Canada and Burma Celebrate Peace Through Play
A young woman plays with a chinlone ball 
Crowds gather at the Canada-Myanmar Chinlone Festival 
Greg Hamilton and teammates Canadian Greg Hamilton became enamoured with the Burmese sport chinlone – a demanding, graceful sport played with a grapefruit-sized rattan ball – thirty years ago. Since then, he has traveled to Burma, studied with chinlone masters and released an award-winning documentary film, Mystic Ball, in 2006.
Canada invited Hamilton to Yangon and Mandalay for a tour that included screenings of his film, a chinlone tournament, and a starring role in a Chinlone for Peace media event.
Given that chinlone is not widely played outside of Burma, and the fact that the game is extremely challenging, it was astounding to a Burmese audience that a foreigner had mastered the game. Burma’s proliferation of mass and social media in recent years has given Hamilton an opportunity to become a public figure.
In Mandalay – the heartland of Burman culture – Hamilton reconnected with former teammates and played in a Canada-Myanmar Chinlone Festival with a team of Burmese all-stars, including multi-gold medal winners from the recent Southeast Asian Games.
Chinlone, as a game of cooperation, is analogous to peaceful conflict resolution. The Myanmar Peace Centre, which is tasked with the complex peace negotiations with armed insurgent groups to end Burma’s 60-year civil war, partnered with the Canadian Embassy to put on the Chinlone for Peace event at their Yangon headquarters.
At the event, Hamilton played chinlone with a professional Yangon team for national Burmese TV networks.
Canada is committed to supporting Burma’s pursuit of peace. And chinlone isn’t the only sport that can bring countries together: Canada and Hungary recently shared their love of hockey in celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations.
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