Yunnanese Buddhist Temple in Mandalay
The earliest records of Chinese migration were in the Song and Ming dynasties.[2] In the 1700s, Ming Dynasty princes settled in Kokang (the northern part of present-day Myanmar). Chinese traders, however, would typically travel as far as the capital city as well as northern towns on the Irrawaddy such as Bhamo. Some of them stayed and started a Chinese community at Amarapura, and when King Mindon Min moved his capital to Mandalay in 1859, the Chinese were the only community that decided to stay behind. Their descendants, many intermarried into the host society, remain important and respected citizens of Amarapura. Another wave of immigration occurred in the 1800s under the British colonial administration. Britain encouraged immigration of Indians and Chinese to its colonial possessions, and such incentives with opportunities for work and enterprise and for accumulating wealth attracted many Chinese. They came to Burma via Malaysia.[2] The Chinese quickly became dominant in the highly lucrative rice and gem industries. Many became merchants and traders owning both wholesale and retail businesses. Their success was reflected in the popular Burmese expression, “Earn like the Chinese, save like the Indian, and don’t waste money like the Bamar”. They integrated well into Burmese society not least because they, like the Bamar, were of Sino-Tibetan stock and were Buddhists, implicit in the nickname pauk hpaw (lit. sibling).[4] The Chinese are arguably the only other race the Bamar historically have a high regard for, not just for their ancient and uninterrupted civilization but for their skills and intellect as well.
During the 1950s, Myanmar was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China as a nation. However, its own Chinese population was treated as aliens. The Burmese Chinese were issued foreign registration cards (FRC), which declared that they were citizens of China. A similar discrimination policy was set up for Indians. When the Chinese Communists expelled the Kuomintang, many fled to Myanmar and Thailand over the borders of Yunnan Province. The Burmese government fought and removed the armed KMT and forced them to Taiwan;[5] those who managed to stay prospered.
In 1962, Ne Win led a coup d’état and declared himself head of state. Although a kabya himself, he banned Chinese-language education, and created other measures to compel the Chinese to leave. Ne Win’s government stoked up racial animosity and ethnic conflicts against the Chinese, who were terrorized by Burmese citizens, the most violent riots taking place at the time of the Cultural Revolution in China.[5] When Ne Win implemented the “Burmese Way to Socialism”, a plan to nationalize all industries, the livelihoods of many entrepreneurial Chinese were destroyed and some 100,000 Chinese left the country.[5] All schools were nationalized, including Chinese-language schools. Beginning in 1967 and continuing throughout the 1970s, anti-Chinese riots continued to flare up and many believed they were covertly supported by the government.[6] Many Burmese Chinese left the country during Ne Win’s rule, largely because of a failing economy and widespread discrimination.
The first government-sponsored racial riots to take place in Myanmar was in 1967, during General Ne Win’s rule. In the riots, the general populace went on a killing spree because of sedition and instigation against the Chinese by various government departments. The massacre lasted for about five consecutive days, during which thousands of Chinese died or were left dying in the streets of Rangoon. Some of the Chinese were thrown alive from the second and third floors of buildings in downtown Rangoon. The dead and wounded Chinese were hauled up unceremoniously and dumped onto army trucks and taken to ‘htauk kyan’ incinerators and the ‘carcasses’ were sent up in smoke. That showed the true bestial and cruel side of the character of the ruling Myanmar Military Junta. The only “crime” the Chinese committed was the wearing of Chairman Mao’s badges on their shirts.[7][8][9]
Latha Secondary School was torched by the henchmen of General Ne Win’s government, where school girls were burnt alive. Chinese shops were looted and set on fire. Public attention was successfully diverted by Ne Win from the uncontrollable inflation, scarcity of consumer items and rising prices of rice.
Today, the majority of Burmese Chinese live in the major cities of Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggyi, Bago, and their surrounding areas. According to Global Witness, 30 to 40% of Mandalay’s population consists of ethnic Chinese. Although there are Chinatowns (tayoke tan) in the major cities, the Chinese are widely dispersed. The northern region of Myanmar has seen an influx of mainland Chinese immigrant workers, black market traders and gamblers. In the Kachin State, which borders China in three directions, Mandarin Chinese is the lingua franca.
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