Editing Ne Win (section)

==Burmese Way to Socialism (1962–1988)==
{{Main|Burmese Way to Socialism}}
[[File:1964-05 1964年2月 周恩来陈毅访问缅甸 与奈温会谈.jpg|thumb|Ne Win with [[Zhou Enlai]] and [[Chen Yi (marshal)|Chen Yi]] during their visit to Burma on 31 May 1964]]
Ne Win oversaw a number of reforms after taking power. The administration instituted a system including elements of [[nationalism]], [[Marxism]], and [[Buddhism]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Win|first=Chong|date=23 December 2018|title=Brief history of Burma|url=http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/a+brief+history+of+burma/158170|website=News.Channel4|access-date=24 May 2010|archive-date=6 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106033235/http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/dispatches/a+brief+history+of+burma/158170|url-status=live}}</ref> though Ne Win lacked interest in either ideology or religion – terming this the [[Burmese Way to Socialism]]. He founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), which in 1964 was formally declared to be the only legal party.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Badgley|first=John H.|date=1 June 1938|title=Burma's China Crisis: The Choices Ahead|url=https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article-abstract/7/11/753/24067/Burma-s-China-Crisis-The-Choices-Ahead?redirectedFrom=fulltext|journal=Asian Survey|language=en|volume=7|issue=11|pages=753–761|doi=10.2307/2642500|jstor=2642500|issn=0004-4687|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108091247/https://online.ucpress.edu/as/article-abstract/7/11/753/24067/Burma-s-China-Crisis-The-Choices-Ahead?redirectedFrom=fulltext|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Following the 1962 coup, Ne Win's government began implementing policies highlighting the centrality of Buremse language, Burmese culture, and Burmese Buddhism to the unity of the country. Such policies focused on the school curriuculum, military recruitment, and the advancement of Burmese-centric popular culture. Ethnic schools and hospitals were nationalized, and new staff assigned from Rangoon. When ethnic minority areas did not comply, the communities were attacked by the military. Collectively these policies later became known as General Ne Win's "Burmanization" policies.<ref>Saw Eh Htoo and Tony Waters (2024) General Ne Win’s Legacy of Burmanization in Myanmar: The Challenge to Peace in the Twenty-First Century.  Singapore: Palgrave MacMillan.</ref>

A system of state hospitals and institutions was established in Burma; medical care was free. Private hospitals were brought under [[public ownership]]. A new system of public education was introduced. A campaign to liquidate illiteracy was carried out starting in 1965.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Fan|first=Hongwei|date=2012|title=The 1967 anti-Chinese riots in Burma and Sino–Burmese relations|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-studies/article/1967-antichinese-riots-in-burma-and-sinoburmese-relations/32233393B60BBE02A8AFB7AD92EEFC8A|journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies|language=en|volume=43|issue=2|pages=234–256|doi=10.1017/S0022463412000045|s2cid=159753249|issn=1474-0680|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=25 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200325073602/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-studies/article/1967-antichinese-riots-in-burma-and-sinoburmese-relations/32233393B60BBE02A8AFB7AD92EEFC8A|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Between 1962 and 1965 important laws against landlords and usury were adopted. They aimed at protecting peasants' rights to land and property and to renting the land. These measures included the law abolishing rents on land.<ref>Houtman, Gustaaf (1999). ''Mental culture in Burmese crisis politics: Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy''. ILCAA. {{ISBN|978-4-87297-748-6}}.</ref>

On 2 March 1974, he disbanded the [[Union Revolutionary Council|Revolutionary Council]] and proclaimed the [[Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma]]. He was elected [[president of Myanmar]] and shortly afterward appointed [[Brigadier General]] [[Sein Win (general, born 1919)|Sein Win]] as [[Prime Minister of Myanmar|Prime Minister]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Steinberg|first=David I.|date=1997|title=Burma's way to Economics and Politics|url=http://asiafoundation.org/pdf/wp5.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501111851/http://asiafoundation.org/pdf/wp5.pdf|archive-date=1 May 2011|access-date=17 November 2020|website=The Asia Foundation Working Paper Series.}}</ref> On 9 November 1981, Ne Win resigned as [[President of Myanmar|president]] and was succeeded in that post by General [[San Yu]]. However, Ne Win remained leader of the [[Burma Socialist Programme Party|party]] and thus remained the ultimate political authority in the land until his resignation in 1988.

