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Burmese Colonial Architecture
By Lindsay Kuhlmann
“Rangoon’s
urban landscape is still dominated by colonial-era buildings,
especially in the
Central Business District fronted by the Rangoon
River, site of
pre-world War Two
“plural society’ that included large, economically active populations
of
immigrant Indians and Chinese. Despite the encroachment of post-1988
high-rise
structures, the foreign visitor can still see a colonial-era downtown
unmatched
anywhere in Asia." (Seekins, pg 258)
This quote
found
in Donald M. Seekins' “The State and the City: 1988 and the
Transformation of Rangoon” is
something that I related to when visiting Yangon. The architecture of the city
appeared to be stuck in
time.
Looking out of my thirteenth floor hotel window I could see the
decaying
structures
of the colonial era. Except for the few new hotel buildings, which must
have
been funded by the government, the buildings were deteriorating. These
observations also relate to what Seekins describes in the article as “a
new
line of military leaders aggressively transformed the capital city in
line with
strategic, commercial and ideological goals" (Seekins, pg 258).
Everywhere that I
visited it was almost impossible not to financially support the
government.
From the hotels to the airlines many of the tourist industries seemed
to be
controlled by the military regime in power or at the very least heavily
taxed
by the government. Ethically I found it very confusing to visit Burma.
I wanted to support the people of Burma
with the money I spent in the country but found it very difficult.
Every
transaction I made, in the back of my mind I wondered who would really
benefit
from this money? After reading “The Heart of Burma” by Maura Stephens,
I wasn’t
sure if I was acting as a responsible member of the international
society.
In the
end only time will tell me.
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