MYANMAR

officially Union of Myanmar, also called Burma, Burmese Myanmar, or Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw country lying along the eastern coasts of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in southeast Asia. The country is about 1,275 miles (2,050 km) long from north to southincluding its 400-mile (640-kilometre) strip along the Malay Peninsulaand about 580 miles (935 km) from east to west at its widest extent. Myanmar is bordered on the southeast by Thailand and Laos, on the northeast by China, and on the northwest by Bangladesh and the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram. Its coastline, on the south and southwest, borders the Bay of Bengal, the Gulf of Martaban, and the Andaman Sea. The capital is Yangn (Rangoon). Area 261,228 square miles (676,577 square km). Pop. (1993 est.) 44,613,000. officially Union of Myanmar, also called Burma, Burmese Myanmar, or Pyidaungzu Myanma Naingngandaw country located in the western portion of mainland Southeast Asia. It has an area of 261,228 square miles (676,577 square kilometres). It is bordered by China to the north and northeast, Laos to the east, Thailand to the southeast, the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal to the south and southwest, Bangladesh to the west, and India to the northwest. In 1989 the country's official English name was changed from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar; in the Burmese language the country has been known as Myanma (or, more precisely, Mranma Pra) since the 13th century. Also in 1989, the English name of the capital, Rangoon, was dropped in favour of the common Burmese name, Yangn. In this article, the name Burma is used for the country during the period of British rule (18851948) and during the subsequent period of independence until 1989; the name Myanmar is used in all other contexts. Myanmar stretches from latitude 10 N to about 28 30 N. It is thus the northernmost of the Southeast Asian countries, with considerable territory situated outside the tropics. The country is shaped like a kite with a long tail that runs south along the Malay Peninsula. Its total length from north to south is about 1,275 miles (2,050 kilometres), and its width at the widest part, across the centre of the country at about the latitude of Mandalay, is approximately 580 miles from east to west. Additional reading Frederica M. Bunge (ed.), Burma: A Country Study, 3rd ed. (1983), is an overview. Many of the English-language works on Myanmar's geography were produced by the British during the colonial period. Among these are the still invaluable Burma Gazetteer, 30 vol. (18681935), with detailed surveys of different administrative districts; The British Burma Gazetteer, 2 vol. (187980, reprinted as Gazetteer of Burma, 1987); J. George Scott and J.P. Hardiman (compilers), Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States, 3 vol. in 5 (190001, reprinted 2 vol. in 5, 1983); and H.L. Chhibber, The Physiography of Burma (1933, reprinted 1975). Also dated but still useful is Hellmut De Terra and Hallam L. Movius, Jr., Research on Early Man in Burma, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, new series, 32(3):267393 (1943). Michael Aung-Thwin, Irrigation in the Heartland of Burma (1990), studies the productive capacity and geography of precolonial Myanmar. Agriculture is detailed in M.Y. Nuttonson, The Physical Environment and Agriculture of Burma (1963), a brief, technical study; Cheng Siok-Hwa, The Rice Industry of Burma, 18521940 (1968), the only book-length study in English covering the topic during that period; and U Khin Win, A Century of Rice Improvement in Burma (1991), a more recent study.Michael Aung-Thwin, Spirals in Early Southeast Asian and Burmese History, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 21(4):575602 (Spring 1991), is a theoretical and conceptual treatment of broad historical patterns. G.H. Luce, Phases of Pre-Pagn Burma, 2 vol. (1985), studies the 9th century in detail. Aung Thaw, Historical Sites in Burma (1972), deals with the pre-Pagan period. G.H. Luce et al., Old BurmaEarly Pagn, 3 vol. (196970), is the classic study of this kingdom. Michael Aung-Thwin, Pagan: The Origins of Modern Burma (1985), studies the kingdom's institutional history. Paul J. Bennett, The Fall of Pagan': Continuity and Change in 14th-Century Burma, in his Conference Under the Tamarind Tree: Three Essays in Burmese History (1971), pp. 353, assesses the manner in which continuity and change made their mark on early Myanmar history. Michael Aung-Thwin, The Role of Sasana Reform in Burmese History: Economic Dimensions of a Religious Purification, The Journal of Asian Studies, 38(4):671688 (August 1979), details the economic relationship between church and state. Victor B. Lieberman, Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 15801760 (1984), analyzes the Toungoo dynasty. William J. Koenig, The Burmese Polity, 17521819 (1990), studies the early period of the last Myanmar dynasty. Oliver B. Pollak, Empires in Collision: Anglo-Burmese Relations in the Mid-Nineteenth Century (1979), treats British policy and its effects on later colonization. Dorothy Woodman, The Making of Burma (1962), is the most thorough account of theretofore secret British decisions in the colonization of Burma. Michael Adas, The Burma Delta: Economic Development and Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 18521941 (1974), traces the agricultural development of this area and its significance on modern history. John F. Cady, A History of Modern Burma (1958, reissued 1965), is still the most complete text on the early years of the modern country. Josef Silverstein, Burmese Politics (1980), offers a Western perspective on 20th-century politics. More recent studies on the modern state include Robert H. Taylor, The State in Burma (1987); David I. Steinberg, Burma: A Socialist Nation of Southeast Asia (1982); and Martin Smith, Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity (1991). Michael Arthur Aung-Thwin Administration and social conditions Government Myanmar's constitution came into force on Jan. 4, 1974, the 26th anniversary of the country's independence. According to the constitution, supreme power rested with a unicameral People's Assembly (Pyithu Hluttaw), which exercised legislative, executive, and judicial authority. By the late 