate prices in central Mandalay have escalated to levels
never seen before.  The price of a small plot of land measuring less than 50
square feet at key sites in central Mandalay has climbed to K 50 million -
$500,000 at the black market exchange of U.S. $ 1 = K 100.  Aggressive and
wealthy Chinese investors, ethnic Chinese Kokang and Wa drug war lords and
military "robber barons"have made wholesale acquisition of real estate and
homes.  By offering exorbitant prices to the Burmese landowners, they
sharply accelerated the relocation process.

In effect the Chinese takeover of Mandalay and northern Burma replicates the
economic consequences of the British colonization of Burma, which included
an massive importation of Indian, and to a lesser degree, Chinese manpower
and capital.  The striking difference between the two types of colonization
is that the case of British Burma the takeover was imposed by an imperial
power that deposed native rulers after waging and winning three hard fought
Anglo- Burmese wars.  In the open door economy"of present day Burma, the
Chinese colonization of Mandalay and the norther states of Burma occurred
without wars and were welcomed by a Burmese government, the SLORC. The
similarity between the two cases is that both the SLORC and Great Britain
came to power through force without the democratic consent of the people of
Burma.

In 1993, the new satellite towns built by SLORC on the outskirts of
Mandalay, such as Pelihpyu Gone, Kantha Yar, Mya Ye Nanda, Mya Ye Kantha and
Mya Marlar, have become the centres of Buremse culture where the relatively
poor ethnic Burmese of Mandalay have been congregated.  In contrast, the
central quarters of Mandalay have been transformed into a thriving business
centre of alien culture with modern homes, hotels, shops and high rise
buildings teeming with rich Chinese businessmen (Law Pan), ethnic Chinese
drug warlords and other Asian merchants.  Only a handful of native owned
business establishments such as printing houses, shoe shops and cheroot
factories are left, dwarfed by the towering buildings and offices of foreign
enterprises.

The economic plight of the majority of the native residents of Mandalay
stems from the fact that most of them earn their livelihood as artisans in
traditional cottage industries? making furniture, art works, antiques,
cheroots, gold leaf, tapestries, carpentry, masonry, precious stones,
polishing, embroidering, weaving, tailoring and so on.  Low wages in these
professions relative to the skyrocketing prices of domestic and imported
consumer goods have been pushing their standard of living below subsistence.
Since 1989 the price of the main stable food, rice, in Mandalay has been
steadily increasing.  In 1989, the price per pyi (1.49 lbs) of first quality
rice Pawsan Hmwe was K 12 but has been rising steadily upward to K 50 in
1992 and K 75 in 1993, an increase of 525 percent in four years.  On the
other hand, until March 1993, the monthly pay scale of government workers
was kept frozen by the  military at a range from K 450 to K 2,000 and which
was only raised by an average of 30 percent, covering only a fraction of the
increase in the cost of rice.  On average, a single Burmese consumes 16 pyis
of rice per month at a cost of K 1,200 (K 75 times 16 pyis).  Since the
majority of government workers make less than K 1,200 monthly wage ($10 at
the 1993 black market exchange rate of K 120 = US$1) most of them cannot
afford to buy the main staple food let alone other basic necessities.  Even
those who make the top salary are in the same predicament if they are
married and have children.

 (f) Moral Degradation as Sinonization

Attracted by the opportunity of making a good income, young women from
across Burma have flocked to Mandalay and other cities to take jobs.
Opportunities to make an honest living as caterers and waitresses have
shrunk with the increased number of migrant waitresses, and the greater
income and rewards offered by the rich clients to masseuses and prostitutes
subject these migrants to considerable temptations.  The streets in the
business centres of Burmese cities are filled with the sound of Chinese
music pouring out of thriving Chinese shops.

