Kinwon Min Gyi was a minister under King Mindon's

Mindon Min

Mindon Min was the penultimate king of Burma from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King Pagan, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 ended with the annexation of Lower Burma by the British Empire. Mindon and his younger brother Kanaung...

 and King Thibaw's

Thibaw Min

Thibaw Min was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma . His reign ended when Burma was defeated by the forces of the British Empire in the Third Anglo-Burmese War, on 29 November 1885, prior to its official annexation on 1 January 1886....

 reigns. He attempted to westernise the Burmese kingdom's existing bureaucracy into a more democratic system. Because of such attempts to do so, Kinwun Min Gyi was accused by many to have allowed Britain to win the Third Anglo-Burmese War

Third Anglo-Burmese War

The Third Anglo-Burmese War was a conflict that took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance and insurgency continuing into 1887. It was the final of three wars fought in the 19th century between the Burmese and the British...

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Kinwon Min Gyi was born U Kaung. King Mindon, upon Crown Prince Ka Naung's assassination, named U Kaung a diplomat, and was renamed Kinwon Min Gyi U Kaung. In 1881, he led the first Burmese diplomatic group to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. After King Mindon's death, Kinwon Min Gyi lost much power. He ordered the Burmese troops during the Third Anglo-Burmese War to not attack invading British.

Under British colonial rule, Kinwon Min Gyi served as a civil servant in administration, writing many famous books and poems in Burmese literature.