===Economic policies===
[[File:1966-06 1966年刘少奇陈毅夫妇与缅甸奈温夫妇.jpg|thumb|Ne Win with Chinese president [[Liu Shaoqi]] in June 1966]]
Ne Win's government nationalized the [[Economy of Myanmar|economy]] and pursued a policy of [[autarky]], which involved the [[economic]] [[Isolationism|isolation]] of Burma from the world. The ubiquitous [[black market]] and rampant [[smuggling]] supplied the needs of the people, while the central government slid slowly into [[bankruptcy]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Power & Money: Economics and Conflict in Burma|url=http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/power-money-economics-and-conflict-burma|access-date=7 November 2020|website=www.culturalsurvival.org|date=9 April 2010 |language=en|archive-date=29 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201129020040/https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/power-money-economics-and-conflict-burma|url-status=live}}</ref> Autarky also involved expelling foreigners and restricting visits by foreigners to three days, and after 1972, one week. The Burmanization of the economy included the expulsion of many Chinese (along with Indians).<ref name=":Han">{{Cite book |last=Han |first=Enze |title=The Ripple Effect: China's Complex Presence in Southeast Asia |date=2024 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-769659-0 |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=141}} Ne Win's government prohibited foreigners from owning land and practicing certain professions.<ref name=":Han" />{{Rp|page=141}} Even foreign aid organizations were banned; the only [[humanitarian aid]] permitted was on an intergovernmental basis. Furthermore, heavy-handed [[Political repression|political oppression]] caused many in the educated workforce to emigrate.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Myanmar – Since independence|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Myanmar|access-date=7 November 2020|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=4 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504062055/https://www.britannica.com/place/Myanmar|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ne Win also took drastic steps regarding the [[Myanmar kyat|currency]]. In 1985, he issued a decree that 25, 35, and 75 kyat notes would cease to be legal tender, alleging that they were subject to hoarding by [[Black marketeer|black-marketeers]] and were also used to finance the various insurgencies. Though limited compensation was offered, this wiped out people's savings overnight. At least one insurgency, that of the ethnic [[Kayan people (Myanmar)|Kayan]], was triggered by this act.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 July 1988 |title=Burma: Prospects for Reform of Ne Win's 'No Win' Economic Policies" [censored word(s)#93; |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89G01321R000500010005-2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721205732/https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP89G01321R000500010005-2.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2021 |access-date=21 July 2021 |publisher=CIA}}</ref>

