A Study On The Changes Of Political Status Of Chinese Community In Myanmar After World WarⅡ

The Overseas Chinese in Myanmar, just like those in other Southeast Asian countries, have undergone profound transformations since World War II. This dissertation looks at these changes by starting at the political status of the Chinese community in Myanmar and then interpreting the changes in details.The emigration of Chinese to Myanmar can be dated back so far, yet the Chinese community in Myanmar had remained a small scale and maintained a strong tendency of assimilation before the 20th century. After the 20 century the Chinese community in Myanmar began to expand and the process of assimilation slowed down. At this time the nationalism germinated in the Chinese community in Myanmar, and they gradually maintained close links with the destiny of China. This greatly affected the post-war Chinese community in Myanmar regarding the political status, the scale and willingness of naturalization and the relations with China, etc. The Overseas Chinese in Myanmar had their fundamental rights and interests guaranteed under AFPFL regime. The ethnic Chinese could have been politically active and were free to vote as well, yet because of the political situation in Myanmar and also some other reasons, they didn't take much interest in politics. In 1962, the Ne Win Military government came into power, Ethnic Chinese suffered great discrimination to the extent that they became sub-citizens overnight and their political and economical status came down to the world. The circumstances and the plight of the Overseas Chinese became worse with the "Burmese Socialism" being implemented and the interrelations between the two countries growing deteriorated.This dissertation not only deals with the post-war political status of the Chinese community in Myanmar through historical dimension but also makes a transverse comparative analysis between the two ethnic groups in Myanmar: the Chinese and the Indians. The comparative study reveals that the historical development of the post-war political status of the Indian community in Myanmar is almost the same as that of the Chinese community in Myanmar. Thereby, a law of the characteristics of the two communities as emigration society can be concluded from this study, i.e. a) the corresponding policies made by the Burmese government are the decisive external factors to cause the changes of the two migration societies, b) to stick to their own cultures and traditions and keep in touch with their motherlands are the common goals for them to reach, c) the principal impetus for assimilation of the two communities was for the sake of their own interests and benefits, thus the two communities tended to be assimilated into the local society economically and politically first, yet both their cultural and national identity lagged behind. That is, the process of their assimilations was uneven.