Sao Kya Seng or Sao Kya Hseng ( my, စဝ်ကြာဆိုင်; shn, ၸဝ်ႈၵျႃႇသႅင်; 1924 – disappeared 3 March 1962) was a politician, a

mining engineer Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

, an

agriculturalist An agriculturist, agriculturalist, agrologist, or agronomist (abbreviated as agr.), is a professional in the science, practice, and management of agriculture and agribusiness. It is a regulated profession in Canada, India, the Philippines, the ...

and the last

Saopha Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...

Hsipaw State Hsipaw ( shn, သီႇပေႃႉ), also known as Thibaw ( my, သီပေါနယ်) was a Shan state in what is today Myanmar. Its capital was Hsipaw town. Hsipaw State was perhaps one of the most well known and powerful Shan States ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, from 1947 to 1959.

Biography

He studied

mining engineering Mining in the engineering discipline is the extraction of minerals from underneath, open pit, above or on the ground. Mining engineering is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, and ...

at the

Colorado School of Mines The Colorado School of Mines, informally called Mines, is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, founded in 1874. The school offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, science, and mathematics, with a focus on ener ...

Golden, Colorado Golden is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city that is the county seat of Jefferson County, Colorado, Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 20,399 at the 2020 United States Censu ...

, United States, from 1949 to 1953. He graduated with a

BSc A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

degree in 1953 and then married. His bride, Sao Nang Thu Sandi or Inge Eberhard, a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

-speaking

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n student who had received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1951, was studying at

Colorado Women's College Colorado Women's College was a division of the University of Denver in Denver, Colorado, focusing on evening, weekend, and online courses for women. It originally opened in 1909 as a private women's college and merged with the University of Denver ...

, a constituent college of

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private university, private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Mountain States, Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is ...

. In 1954, he returned to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

with her, and they had two daughters, Mayari and Kennari. After arrival, they were crowned as

saopha Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...

and mahadevi although Sao Kya Seng had already held this title since 1947. He abdicated in 1959. He served as a member of the

Chamber of Nationalities The Chamber of Nationalities ( my, လူမျိုးစုလွှတ်တော်) was the upper house of the bicameral Union Parliament of Burma (Myanmar) from 1948 to 1962. Under the 1947 Constitution, bills initiated and passed by the ...

from 1954 to 1962 which was

upper house An upper house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smalle ...

of Burma from 1948 to 1962, member for Shan State Council and secretary for the Association of Shan Princes from 1954 to 1962, representing

Hsipaw Hsipaw ( shn, သီႇပေႃႉ; Tai Nuea: ᥔᥤᥴ ᥙᥨᥝᥳ), also known as Thibaw ( my, သီပေါ), is the principal town of Hsipaw Township in Shan State, Myanmar on the banks of the Duthawadi River. It is north-east of Mandal ...

constituency,

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

. He was arrested in 1962 after General

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

's 1962 Burmese coup d'état. Sao Kya Seng was last seen being taken into custody at an army checkpoint near

Taunggyi Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of , just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth lar ...

. It was later revealed that he was killed during his detention that year by the military government, who never admitted responsibility. Sao Kya Seng was considered by the Shan people as one of the Shan national leaders who promoted

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...

and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

, together with

Sao Shwe Thaik Sao Shwe Thaik ( shn, ၸဝ်ႈၶမ်းသိူၵ်ႈ, ''Tsaw³ Kham⁴soek³''; my, စဝ်ရွှေသိုက်, ; 16 October 1895 – 21 November 1962) was a Burmese politician who served as the first president of the Un ...

and

Sao Hkun Hkio Sao Hkun Hkio ( my, စဝ်ခွန်ချို, ; 19 August 1912 – 21 October 1990) was a Burmese political figure and diplomat who served as acting Foreign Minister of Myanmar in 1948, 4th Foreign Minister of Myanmar (1950-1958, & ...

. His nephew,

Khun Htun Oo Khun Htun Oo ( my, ခွန်ထွန်းဦး, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၶုၼ်ထုၼ်းဢူ, 11 September 1943 – 30 April 2022) was a chairman of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) and a politician who was imprisoned ...

, son of his elder brother Sao Kyar Zon, served as president of Shan National League for Democracy, a major political party representing

Shan people The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in th ...

In popular culture

Sao Kya Seng's wife, Inge, wrote a book, ''Twilight Over Burma: My Life as a Shan Princess'', in 1994 about her marriage and life in Burma. The book became the film, ''

Twilight Over Burma ''Twilight Over Burma'' ( my, မြန်မာ့ဆည်းဆာ) is a 2015 Austrian biographical film based on the eponymous novel, an autobiography written by Inge Sargent, the Austrian-born consort of Sao Kya Seng, the last saopha of Hsip ...

'', in 2015. The film was banned in both Myanmar and Thailand.

References

External links

Thailand Joins Myanmar in Banning Movie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kya Seng, Sao Colorado School of Mines alumni People from Hsipaw Burmese politicians 1924 births 1962 deaths Burmese people of Shan descent