Another sign of cultural and moral decay in Mandalay, Rangoon and other
major cities is reflected in the rising tide of liquor consumption
(especially Chinese beer) among the Buremse Buddhists, as sign according to
one of the Five Precepts of Burmese Buddhism.  In the past, drinking and the
sale of liquor were done privately.  Today they are done openly everywhere
in Mandalay.  Although Chinese beers are illegal import products, they have
been flowing freely into Burma and Chinese beer consumption has risen
greatly relative to that of the domestic "Mandalay beer" which is
manufactured and sold by the state enterprise at K 9 per bottle to a
privileged few at state shops and K 100 per bottle in black-market.  Even
though the retail price per bottle of Chinese beer is about the same as that
of the black-market price of the Mandalay beer, its consumption has
increased greatly.  A long time resident in northern Shan State said:

"The number of beer bottles entering Burma from China is so large, one
wonders whether or not forty million Burmese are becoming beer drunkards."
(Zin Thant, "Myanmah Pyi's or Burma's Northern Gateway' Dana Economic
Magazine (in Burmese) June 91p 53)

The erosion of traditional Burmese Buddhist cultural life in Burma under the
massive Chinese onslaught has been causing resentment and apprehension not
only among the lay people but also among the Buddhist clergy, the Sangha of
Mandalay.  The distinguished Buddhist monk Ashin Myittah Nanda deplored the
potential demise of Buddhist culture in Mandalay under the cultural
onslaught of a non-Buddhist Chinese and alien population.  He attributes the
drastic decline in the number of Buddhist monks in central Mandalay to the
difficulties monks face in receiving rice, alms and robes from non-Buddhist
residents as well as from impoverished worshipers in distant satellite
towns.  Foreign observers might be tempted to dismiss a Buddhist monk's
partisan concern about cultural decline in Mandalay, but many Burmese
dissidents of the SLORC are disturbed by what is happening to the sacred
City of Gems and Burma as a whole.  The road to Mandalay is no longer a
quaint and romantic place of the glorious past as it has become a cruel
playground built by the Buremse military regime for the economic dragons of
China.

Since 1989, Burma has adopted and pursued an open market economy"that is
particularly open to China.  The private corporate world and individual
governments of both the West an Asian countries including some UN agencies
have shown willingness to tolerate the continued human rights violations of
the Buremse military regime by not sanctioning and imposing a total trade
and arms embargo against Burma.  However, the single most important
parameter of the Burmese military regime's strange hold on power has been
the massive trade and economic and military support received from its giant
neighbor China.  The socio economic consequences of the sinonization of
Upper Burma has been resurrection of the colonial plural society in which
alien social groups dominate the society and economy at the expense of
economic hardship and cultural decay for the Burmese....
 

(g) SLORC's Psyche in Sinonization

Geopolitics

Sino-Burma Relations

Indo-Burma Relations

Regional Reactions

SLORC's Strategy

The Price of Sinonization

SLORC's Gamble

Back to the Roots

The SLORC turned to China in 1988 as an expedient measure to ensure its
immediate survival and to help restore Burma's diplomatic and economic
standing in world affairs.  In these aims, the military regime seems to have
been at least partly successful.  The armed forces now seem firmly
entrenched in power, Burma's economy is slowly improving and the SLORC is
being wooed by India and the members of the ASEAN.  In these circumstances
there may be indication that Burma will eventually attempt to draw back from
China and try to find a more balanced international position.  Whether the
SLORC is successful in using China in this way, or will find itself being
used instead by China, is something that India and other countries of the
region will be watching very closely.

It has to be admitted that the Chinese Communist has successfully sold a
nationalist claim to the boundaries of the old empire to the international
community.  The idea that

"China has been a united state composed of multiple nationalities is both a
popular, dogmatic statement of the political propaganda and a universal
Chinese academic conclusion." (Cultural Encounters on China's Ethnic
Frontiers"by Shih-Chung Hsieh)

The Burmese generals were so angry with the US and the West for their
criticism that their mind has been colonized to such a degree that they are
blind to any other form of colonialism especially that of the Chinese.
Logic has pointed out that it is far better to be in the arms of the Chinese
than those of the West because China will guarantee them to be in power for
the foreseeable future.

However it is a fact that the Burmese generals starting from Ne Win to the
present ones are half SinoBurmese.  Blood is thicker than water goes the
saying and what is more true than in the case of Myantien or Myanmar.  So it
is natural that Myanmar will go back to its roots and even now the tribes of
China particularly the Di and the Jingphaw act and dress exactly as the
Myanmar.  Maybe in a few decades these peaceful colonizations of Burma by
the Chinese through the Burmese generals would eventually succeed and the
age old dream of U Ne Win or rather Shu Meng would be realized.  So instead
of Maha Myanmar, they'll soon be calling themselves Mah Ta Yoke.







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