Win Kyaw was a prominent local CDM leader who backed the parallel National Unity Government, which was formed last year to challenge the military junta's rule. Dan Bin Gan was, in effect, a liberated zone. It had an active PDF wing, which had established its base in the centre of the village. Most of the 2,500 inhabitants are farmers, eking out a living from cultivating beans, sesame and groundnuts, and a little corn to feed their cattle.