th , เชียงตุง
, other_name = Kyaingtong
, settlement_type = Town
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, pushpin_map = Myanmar
, pushpin_label_position = left
, pushpin_map_caption = Location in Myanmar
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Country
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State
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* '' Our ...
, subdivision_type2 =
District
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
, subdivision_type3 =
Township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
, subdivision_type4 =
, subdivision_name1 =
, subdivision_name2 =
Kengtung District
Kengtung District ( my, ကျိုင်းတုံခရိုင်; also spelled Kengtong) is a district of the Shan State in Myanmar. It consists of three towns and 1449 villages.
Townships
The district contains the following townships:
...
, subdivision_name3 =
Kengtung Township
Kengtung Township ( shn, ၸႄႈဝဵင်းၵဵင်းတုင်, my, ကျိုင်းတုံမြို့နယ်; also spelled ''Kyaingtong'', Kengtong, th, เมืองเชียงตุง or ''Mueang Chiang Tun ...
, subdivision_name4 =
, established_title =
, established_date =
, leader_title =
, leader_name =
, area_total_km2 = 3,506
, elevation_footnotes =
, elevation_m =
, elevation_ft =
, population_total = 171,620
, population_as_of = 2014
, population_footnotes =
, population_density_km2 = 48.955
, website =
, footnotes =
, timezone =
MMT
, utc_offset = +6.30
, official_name =
, native_name_lang = shn, my
, image_skyline = National Highway (NH4) pass through Kengtung.jpg
Kengtung ( shn, ဝဵင်းၵဵင်းတုင် , th, เชียงตุง), also spelt Kyaingtong (; ), is a town in
Shan State,
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(formerly Burma). It is the principal town of
Kengtung Township
Kengtung Township ( shn, ၸႄႈဝဵင်းၵဵင်းတုင်, my, ကျိုင်းတုံမြို့နယ်; also spelled ''Kyaingtong'', Kengtong, th, เมืองเชียงตุง or ''Mueang Chiang Tun ...
and the former seat of
Kengtung State
Kengtung ( my, ကျိုင်းတုံ; shn, ၵဵင်းတုင် ''Chiang Tung;'' ), known as Menggen Prefecture ( zh, 孟艮府) or Möng Khün Chiefdom or Mueng Khuen Fu ( Tai Khün: ) from 1405 to 1895, was a Shan state ...
, a minor principality. Kengtung is located on the
National Highway 4 (NH4) and at the
AH2 and
AH3 of the
Asian Highway
The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hi ...
.
Etymology
Owing to Kengtung's proximity to China and Thailand, the city is known by a number of
exonyms and endonyms. The endonym used by
Tai Khun and
Tai Lue-speaking locals is Jeng Tung (ᨾᩨ᩠ᨦᨩᩭᨦᨲᩩᨦ) respectively. Other
Shan speakers use the exonym Kengtung. The most common exonym, Kyaingtong, is derived from the
Burmese approximation of Kengtung. The exonym of Chiang Tung ( th, เชียงตุง, ) is used by Thai speakers, while Chinese speakers use Jingdong ( zh, 景栋/景棟 ''Jǐngdòng'').
History
The early history of Kengtung is made up of myths and legends. The
oral tradition
Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985 ...
of the
ai peoplesays that the ancient city of Kengtung was founded in the distant past by Tai Lue as the original inhabitants of the region, and was later reestablished by the grandson of King
Mangrai Mangrai ( nod, ; th, มังราย; 1238–1311), also known as Mengrai ( th, เม็งราย),The name according to historical sources is "Mangrai", and this is used in most modern scholarly applications. "Mengrai", popularised by a 19 ...
after defeating the Tai Lue. This migration of the
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai (, from th, เชียงใหม่ , nod, , เจียงใหม่ ), sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the second largest city in ...
dynasty in the 13th century, with the founding a new kingdom which was later named
Lanna
The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...
