Introduction to Myanmar
The official name is Republic of the Union of Myanmar, abbreviated as ‘Myanmar’. Although the country’s name was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, many Western countries and media still insist on the previous name ‘Burma’, and both names are still used simultaneously.
It borders India and the Indian Ocean to the west, China to the northeast, and Thailand and Laos to the east. It is located in a geopolitical location that connects Asia’s representative civilizations, India and China, by land. Its land area is three times that of the Korean Peninsula, making it the largest land area in continental Southeast Asia. Rice farming developed early on around the Irrawaddy River, and various underground resources are abundant.
Immediately after independence from Britain in 1948, it started as a parliamentary democracy, but a coup in 1962 brought about a military regime promoting ‘Burmese-style socialism’, and in 1988, a new military government emerged that suppressed citizens’ demands for democratization by force. The National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election, but the military government never accepted the transfer of power, and even after a constitutional amendment in 2008, it was not until 2016 that a horizontal transfer of power by the people’s choice occurred.
The federal administrative district consists of seven administrative provinces (region or taing), where the Burmese people mainly reside, and seven ethnic provinces (state or pyine), where ethnic minorities reside. In 2006, the capital was moved inland from Yangon on the southern coast, and the new capital was named Naypyidaw.
Culture of Myanmar
The major holidays and festivals in Myanmar are as follows: Every year, February 12th is called Union Day, and it commemorates the agreement to create a federation in Panglong in 1947. Myanmar, which has many Buddhists, holds the Tabaung Festival, a Buddhist event meant to purify one’s mind and not commit sins, on March 8th, according to the Myanmar calendar.
March in the Myanmar calendar corresponds to our December, so it has the meaning of the year-end and New Year holidays. April is January in the Myanmar calendar, that is, the first month of the new year, and the festival commemorating it is ‘Thin Jian’. A water-sprinkling ceremony is held to wash away the old dirt from last year. In addition, there are major public holidays, as follows: In the 2020 election, the NLD once again won a landslide victory and the regime was extended, but in February 2021, the military staged a coup and returned to military rule again.
It is a representative multi-ethnic country in Asia. The Burmese, who mainly believe in Buddhism, make up two-thirds of the total population, and the remaining third is made up of 135 ethnic groups. There is a lot of conflict between the Burmese people and other ethnic minorities due to the different identities of various ethnic groups.
Sports
In Myanmar, which had been under British colonial rule for a long time, almost all sports that were popular in Britain were introduced and became popular early on. Examples include tennis, golf, cricket, rugby, and soccer. The most popular sport in Myanmar today is soccer, which is treated as the national flag of Burma. There is a record that even the military regime, which wanted to eliminate traces of British colonial rule, could not even restrict soccer, so it is said to be culturally suited to the constitution of the Myanmar people.
In fact, among Myanmar’s traditional sports, it is easy to find scenes of players enjoying a ball game called ‘chinlone’, in which players throw the ball with any part of the body except the hands, similar to soccer. Myanmar soccer reached its heyday in the late 1960s and early 1970s, surpassing its Korean rivals and reigning supreme in Asia. He finished second at the 1968 Asian Cup and won gold medals at the 1966 and 1970 Asian Games. In 1971, they shared the championship with Korea in the 1st Korea Cup International Football Tournament (Box Cup) held in Korea and beat Korea in the 2nd and 3rd tournaments, recording their 3rd consecutive victory in the tournament.
Tourism in Myanmar
It is no exaggeration to say that Myanmar is a national tourist destination, with Buddhist and ancient ruins found everywhere. However, since the 1960s, the military regime severed ties with the West and pursued a self-sufficient economy, making it virtually impossible to freely tour Myanmar before the 2000s. The boom in tourism in Myanmar began again in 2012, when the country’s untouched natural scenery and Buddhist ruins became popular around the world. Although the tourism infrastructure is not comparable to that of neighboring Thailand, the ancient kingdom’s wondrous scenery combined with pristine nature is evaluated as unrivaled.
Myanmar historical sites listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List include Bagan, located near Mandalay, and Halin, Beikthano, and Sriksetra, the ruins of three major cities of the ancient Pyu kingdom. Ksetra (the ancient city of Pyu). Both places retain the rich cultural and archaeological heritage left behind by early Buddhism in Myanmar. In particular, the Bagan region, which served as the capital of the Kingdom of Bagan between the 11th and 13th centuries, is attracting attention as a must-visit course as it has many amazing buildings, so much so that it is called ‘the three most sacred places of Buddhism in the world.’ In addition, UNESCO is reviewing candidate sites to be added to Myanmar’s World Cultural Heritage list, and the list of five is as follows:.
Conclusion
It is a country with the largest land area in continental Southeast Asia and is of geopolitical importance as it connects China and India by land. It is a federal state that combines 135 ethnic groups other than the Burmese, and in the name of resolving the long-standing conflict between them, military dictatorship continued for over 60 years after 1962. Since 2011, a civilian government has emerged and reform and opening have been achieved, but a military coup occurred again in February 2021, leading to continued political and social chaos.