As someone interested in 1. news that affects China and 2. news that affects people traveling to China, you might have heard something about the recent trouble in the country we call Burma, but that its own government calls Myanmar. It's the bit that borders Yunnan province and a tiny piece of Tibet.

People are protesting, and protestors are being rounded up for interrogation:

relative of three released women said those being interrogated were divided into four categories: Passers-by, Those who watched, Those who clapped and Those who joined in.

But what are they all upset about?

Well, since 1962, they've been ruled by the military, who ousted the democratically elected government and beat up anybody who complained. The rulership was fairly typical of coups d'etat, in that minorities were persecuted, foreigners were expelled and wealth was removed from the ruled to the new rulers. It was unusual in that numerology seemed to guide many of the bosses' decisions, including the decision to change the currency to base-9 (that is, 9 pennies would make a "new dime," and 9 dimes would make a "new dollar").

In 1990, in some kind of attempt to turn over a new leaf, the military said, "Hey! Let's have an election," and when Aung San Suu Kyi, who was not part of the military party, won by an overwhelming majority, the military said, "[Expletive deleted] this!" and refused to step down. Ms Suu Kyi has been under house arrest* since 1990, unable to see her children (who live in the UK) or her husband (who lived in the UK until he died of prostate cancer in 1999).

*note: real story more complicated, involves "Sure, you can go!" plus angry, pro-government mobs followed by "Psych! Let's lock you up again!"

Anyway, last month, the government decided to, um, raise gas prices by 500 percent. Which would be enough to make anybody cranky. People protested. The Burmese police did their thing, which involves rounding up the loudest and crankiest, and making them go away. They just disappear, like magic!

This time, some Buddhist monks got tired of the men with sticks and guns being mean to people, so they just started walking. One day, they went to a big pagoda. Another day, they went to Suu Kyi's house. And they got beat up by guys with sticks. And sometimes the guys with sticks set them on fire. One military officer who got tired of the hitting and the shooting ran off and told people that he'd seen the bodies of thousands of monks dumped out in the jungle. But they still keep on walking. Oh, and they've stopped offering religious services to the military. No more chaplains in Burma.

This matters to China because China is pretty much the only country the men with sticks and guns will listen to. China buys a lot of Burma's exports and offers Burma a lot of help with stuff like roads, and they both had similar student problems at about the same time. Burma's not listening to the UN, not listening to Japan (shot one of their journalists), not listening to the US. "La la la la la!" says Burma.

So people in the UN and Japan and the US are giving significant looks to China and leaning forward in a meaningful way. And some journalists and legislators have even mentioned things like boycotting the '08 Olympics, which China's government would view as a disaster... and could well respond by doing bad things to visas and travel permissions.

Or, you know, it could take the Myanmar rulers aside and have a quick word with them.

Here's hoping.

And if you'd like to do more than hope, what with people in Burma being people and all, there are some things you can do. For one thing, you can not do anything with these companies that do business with Burma's rulers. Which is fairly easy, unless you happen to be buying teak or planning an adventure vacation to Rangoon. You could also write a little something to Gary Player, if you feel so inclined. ("Nice swing! Say, what's with that golf course you just designed for the ruling junta?")

And you can keep reading the news.