In 1987, reportedly on the recommendation of an [[Astrology|astrologer]] that [[Numerology|the number nine was auspicious]], Ne Win ordered the withdrawal of several large-denomination kyat notes while issuing new denominations of 45 and 90 kyats. Both 45 and 90 are divisible by nine, and their numerals add up to nine. Again, millions of [[Burmese people|Burmese]] lost their life savings, and the demonetization also rendered about 75% of the entire kyat reserves completely useless.<ref name="drowning">George Packer, [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/25/080825fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all "Drowning"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130132658/http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/25/080825fa_fact_packer?currentPage=all |date=30 November 2012 }}, ''The New Yorker'', 25 August 2008</ref> This crippled the Burmese economy further still.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Selochan|first1=Viberto|url=https://press.anu.edu.au/publications/military-and-democracy-asia-and-pacific|title=The Military and Democracy in Asia and the Pacific|last2=May|first2=Ron|year=2004|publisher=ANU Press|isbn=978-1-920942-00-7|language=en|access-date=17 November 2020|archive-date=5 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305033013/http://press.anu.edu.au//mdap/mobile_devices/ch03s05.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Ne Win was well known for his penchant for ''[[yadaya]]'' (traditional Burmese rituals performed in order to ward off misfortune).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bruinskeptics.org/2008/05/26/how-astrology-ruined-myanmars-economy/ |title=Bruin Alliance of Skeptics and Secularists » How Astrology Ruined Myanmar's Economy |access-date=2 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100803225416/http://bruinskeptics.org/2008/05/26/how-astrology-ruined-myanmars-economy/ |archive-date=3 August 2010 }}</ref> When his soothsayer warned him that there might be a bloodbath, he would stand in front of a mirror and trample on meat to simulate the blood, then shoot his reflection to avert the possibility of an [[assassination attempt]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dgmoen.net/video_trans/014.html |title=Inside Burma :: DGMoen.net :: Promoting Social Justice, Human Rights, and Peace |access-date=13 March 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430010209/http://www.dgmoen.net/video_trans/014.html |archive-date=30 April 2011 }}</ref>

Ne Win resigned as chairman of the ruling Burma Socialist Programme Party on 23 July 1988 at the height of the [[8888 Uprising|uprising against his regime]], and roughly one year after the United Nations declared Burma a "[[Developing country|Least Developed Country]]".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Smith|first=Martin|date=6 December 2002|title=Obituary: General Ne Win|language=en-GB|work=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/06/guardianobituaries|access-date=7 November 2020|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=18 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118073618/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/dec/06/guardianobituaries|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Student and worker riots===
Sporadic protests against the government continued. Students led protests in 1965, December 1969, and December 1970.<ref>Yawnghwe, Chao-Tzang. ''Burma: Depoliticization of the Political.'' cited in Alagappa, Muthiah. (1995). ''Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority.'' [[Stanford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-2560-6}}</ref> These demonstrations took place mainly on campuses located in the cities of [[Rangoon]], [[Mandalay]] and [[Mawlamyaing|Moulmein]] and were often followed by the closure of universities and colleges. In June 1974, workers from more than 100 factories throughout the nation participated in a strike, to which the government reacted by shooting about 100 workers and students on 6 June 1974 at the Thamaing Textile Factory and the Sinmalaik Dock Yard in Rangoon.<ref>{{Cite web|date=28 September 2007|title=The Burma road to ruin|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/28/burma.uk|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081122/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/sep/28/burma.uk|archive-date=4 March 2016|access-date=7 November 2020|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref> Since Ne Win was in [[Australia]] on an official visit at the time, responsibility for these shootings is unclear. On [[U Thant Funeral Crisis|5 December 1974]], students turned the funeral of former [[UN Secretary General]] [[U Thant]] into a demonstration, snatching the coffin on display at the [[Kyaikkasan Race Course]] and erecting a makeshift mausoleum on the grounds of the former Student Union building in protest against the government for not honouring their famous countryman with a state funeral.<ref>Fong, Jack. (2008). ''Revolution as Development: The Karen Self-determination Struggle Against Ethnocracy (1949–2004).'' Boca Raton, FL: BrownWalker Press. {{ISBN|978-1-59942-994-6}}</ref> The [[Tatmadaw|military]] stormed the campus on 11 December, killing some of the students, recovered the coffin and buried [[U Thant]] at the foot of the [[Shwedagon pagoda]], next to the tomb of [[Thakin Kodaw Hmaing]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Myanmar Data – Ne Win (Burmese: ေနဝင္‌း IPA: &#91;nè wín&#93;; 24 May or 14 May 1911 or 10 July 1910 – 5 December 2002; born Xiu Mao)|url=http://thetmsk.multiply.com/journal/item/9|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714132124/http://thetmsk.multiply.com/journal/item/9|archive-date=14 July 2011|access-date=2 July 2010}}</ref><ref>Callahan, Mary. (2001). ''Burma: Soldiers as State Builders.'' ch. 17. cited in Alagappa, Muthiah. (2001). ''Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia.'' [[Stanford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-8047-4227-6}}</ref>

