In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, Chinatown in Yangon's historic city-center was packed. Moving around required weaving through stalls selling fruit, donuts and crickets coated in salty sauce. The shrill vocals of a singer in a scarlet outfit, gesticulating on a stage, blended with the roar of generators placed on the pavements. Further down, a photographer's flash lit up a young woman in shorts as she posed on 19^th Street – the city's bar street. Young revelers lined the sidewalks, perched on stools around folding tables outside Cleopatra, Damn and Rangoon Mule, the neighborhood's most popular spots.

Seeing these pockets of hyperactivity that keep Yangon buzzing late into the night, one cannot help but notice a certain frenzy gripping the country's largest city (home to 6 million people). Yet, the economy is contracting (-1% between March 2024 and March 2025, according to the World Bank), inflation is soaring and tourists – Chinese or otherwise – are a rare sight.

The February 1, 2021, army coup – on the eve of the inauguration of a new democratic government led by Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) – conveniently took place during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the following weeks, Myanmar's youth, led by Yangon, rose in revolt. The military responded by opening fire. By the end of March 2021 alone, 400 people had died. By late April, the death toll had risen to 600.

Opponents of the junta began fleeing Yangon, which was tightly controlled by soldiers ready to commit the worst atrocities. Thousands were arrested and most are still in prison, including Suu Kyi, the former "Lady of Yangon," who is serving a 27-year sentence.

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