| Description |
xv, 219 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm |
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text txt rdacontent |
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cartographic image cri rdacontent |
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still image sti rdacontent |
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unmediated n rdamedia |
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volume nc rdacarrier |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 201-204) and index. |
| Summary |
"Opium Queen is the true story of the widely mythologized genderqueer Burmese opium-pioneer of noble Chinese descent, Olive Yang, who secretly ran an anti-communist rebel army supported by the CIA in the 1950s heyday of the Golden Triangle"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Contents |
The country formerly known as Burma -- Before there was a Golden Triangle -- Man, woman, myth, or legend? -- Olive's coming-out -- A curse on the House of Yang -- Operation Paper and the Queen of Kokang -- The olive branch -- In prison, in love, in Mandalay -- You shall not say her name -- Sensuous Opium Queen, Miss Hairy Legs -- Call me Uncle -- A shame to earn great riches -- The right man for a favor. |
| Summary |
1950s. After escaping an arranged marriage with a noble cousin, Olive Yang felt that she had no choice but to lead a life of banditry with an anti-communist rebel army supported by the CIA. As her smuggling empire grew, she became powerful and infamous: novelists were inspired to write about her evil ruthlessness and beauty. To the Kokang people whom the Yang family once ruled, Olive was both folk-hero and villain. To the communists Olive's men harassed, she was the saboteur of the historic Sino-Burmese border agreement. To the generals who jailed her at the dawn of the Burmese military era, she was a national security threat. Through interviews with the Yang family, Olive emerges as a complex anti-hero, searching for a way to live as an open homosexual in an era when such a lifestyle was considered deeply shameful in Burma. The great military alliances that facilitate narcotics traffic in Myanmar today are Olive's lasting legacy in the Golden Triangle, as is the disenfranchisement of the people of Kokang. -- adapted from jacket |
| Subject |
Yang, Olive, 1927-2017.
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Opium trade -- Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia) -- History -- 20th century.
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Gender-nonconforming people -- Burma -- Biography.
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Anti-communist movements -- Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia) -- History -- 20th century.
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Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia) -- History -- 20th century.
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| Genre |
Biographies.
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| ISBN |
9781538131978 hardcover : $26.95 |
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1538131978 hardcover |
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