Chit Ko Ko

Early life U Chit Ko Ko was the only son of U Ba Gyaw and Daw Tin Tin, born in Magyeechaung Village of Minbu Township in 1917. He was schooled in the village monastery, transferring to the Yangon Bigandet Missionary School at the age of nine. It was here he learned the English language. His primary schooling was finished at the Burmese Methodist School in Yegyaw where he studied until passing the tenth standard, also known as the Anglo-Vernacular High School, in 1939. although he was in fact 36.)

The 1953 expedition lasted for 37 weeks and was in a region of Myanmar known as the Triangle, north of Myitkyina in the northern state of Kachin. Chit Ko Ko also wrote about the expedition in a paper published by the RHS in 2000. and mention the journey in his Pilgrimage for Plants. This expedition was chronicled by Chit Ko in his book, The Flower Hunter from Hkaw-Nu-Sone for which he received the Sarpay Beikman Literary Award.

The Myanmar Floriculturalist's Association planned to produce English translations of his Mount Saramati and Mount Victoria books for their 2009 celebrations. These translations have not yet been made available to a global audience.