Khin Myo Chit

Khin Myo Chit ခင်မျိုးချစ်
File:KhinMyoChit.jpg
Born	1 May 1915(1915-05-01) Sagaing, British Burma
Died	2 January 1999(1999-01-02) (aged 83) Yangon, Myanmar
Occupation	Author, editor
Notable work(s)	A Wonderland of Burmese Legends, Colourful Burma
Spouse(s)	Khin Maung Lat

Khin Myo Chit (Burmese: ခင်မျိုးချစ်, pronounced [kʰɪ̀ɴ mjó tɕʰɪʔ]; 1 May 1915 – 2 January 1999) was a Burmese author and journalist, whose career spanned over four decades. She began her career writing short stories in Burmese for Dagon Magazine in 1934. She worked on the editorial staff of The Burma Journal during anti-colonial movements. After the war, Khin Myo Chit wrote for The Oway, a Burmese newspaper.

National Activism

Her birth name was Khin Mya. She started her work in Burmese culture, literature and politics in the 1300 Movement. She acted as deputy head of the Women's Front of the 1300 Movement which demanded self rule at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon on 29 January 1939. Starting from that moment, she adopted the name Khin Myo Chit.

Journalism

After the 1300 Movement, Khin Myo Chit started writing in many patriotic Burmese papers, including the Deedoke Journal.

She graduated from the University of Rangoon in 1952, and served as an editor for The Guardian Daily, when she began writing short stories and articles in English. Her story, The 13-carat Diamond, which appeared first in The Guardian Daily was featured in Fifty Great Oriental Stories, published by Bantam Classics. Other stories, including "Her Infinite Variety" and "The Four Puppets" won acclaim in Asia. During her career, Khin Myo Chit wrote many English publications, including a historical novel on King Anawrahta.

Khin Myo Chit also served as a editor in the Working People's Daily, voicing her political opinions and also her nationalistic spirit. She also wrote many books on Burmese culture - such as the Wonderland of Burmese Legends, where she documented famous myths, legends and folktales of Myanmar, and the Colourful Burma series.Besides serving as Prime Minister, U Nu was also an accomplished novelist and playwright. In a work from the colonial period titled Yesset pabeikwe or It's So Cruel (Man, the Wolf of Man) U Nu describes how during the colonial period rich landlords were able to get away with just about any crime they wished to perpetrate.

The play The Sound of the People Victorious (Ludu Aungthan) that U Nu wrote while he was Prime Minister is about the havoc that Communist ideologies can wreak in a family. Strangely enough the first production of the play seems to have been in Pasadena, California. It later became a popular comic book in Burma, was translated into English, and made into a feature film at the height of the Cold War in the 1950s. The older generation in Burma can still remember having studied the play in their schooldays.

In the play Thaka Ala, published just before the 1962 coup, U Nu paints an extremely ugly picture of corruption both amongst the high-ranking politicians in power at the time as well as among the communist leaders who were gaining ascendancy. This is a play in the vernacular, a genre that hardly exists in Burmese literature. A translation into English was published in instalments in the Guardian newspaper. The play was critical of the current state of politics in Burma at the time (around 1960) and in this critical stance it resembles Thein Pe Myint's The Modern Monk (Tet Hpongyi in Burmese). Like The Modern Monk, it deals with scandalous sexual liaisons not much in keeping with traditional modes of Burmese behaviour.One of the greatest female writers of the Post-colonial period is Journal Kyaw Ma Ma Lay. Khin Myo Chit was another important writer, who wrote, among her works, The 13-Carat Diamond (1955), which was translated into many languages. The journalist Ludu U Hla was the author of numerous volumes of ethnic minority folklore, novels about inmates in U Nu-era jails, and biographies of people working in different occupations. The Prime Minister U Nu himself wrote several politically oriented plays and novels.

Death

Khin Myo Chit died on 2 January 1999 at her home in Yangon.

Literary career

• 1932 - Patriotism (a poem that earned her pen name)

• 1936 - College Girl (a novelette for serialization in 'The Sun' a daily paper.)

• 1945 - Three years under the Japs.

• 1955 - 13 Carat Diamond (short story published in The Guardian magazine, later included in 50 Great Oriental Stories in Bantam Classic.)

• 1963 to 1968 - Heroes of Old Burma and Quest for Peace (an autobiography) (Both serialized in The Working People's Daily.)

• 1969 - 13 Carat Diamond and Other Stories

• 1970 - Her Infinite Variety (a prize winning short in the 'Horizon' magazine short story competition.). The Four Puppets( included in 'Folk Tales of Asia' UNESCO). Anawrahta of Burma(Myanmar)(Publication of 'Heroes of Old Burma(Myanmar)which was later re-printed under the titles, 'Anawrahta' and 'King Among Men'.)

• 1976 - Colourful Burma (a practical and poetic guide for the visitor who wants something better than a tourist view of Myanmar, later reprinted under the title 'Colourful Myanmar'.

• 1977 - Burmese Scenes and Sketches

• 1980 - Flowers and Festivals Round the Burmese Year: Kyaikhtiyo (a short history of Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda, published in the Asia Magazine.)

• 1981 - A Pagoda Where Fairy Tale Characters Come to life (a tale-like description of Melamu Pagoda in the outskirts of Yangon, published in the Asia Magazine.)

• 1984 - A Wonderland of Burmese Legends (published by the Tamarind Press in Bangkok later reprinted in Myanmar under the title 'A Wonderland of Pagoda Legends'

• 1995 - Gift of Laughter (on the picturesque speech of the people of Hladaw, a village in Central Myanmar, selections of which have been published in the 'Pyinsa Rupa' magazine.)

References

• Voice of America Tribute to Khin Myo Chit, Interview with Kyemon U Thaung. Original Air Date : 25 July 2008. Retrieved on 2008-10-29.
• Voice of America Burmese Service Website, Tribute to Daw Khin Myo Chit
• Khin Myo Chit (1915–1999) La Grande Dame de la Myanmar Writing by Dr. Khin Maung Win