Tun Aung Chain was born in 1933, in the southern town of Mergui, British Burma (now Myeik, Myanmar).
[1] Tun's father, Ba Than Chain, was a civil surgeon from Bassein (now Pathein).
[1] He went onto graduate from the University of Rangoon with a bachelor's degree in history in 1954, winning the Moay Twe Main Gold Medal for standing first in his class.
[1] Tun attended Harvard University after graduation on a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship, earning a master's degree in Oriental studies in 1957.
[2] Tun's nonfiction book, Broken Glass: Pieces of Myanmar History, won a Sayawun Tin Shwe Award in 2014.