U Pe Maung Tin
Symposium 1998
U Pe Maung Tin, an outstanding Burmese scholar and educator, whose working productive life spanned three quarters of the 20th century, was born in 1888. His centenary should have been celebrated in 1988 but people were too much occupied with the turmoil of
that year.

Ten years on, his youngest daughter Tin Tin Myaing (Brenda Pe Maung Tin) called together former colleagues, former students, friends and family members and, in collaboration with SOAS, University of London, arranged a symposium from 11th-13th September 1998, dedicated to her father and his work.

Speakers came from Myanmar, USA, France, Germany, Japan and of course Britain. There was a packed programme of some 15 papers and tributes delivered in English on 12th September, and further tributes in Burmese on Sunday 13th. His numerous translations from Pali and Burmese, publications, grammars and review articles were on display in SOAS library. Some of the most important papers from the symposium will be published in a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Burma Studies, together with an overview by Anna Allott drawing on the tributes of many of the speakers, further articles published in Myanmar at the time of his death in 1973 and later in 1999, together with her own experience as a student of U Pe Maung Tin's in 1953.

Denise Bernot (INaLCO, Paris), 'U Pe Maung Tin: Researcher, Scholar, Pedagogue. His Contribution to Burmese Studies in France'. Patricia Herbert (formerly at the British Library), 'Professor U Pe Maung Tin (1888-1973) - a Bibliographical Appreciation.Dr Tilman Frasch (Heidelberg, Germany), 'Notes on Dipavamsa: an early publication by Professor U Pe Maung Tin.'Alan Saw U, (Executive Secretary and Editor, Myanmar christian Literature Society), 'Professor Dr.U Pe Maung Tin - a reflection on his Christian life and work.'Anna Allot (SOAS, London), 'Professor U Pe Maung Tin: a reappraisal of the debt owed to an outstanding Burmese scholar and educator.'