Olive Yang was her name and her life story was the thing of novels, as recounted in her lengthy obit In the NYT. Born in Shan State which is that province north of Thailand, west of Laos and Yunnan Province China, it’s the kind of place that epitomizes the Golden Triangle. Across that neck of the woods if you find someone connected to the opium business they always seem to be ethnic Chinese from Shan State, or else former KMT (Chinese Nationalist) soldiers.
At the height of her power Ms Yang commanded a thousand troops. If you consider a warlord to be the local ruler of a geographic area it makes more sense, I believe her family were the rulers of the area historically. Ms Yang often dressed as a man and had many romantic affairs with women.
Unusual to have a female warlord, but she seems to have stepped up to fill a power vacuum left when her brother abdicated under pressure from the national government.
Shan State is still at war with the Burmese government (Myanmar), and controlled by different warlords providing a considerable amount of the world’s opium for illicit trade and also now methamphetamine.
Notice the jade pendant around her neck and ciggie in hand. Sounds like she lead a pretty full life.