During the U Nu era of parliamentary democracy, he spent over three years in Rangoon Central Jail as a political prisoner after publishing a controversial news story in his Mandalay newspaper Ludu (The People).

[4] Whilst in prison he interviewed several inmates and wrote their life stories as told in the first person narrative, the best known collection of which was published in The Caged Ones; it won the UNESCO award for literature in 1958, and has been translated into English.

[5] Born in Pazun Myaung village near Nyaunglebin in Lower Burma, and educated at the Rangoon Government High School, by the age of 20, U Hla had secured a valuer's position with the Rangoon Municipal Corporation; the Depression had hit Burma culminating in a peasant uprising and the founding of the nationalist Dobama Asiayone (We Burmans Association).

[1] A devout Buddhist and non-violent reformist at heart, he made friends with and his home became a favourite haunt of many politicians such as Aung San, Thakin Than Tun, Thakin Zin and Thakin Ba Koe as well as writers such as Maha Swe, Dagon Taya, Zawana, P Moe Nin, Thukha, Maung Htin and Dr Maung Hpyuu, journalists such as Thuriya U Thein Maung, cartoonists U Ba Galay, U Hein Soon and U Ba Gyan, artist U Ohn Lwin and weightlifters Ka-ya bala U Shein, U Zaw Weik and U Ne Win.

U Hla and Daw Amar translated into Burmese and published all three best-selling wartime novels of the Japanese soldier writer Hino Ashihei: Both U Hla and Daw Amar became involved in the Resistance movement; they formed the Asha Lu Nge (Asia Youth) in Mandalay, ostensibly to collaborate with the Japanese, and engaged mainly in rescue and sanitation operations, but it became a ready source of young Resistance fighters for Bohmu Ba Htoo in Upper Burma.

[1] A popular wartime song titled Ludu sit (People's War) by A-1 Saya Hnya was co-written by U Hla and U Kyaw Yin.

He would also still manage to send his new books as gifts, about 200 on each occasion, to all his friends in Rangoon at a time when communication lines and road and rail transportation had all but broken down.

Their incisive political commentaries and analyses made a significant contribution to the country's yearning for independence and unified struggle against colonial rule.

[1] Their publications had never carried advertisements for alcohol, drugs to enhance sexual performance or gambling, nor racing tips, salacious affairs and gossip.

[1] One morning in 1948, soon after Burma gained her independence from the British, however, the Kyipwa Yay Press in Mandalay was dynamited to rubble by government troops who were angry that the Ludu couple appeared to be sympathetic to the Communists.

This was a time when regime change happened quite often with the city falling into the hands, in turn, of the Karen rebels, Communists and the new nationalist government under U Nu.

The entire family, including two pregnant women, was thrown out into the street, lined up and was about to be gunned down when a number of monks and locals successfully intervened to save their lives.

In 1952 he attended, with Thakin Kodaw Hmaing, Zawana, Shwe U Daung, Dagon Taya and U Ohn Lwin, the Conference for Peace in the Asia Pacific Region in Peking.

[1] Book reviews, critical essays on literature and research papers in local history, arts and crafts enjoyed nearly as many column inches as domestic and international news and analysis.

[1] He would never talk down to them although he often complained that they had talent but they lacked effort; one of his dreams was for them to form a writers' co-operative and run their own publishing house.

[1] His popularity reached a level where a plot to assassinate him by some of the politicians, who became jealous and feared he might run for office, existed but only came to light after his death.

When the very first volume Kayin ponbyin mya (Karen Folk Tales) was planned, his assistant editor pointed out that it would lose money; he was given a lengthy explanation by U Hla how profit was immaterial in an effort to bring out in print something that would contribute to better understanding among the peoples of Burma and to unifying them, and how it was far more important to make sure these cultural treasures of ethnic minorities were not lost to future generations.

The poet Maung Swan Yi was delegated the task one generation later, and one of the results was Lègwin dè ga ludu tay than mya (People's Songs from the Paddy Fields).

[1] It was a very controversial movement in the history of Burmese literature, regarded as left wing and subversive by conservative traditionalists and in government circles.

Po Than Jaung spent the earlier part of his detention inside Mandalay jail and later on the Cocos Island in the Andaman Sea.

[1][9] U Hla was a firm believer in the pivotal role of the printed word in nation building and in collaboration with others in order to achieve this common goal.

U Hla was again instrumental in the search for and eventual publication of Theippan Maung Wa's War Diary (Sit atwin neizin hmattaan).

He was suddenly taken ill just as he was about to be interviewed by a Japanese woman researcher accompanied by the writer Maung Tha-ya, rushed to hospital, and he died the same evening.

1952, a popular writer of short stories and travelogues, he started writing after his father's death under the name Nyi Pu Lay).