'Runaway chickens' and Myanmar identity: Relocating Burma's capital

摘要

In terms of its landscape, design, and central location within the country, Burma's (Myanmar's) new capital of Naypyidaw, established in 2003, reflects the aspirations of its founder, Senior General Than Shwe, head of the State Peace and Development Council military junta. His goals have been not only to enhance state security through the new capital's central location and relative isolation, but also to construct a new 'Myanmar identity' based on ethnic-racial unity rather than political pluralism. The author concludes that the decision to quit the old capital Rangoon was made because of its long history of popular unrest and its central role in the historical development of an insurgent tradition of 'revolutionary nationalism.'