, has resulted in Kengtung having a different type of Tai population from the rest of the
Shan State, the
Tai Khün.
Kengtung, like other major towns in the Shan Plateau, was home to a Shan
Saopha
Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...
(Sawbwa). Kengtung was the capital of the
Kengtung State
Kengtung ( my, ကျိုင်းတုံ; shn, ၵဵင်းတုင် ''Chiang Tung;'' ), known as Menggen Prefecture ( zh, 孟艮府) or Möng Khün Chiefdom or Mueng Khuen Fu ( Tai Khün: ) from 1405 to 1895, was a Shan state ...
, and had a palace, built by
Sao Kawng Kiao Intaleng
Sao Kawng Kiao Intaleng succeeded his brother to become the 53rd ruler (Sawbwa) of the Shan state of Kengtung in 1895. He, his first wife, and his sister, Princess Tip Htila, all attended the Delhi Durbar in 1903 in a party of Shan princes g ...
in 1905.
The city was seized and occupied by the Thai
Phayap Army
Phayap Army ( th, กองทัพพายัพ RTGS: Thap Phayap or Payap, ''northwest'') was the Thai force that invaded the Siamese Shan States (present day Shan State, Myanmar) of Burma on 10 May 1942 during the Burma Campaign of Wor ...
from 1942 until the end of the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and became the headquarters of the
Saharat Thai Doem
Saharat Thai Doem ( th, สหรัฐไทยเดิม, lit=Unified Former Thai Territories) was an administrative division of Thailand. It encompassed parts of the Shan States of British Burma annexed by the Thai government after the Jap ...
territory. The headquarters of the regional military command of the
Tatmadaw
Tatmadaw (, , ) is the official name of the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include th ...
is in the town.
[Donald M. Seekins, ''Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)'', p. 251]
Geography
Kengtung contains several lakes. The largest,
Naung Tung Lake, lies in the western part of the city, followed by
Naung Kham Lake and
Naung Yarng Lake to the south of the
Kentung Roman Catholic Mission.
Transportation
The town is served by
Kengtung Airport.
Kengtung is located on the
National Highway 4 (NH4) and at the
AH2 and
AH3 of the
Asian Highway
The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hi ...
.
Climate
Kengtung has a tropical wet and dry/ savanna climate (Köppen-Geiger classification: Aw) with a pronounced dry season in the low-sun months, no cold season, wet season is in the high-sun months. Temperatures are very warm throughout the year, although the winter months (December–February) are milder and nights can be quite cool. There is a winter dry season (December–April) and a summer wet season (May–November).
Education
* Keng Tung University
* Keng Tung Computer University
* Keng Tung Technological University
Health care
* Keng Tung General Hospital
See also
*
Maha Myat Muni Temple
*
Wat Zom Khum
Wat Zom Khum ( my, စွမ်ခမ်းကျောင်းတိုက်; also spelt Wat Jong Kham) is a 15th-century Buddhist temple in Kengtung, Shan State, Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note ...
*
Tachileik
Tachileik (also spelt Tachilek; my, တာချီလိတ်, ; shn, တႃႈၶီႈလဵၵ်း, ; th, ท่าขี้เหล็ก, , ), is a border town in the Shan State of eastern Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of T ...
*
Kengtung District
Kengtung District ( my, ကျိုင်းတုံခရိုင်; also spelled Kengtong) is a district of the Shan State in Myanmar. It consists of three towns and 1449 villages.
Townships
The district contains the following townships:
...
Bibliography
* Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). ''Traders of the Golden Triangle''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B006GMID5
*
J. G. Scott, ''Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States''. 5 vols. Rangoon, 1900-1901.
*
Sao Sāimöng Mangrāi, ''The Pādaeng Chronicle and the Kengtung State Chronicle Translated''. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1981
External links
''The Happy City'' a 1959 film on a remote leper colony run by Father Cesare Columbo in Kengtung, Shan State
pictures from Kengtung
References
Notes
{{Authority control
Populated places in Shan State