Olive Yang

Olive Yang was born on 24 June 1927 in northern Shan States in British Burma. She received an education at Lashio's Guardian Angel's Convent School.[3] According to her relatives, she defied gender norms at a young age, resisting foot-binding[2] and, in one incident, bringing a gun to her school.[4]

At the age of 19, she organized ethnic Kokang forces, nicknamed the Olive's Boys, an army of over a thousand soldiers and consolidated control of opium trade routes from the highlands to lowlands.[5] She dominated Kokang's opium trade from the end of World War II to the early 1960s.[6] In the 1950s, after the Nationalist defeat and their subsequent expulsion from mainland China, she partnered with the Kuomintang to establish opium trade routes along the Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia).[7]

Her parents arranged a marriage to Twan Sao Wen, the son of Tamaing's chieftain. Her parents had died before her marriage in 1948.[8] From 1948 to 1950, she stayed with Twan and had a son, Duan Jipu (段吉卜),[2] in 1950, as she was expected to produce an heir. Her son is a teacher in Chiang Mai, Thailand.[1] According to her sister, Judy Yang, Twan was afraid of Olive. Olive had allegedly thrown a urine pot when he attempted to consummate the marriage.[8]

From the 1950s to the mid-1960s, she was the commander of the Kokang Kakweye (People's Defense Forces).[9] She was a prominent figure in opium trafficking and gold trading.[9] The Burmese government obtained the assistance of Yang and the Kokang Kakweye to force the Kuomintang forces out of Kokang.[10]^: 104 Yang and the Kokang Kakweye succeeded in 1953, but then collaborated with the Kuomintang in trafficking opium to Thailand throughout the 1950s; the Kuomintang continued to use these opium routes for decades.[10]^: 104 Her influence increased throughout the decade with the backing of the Kuomintang and Yang became the de facto ruler of the region.[11] She was arrested in 1962, along with her brother Jimmy, a member of parliament in Yangon, by Burmese authorities, to remove them from power and place Kokang territory under Burmese administration.[6][12] She was imprisoned at Insein Prison and released in 1968.[2]

Yang was known to be either a bisexual woman and/or a lesbian[4] who carried on affairs with film actresses and singers, including Wah Wah Win Shwe (ဝါဝါဝင်းရွှေ)[3][9] and Miss Burma winner and later KNLA fighter, Louisa Benson Craig.[4][13] Although she is widely thought to be bisexual, her apparent interest in men may be a false assumption based on Burmese society's understanding of gender non-conformity at the time and her marriage to Duan Jipu.[8] Many reports and letters from intelligence dispatched to Kokang during her rule often described her as 'manly-hearted.' She was called Uncle Olive by her soldiers but also referred to as a motherly figure. There is insufficient evidence on whether she would have considered herself anything other than a woman.[8]

In the late 1980s, she was recruited by Khin Nyunt to help broker ceasefires in Burma with ethnic rebel groups.[14] After her release, she reportedly spent her final years as a nun.[5] In 2003, after a period of chronic illness, she returned to Kokang, where she lived until her death at the age of 90.[15] She died after a short coma in Muse just outside Kokang, unable to return to Kokang in 2017.[8]