=== 1967 anti-Chinese riots ===
{{Main|1967 anti-Chinese riots in Burma}}
[[File:Gen. Ne Win, Burmese P.M. touring Nesher Cement Factory in Ramleh (D783-105).jpg|thumb|228x228px|Gen. Ne Win, Burmese P.M, touring the Nesher Cement Factory in Ramleh.]]In February 1963, the Enterprise Nationalization Law was passed, effectively [[nationalizing]] all major industries and prohibiting the formation of new factories. This law adversely affected many [[industrialists]] and [[Entrepreneurship|entrepreneurs]], especially those without full [[citizenship]].<ref>Murray, ''Chinese Education in South-East Asia'', p. 190</ref> The government's [[economic]] [[nationalization]] program further prohibited foreigners, including the [[non-citizen]] [[Chinese people|Chinese]], from owning land, sending [[Remittance|remittances]], getting [[Business license|business licenses]] and [[Health care|practicing medicine]].<ref>Murray, ''Chinese Education in South-East Asia'', p. 191</ref> Such policies led to the beginnings of a major exodus of [[Burmese Chinese]] to other countries – some 100,000 Chinese left Burma.<ref name="ms">{{cite book|author=Martin Smith|year=1991|title= Burma – Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity|publisher=Zed Books|location=London, New Jersey|pages=39, 98, 153–154, 225–226}}</ref>

Since Ne Win made [[Burmese language|Burmese]] the medium of instruction, many [[Chinese language|Chinese-language]] schools had to be closed. When the [[Chinese embassy]] in [[Rangoon]] distributed [[Mao Zedong|Mao]]'s red books in Burma, many Chinese went out on the streets in support of the Cultural Revolution. They were attacked by [[Burmese citizenship|Burmese citizens]], the most violent [[Riot|riots]] taking place in 1967.<ref name="ms"/> Beginning in 1967 and continuing throughout the 1970s, [[Anti-Chinese sentiment|anti-Chinese]] riots continued to flare up, as many elements in Burma tried to spread the [[Cultural Revolution]]. Many believed they were covertly supported by the government.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steinberg |first=David L. |title=Burma: The State of Myanmar |year=2002 |publisher=Georgetown University Press |isbn=0-87840-893-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/burmastateofmyan0000stei }}</ref> Similarly, [[Chinese shopping centers|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. The 1982 Citizenship Law further restricted Burmese citizenship for Burmese Chinese (as it stratified citizenship into three categories: full, associate, and naturalized) and severely limited Burmese Chinese, especially those without full [[citizenship]] and those holding FRCs, from attending professional tertiary schools, including [[medical]], [[engineering]], [[Agriculture|agricultural]] and [[economics]] [[Institution|institutions]].<ref name="ls">{{cite book | author=Mya Than | editor=Leo Suryadinata | year=1997 | title=Ethnic Chinese As Southeast Asians | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan US |isbn=0-312-17576-0|url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ethnicchineseass0000unse }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Richter|first=Frank-Jürgen|title=Business networks in Asia: promises, doubts, and perspectives|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1999|page=186|isbn=978-1-56720-302-8}}</ref> During this period, the country's failing economy and widespread discrimination accelerated an emigration of Burmese Chinese out of Burma.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hogwei|first=Fan|date=28 June 2017|title=Anti-Chinese riots rock Rangoon|language=en-IN|work=[[The Hindu]]|url=https://www.thehindu.com/archive/anti-chinese-riots-rock-rangoon/article19156090.ece|access-date=17 November 2020|issn=0971-751X|archive-date=8 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108124944/https://www.thehindu.com/archive/anti-chinese-riots-rock-rangoon/article19156090.ece|url-status=live}}</ref>