Joining Service
After the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1853, he joined the court service of King Mindon (who had deposed his half brother, King Tharrawaddy), who renamed him U Kaung (ဦးကောင်း, lit. "good", considered more favorable than his birth name Chin) and appointed him the Clerk of the Royal Treasury (ရွှေတိုက်စာရေး). In 1871, he was appointed minister of third rank (ဝန်ထောက်) at the Hluttaw, the national governing body and was responsible for the country's police and customs stations, where he earned his moniker Kinwun (lit. 'minister of the patrol stations').
In 1871, he led the first Burmese diplomatic group to Europe and successfully asserted Burmese sovereignty. In preparation for the trip, he rose to the rank of Wungyi, the chief minister. There, he was received by Queen Victoria and invested Prince of Wales (later to be King Edward VII) and William Ewart Gladstone gold salwe of 21 and 18 strings respectively. he and his embassy, consisting of Shwe O (later the Kyaukmyaung Atwinwun) and Shwe Bin and Maung Mye (later the Debayin Wundauk). By 1872, he had risen to the rank of regional governor of Minhla District.
Before King Mindon's death in 1878, U Kaung was made Commander-in-Chief. After King Mindon's death, Kinwun Mingyi lost much of his influence. He ordered the Burmese troops during the Third Anglo-Burmese War to not attack invading British. U Kaung's role in the initial collapse of Burmese resistance later gave rise to the popular mnemonic U Kaung lein htouk, minzet pyouk ("U Kaung's treachery, end of dynasty", ဦးကောင်းလိမ်ထုတ် မင်းဆက်ပြုတ်), corresponding to Burmese Era 1247 or 1885 AD in Burmese numerology.
Read more about this topic: Kinwun Mingyi U Kaung
Famous quotes containing the words joining and/or service:
“Women will not advance except by joining together in cooperative action.... Unlike other groups, women do not need to set affiliation and strength in opposition one against the other. We can readily integrate the two, search for more and better ways to use affiliation to enhance strength—and strength to enhance affiliation.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“The master class seldom lose a chance to insult a woman who has the ability for something besides service to his lordship.”
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