1980s the assembly consisted of 489 members, who were elected to four-year terms. The organs of the People's Assembly were the Council of State, the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the Council of People's Justices, the Council of People's Attorneys, and the Council of People's Inspectors. The Council of State consisted of 29 members: one representative elected from each of the country's 14 states and divisions, an equal number elected by the People's Assembly as a whole, and the prime minister as an ex officio member. The Council of State elected its own chairman, who was ex officio president of the country, and its own secretary. The president and the secretary were also, respectively, the chairman and the secretary general of the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP). The Council of State appointed senior civil servants and deputy ministers and submitted lists of names for election by the assembly of the prime minister and the councils of ministers, justices, attorneys, and inspectors. The Council of People's Justices was the equivalent of a supreme court in a parliamentary democracy; the Council of People's Attorneys was comparable to an attorney general and the Council of People's Inspectors to an auditor general. From 1962 to 1988 the official political party was the BSPP. Membership at first was restricted to cadres, but, after the party held its first national assembly in 1971, its membership was widened so that it became a national party. Civil servants and members of the armed forces, as well as workers and peasants, were members, and senior military officials and civil servants were included in the party's hierarchy. In September 1988 the armed forces took control of the government, creating a new ruling body, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). All state organs, including the People's Assembly, the Council of State, and the Council of Ministers, were abolished, and their duties were assumed by the SLORC. A Supreme Court was established as the supreme judicial authority, its members appointed by the SLORC. The law maintaining the BSPP as the sole political party was abrogated, and new parties were encouraged to register for general elections to a new Constituent Assembly, which would revise the 1974 constitution. More than 90 parties participated in the elections, which were held in May 1990; of these the most important were the ruling BSPP, which had changed its name to the National Unity Party (NUP), and the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). The NLD won an overwhelming majority of seats to the new assembly, but the SLORC did not permit the assembly to convene until January 1993. Myanmar is divided administratively into seven states based largely on ethnicityArakan (Rakhine), Chin, Kachin, Karen (Kayin), Kayah, Mon, and Shanand seven more truly administrative divisions of Myanmar properIrrawaddy (Ayeyarwady), Magwe (Magway), Mandalay, Pegu (Bago), Yangn, Sagaing, and Tenasserim (Taninthary). Until 1988 there were several levels of local People's Councilsdivision or state, township, and ward or villagethat followed the pattern of the People's Assembly; local and national elections were held simultaneously. Every council had an Executive Committee and a Judges' Committee, and all but the village or ward councils also had a Committee of Inspectors. The Judges' Committee sat as the local court, exercising criminal and civil jurisdiction. In 1988 the SLORC dissolved these bodies and assumed control of local administration. Armed forces Myanmar's armed forces consist of an army, a navy, and an air force. The army is by far the largest and best-equipped of the three branches, and for a number of years it has borne the chief responsibility for combating armed insurgency within the country. Members of the armed forces are recruited from throughout the country, and military service is a prime means of improving socioeconomic status. The police force, although armed and equipped and often used as a branch of the army in emergencies, remains essentially civilian in character and regional in organization. Cultural life Ruins of ancient Buddhist temples, Pagan, Myanmar. Myanmar's traditional culture is an amalgam of folk and royal culture. Buddhism has been a part of Myanmar's culture since the 1st century AD and has blended with non-Buddhist beliefs. The most conspicuous manifestation of Buddhist culture is the magnificent architecture and sculpture of Myanmar's many temples and monasteries, notably those at Pagan, Mandalay, and Yangn. In 1886 the traditional drama appeared to be dying with the elimination of the monarchy, but it had permeated the masses and survived as part of the folk tradition. With the growth of nationalism and regaining of independence, it gathered new strength. The most popular dramatic form is the pwe, which is performed outdoors. There are a variety of pwe genres, but most often the subject matter is taken from the Jatakas, the stories of the former lives of the Buddha. Traditional musical forms, influenced by those from neighbouring lands, are highly percussive. Dance forms are derived largely from southern India. Wood carving, lacquerwork, goldwork, silverwork, and the sculpting of Buddhist images and mythological figures also survived during colonial rule; there has been a revival of these indigenous art traditions under government patronage. Both the arts of bronze casting among the Burmans and of making bronze drums among the Karen, however, disappeared. The traditional marionette show also declined, although occasionally there have been attempts to revive it. The cinema and rock music are two Western art forms that have been accepted in the cultural life of Myanmar. Burmese literature is an intimate blend of religious and secular genres. It remained alive throughout the colonial period and, both in verse and prose, has continued to thrive. A later (though not entirely new) development was biography, which has become more popular than fiction. Government-sponsored awards are given annually for the best translation, the best novel, and the best biography. There are state schools of dance, music, drama, and fine arts at Yangn and Mandalay. The National Museum is at Yangn, and there are regional museums at Pagan, Mandalay, and other regional centres. Maung Htin Aung Michael Arthur Aung-Thwin