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Burma's first well known welfare plan was entitled Pyidawtha or Happy Land, and it was launched in 1952. In vernacular terms, the literal meaning of Pyidawtha is 'Prosperous Royal Country'. The government's attempt to sustain tradition and culture and to instil modern aspirations in its citizens was reflected in its choice of the word Pyidawtha. The Plan failed and its implications still overshadow the development framework of Burma. This paper discusses how the country's major decisions, including whether or not to join the Commonwealth, have been influenced by language; how the term and concept of 'development' were conceived; how the Burmese translation was coined to attract public support; and how the detailed planning was presented to the masses by the government. The paper also discusses the concerns and anxieties of the democratic government led by U Nu in introducing Burma's first major development plan to a war-torn and bitterly divided country, and why it eventually failed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a case study of the H...ôi An-Da Nang corridor in Qu...ang Nam province, Vi...êt Nam, to examine some of the pressures that whale worship - a traditional cultural practice of coastal fishing communities in central and southern Vi...êt Nam - has faced since the Đ...ôi M...ói reforms of 1986. Whale temples, the physical manifestation of the veneration of the whale as an ancestor of fishers, are coming under increasing pressure as tourism development displaces coastal communities from the shores and as the younger generations turn their back on the sea as a source of livelihood. The paper seeks to draw attention to a locally important manifestation of intangible cultural heritage, the existence of which is threatened even before the country's first tentative efforts at cultural heritage conservation come into full swing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]