KHIN MYO CHIT (1915-1999)
La Grande Dame de la Burmese Writing
by
Dr.Khin Mauug Win
Very few people know that her real name is Ma Khin Mya. Her close relatives and friends call her by her real name. Young people call her Ma Ma Mya or Aunty Mya. Older people call her Ma Khin Mya. But to most people she was known under her pen name, “Khin Myo Chit”.
She was born at the time when people generally had low expectations of woman, when no parent would hear of a young respectable lady entering a profession, and a humanatarian education may be permitted, but only to be able to write B.A under one’s name and make impressions on people. “What a pity she’s a girl.” that’s what she always heard people saying all the time.
Her grandmother had been a maid of honour at the court of King Mindon. Many times, she recounted to her the events leading to the mass execution of King Thibaw’s royal relatives by the Queen Suphayalait. “It’s a blot on our history”, she used to say. She then related to her how the great warrior princes like the Prince Kanaung, the Thonsaire Minthagyi (literally translated the great Prince Thirty, so named because he could climb up a wall of thirty yards in height using his bare hands and feet) and many others were executed during an internal intrigue.” We lost all the great warrior princes, so that when the British marched to the capital city of Upper Burma, there was not even one person to throw a stone at the invaders.”
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