Kinwon Min Gyi

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Kinwon Min Gyi (1831 - 1918) was a minister under King Mindon's and King Thibaw's reigns. He attempted to westernise the Burmese kingdom's existing bureaucracy into a more democratic system. Because of such attempts to do so, Kinwon Min Gyi was accused by many to have allowed Britain to win the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

Kinwon Min Gyi was born U Kaung. King Mindon, upon Crown Prince Ka Naung's assassination, named U Kaung a diplomat, and was renamed Kinwon Min Gyi U Kaung. In 1881, he led the first Burmese diplomatic group to Europe. After King Mindon's death, Kinwon Min Gyi lost much power. He ordered the Burmese troops during the Third Anglo-Burmese War to not attack invading British.

Under British colonial rule, Kinwon Min Gyi served as a civil servant in administration, writing many famous books and poems in Burmese literature.