He became involved in student activism in the 1988 uprising as a 14-year-old high school student. He went into hiding in 1989, and his underground activist/writer life lasted for nine years until he fled across the Thai-Burma border in August 1997. Min Zin then worked for the Thailand-based Irrawaddy magazine and the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (Burmese Service). He holds a MA degree in Asian Studies from UC Berkeley.