British Colonial Rangoon (This Is The Real Burma Book 2)
Description
Contrary to British Colonial Burma that existed for only 62 years Lover Burma and especially Rangoon were British colony for 95 years.
The British made Rangoon a key player in the network of international commerce and finance thus Rangoon was of considerable domestic and international significance and Burma's most sophisticated and important city as capital, financial and economic centre and hardly distinguishable from most of the important port cities in Asia and elsewhere.
Most of Rangoon's inhabitants (about 2 third) were foreigners, namely, British, Indians, Chinese, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, French, Germans, Americans, Jews, etc. but not Burmese. Today's Yangon is still a hotchpotch of different nationalities and races for which reason neither the past colonial Rangoon nor the present Yangon could and can be seen as part of the real Burma. However, British Colonial Rangoon has played a decisive role in and for Burma's history and has become integral part of it.
For this reason it is necessary to explore Rangoon/Yangon now before it is too late.
So far so good. Now allow me to say a few words about what we will be doing here and why we will do it. Usually, when tourists are coming to Rangoon/Yangon they just visit the Scott Market and maybe the Strand Hotel, walk a bit around and look at the one or other old building such as the General Post Office but are otherwise focused on pagodas; they visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Sule Pagoda and the Botataung Pagoda and that is it. In other words, they are more concerned with the 'Burmese Yangon' than the 'British Colonial Rangoon'. And that is a waste of the great opportunity to see the colonial Rangoon in detail. Now, at the end of 2014, it may be the last chance because the cityscape is changing fast now and soon many of the old buildings will either be gone or are not to be seen in their original form and traditional surroundings anymore.
Rangoon is the city with the largest number of British colonial buildings in all of south-east Asia. Owing to the till today existing relatively healthy mix of British colonial buildings (although many of them are unfortunately deteriorated and dilapidated) and Buddhist pagodas Yangon (especially downtown Yangon well known for its iconic colonial architecture) still has a charm all its own. But, alas, since old buildings with no regard for the extremely high value of this architectural heritage are recklessly demolished at an alarming speed and rate to make way for the construction of a large number of modern buildings the day that poor copies of 'Mies van der Rohe architecture' (also known as Industrial Architecture or Mid-Century Modernism) in the form of cheap and ugly high-rising glass, concrete and steel buildings will dominate the cityscape and destroy this charm forever will not be far off.
Yes, there is a Yangon Heritage Trust, founded by U Thant Myint Oo (grandson of U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971) comprising heritage advocates, architects and historians and there are also a Yangon Heritage List and a preservation law 'protecting' all buildings being older than 50 years from being demolished. But this law is relatively vague and I am most sceptical as to how effective these things will be in reality because Yangon's present reality means a narrow, short-sighted view of certain business interests and business here means making as much money as quick as possible without regard for anyone or anything else. This is the death nail for any serious programme that serves the preservation of colonial heritage. Therefore, I am afraid that the chance to see Yangon's collection of colonial-era buildings is fading fast. For this reason I have written this book as my contribution to the preservation of British Colonial Rangoon for posterity.
The British made Rangoon a key player in the network of international commerce and finance thus Rangoon was of considerable domestic and international significance and Burma's most sophisticated and important city as capital, financial and economic centre and hardly distinguishable from most of the important port cities in Asia and elsewhere.
Most of Rangoon's inhabitants (about 2 third) were foreigners, namely, British, Indians, Chinese, Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, French, Germans, Americans, Jews, etc. but not Burmese. Today's Yangon is still a hotchpotch of different nationalities and races for which reason neither the past colonial Rangoon nor the present Yangon could and can be seen as part of the real Burma. However, British Colonial Rangoon has played a decisive role in and for Burma's history and has become integral part of it.
For this reason it is necessary to explore Rangoon/Yangon now before it is too late.
So far so good. Now allow me to say a few words about what we will be doing here and why we will do it. Usually, when tourists are coming to Rangoon/Yangon they just visit the Scott Market and maybe the Strand Hotel, walk a bit around and look at the one or other old building such as the General Post Office but are otherwise focused on pagodas; they visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, the Sule Pagoda and the Botataung Pagoda and that is it. In other words, they are more concerned with the 'Burmese Yangon' than the 'British Colonial Rangoon'. And that is a waste of the great opportunity to see the colonial Rangoon in detail. Now, at the end of 2014, it may be the last chance because the cityscape is changing fast now and soon many of the old buildings will either be gone or are not to be seen in their original form and traditional surroundings anymore.
Rangoon is the city with the largest number of British colonial buildings in all of south-east Asia. Owing to the till today existing relatively healthy mix of British colonial buildings (although many of them are unfortunately deteriorated and dilapidated) and Buddhist pagodas Yangon (especially downtown Yangon well known for its iconic colonial architecture) still has a charm all its own. But, alas, since old buildings with no regard for the extremely high value of this architectural heritage are recklessly demolished at an alarming speed and rate to make way for the construction of a large number of modern buildings the day that poor copies of 'Mies van der Rohe architecture' (also known as Industrial Architecture or Mid-Century Modernism) in the form of cheap and ugly high-rising glass, concrete and steel buildings will dominate the cityscape and destroy this charm forever will not be far off.
Yes, there is a Yangon Heritage Trust, founded by U Thant Myint Oo (grandson of U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971) comprising heritage advocates, architects and historians and there are also a Yangon Heritage List and a preservation law 'protecting' all buildings being older than 50 years from being demolished. But this law is relatively vague and I am most sceptical as to how effective these things will be in reality because Yangon's present reality means a narrow, short-sighted view of certain business interests and business here means making as much money as quick as possible without regard for anyone or anything else. This is the death nail for any serious programme that serves the preservation of colonial heritage. Therefore, I am afraid that the chance to see Yangon's collection of colonial-era buildings is fading fast. For this reason I have written this book as my contribution to the preservation of British Colonial Rangoon for posterity.
