Pinlaung is a town above sea level and seat of
Pinlaung Township
Pinlaung Township ( my, ပင်လောင်းမြို့နယ်) is a township of Taunggyi District in the Shan State of Myanmar. It is one of three townships in the Pa-O Self-Administered Zone. Its principal town is Pinlaung. Accor ...
, in the
Pa-O Self-Administered Zone
The Pa'O Self-Administered Zone ( my, ပအိုဝ်းကိုယ်ပိုင်အုပ်ချုပ်ခွင့်ရဒေသ ), as stipulated by the 2008 Constitution of Myanmar, is a self-administered zone consisting of three t ...
of
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
of eastern-central
Burma
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 ...
. It lies along National Road 54, north-west by road from
Loikaw
Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower plant ...
. Running through the city center is a rail line connecting
Loikaw
Loikaw (, ) is the capital of Kayah State in Myanmar. It is located in the Karen Hills area, near the State's northern tip, just above an embayment on the Pilu River. The inhabitants are mostly Kayah (Karenni). Myanmar's largest hydropower plant ...
to
Kalaw
Kalaw ( my, ကလောမြို့; Shan: ) is a hill town in the Shan State of Myanmar. It is located in Kalaw Township in Taunggyi District.
Overview
The town was popular with the British during colonial rule. Kalaw is the main setting ...
, two major tourist towns in the area.
Demographics
Pinlaung is primarily home to
Pa'O and
Shan ethnic groups.
Tourism
Tourists who visit the town of Pinlaung may visit
Mway Daw Pagoda, the
Nam Hoo Kyaung Tike Temple, and an authentic traditional craft market. Twenty minutes from the city center is another popular destination with tourists,
Loi Maung Taung Pagoda
Loi is the word in the Meitei language (Meiteilon) for the term " scheduled caste". The term ''Loi'' is given to the indigenous and aboriginal people of Manipur in northeast India who refused to adopt Hinduism or were semi-Hinduised when the ne ...
. This stupa sits at the highest peak in the region, Loi Maung Taung. Another, lesser-known, mountain outside of the city center is
Wingabar Mountain. This historic mountain is located from Pinlaung in the village of Taung Hti Bwar and features a full-length cave, called
Yar Za Cave or
Hti Bwar Cave.
Economics
![Pa'O Girl in Pinlaung near Potato Field](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Pa%27O_Girl_in_Pinlaung_near_Potato_Field.jpg)
Traditionally, farmers from the Pinlaung area grew subsistence crops such as cheroot leaves, maize and beans. When the opium trade took off in the 1900s, poppy became a major cash crop in the area. However, in recent years, there have been efforts to focus on other saleable crops such as coffee and tea. Now, Pinlaung is the premier tea-growing town in Myanmar, with the
Assam tea
Assam tea is a black tea named after the region of its production, Assam, India. It is manufactured specifically from the plant ''Camellia sinensis'' var. ''assamica'' (Masters). The Assam tea plant is indigenous to Assam—initial efforts to plan ...
being the most predominant cultivar grown. Furthermore,
cabbage
Cabbage, comprising several cultivars of ''Brassica oleracea'', is a leafy green, red (purple), or white (pale green) biennial plant grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the wild cabbage ( ''B.&nb ...
,
cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species ''Brassica oleracea'' in the genus ''Brassica'', which is in the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed. Typically, only the head is eaten – the ...
,
potato
The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
,
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
and
sesame
Sesame ( or ; ''Sesamum indicum'') is a flowering plant in the genus ''Sesamum'', also called benne. Numerous wild relatives occur in Africa and a smaller number in India. It is widely naturalized in tropical regions around the world and is cu ...
grow in abundance due to the favourable climate conditions.
Before 2010, accessing Pinlaung was a difficult task. Merchants from
Naypyidaw
Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city outs ...
, southern, and western Myanmar who wanted trade with the highland farmers and ethnic tribes in Pinlaung were required to traverse the dangerous winding roads of Elephant Mountain (Sin Taung) and cross the
Paung Laung River
Paung ( my, ပေါင်မြို့; mnw, ဍုၚ်ပံၚ်, ) is a town in the Mon State of south-east Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating / ...
by boat. Then, Myanmar's former government contracted
P.T.Waagner-Biro Indonesia together with Supreme Group of Companies to construct an expansive steel truss suspension bridge to span the river. The bridge, known as the
Leinli Bridge
Leinli Bridge is a steel truss suspension that spans the Paung Laung River in Shan State, Myanmar. It carries Nay Pyi Taw and Pinlaung Roads. The Leinli Bridge is the highest suspension bridge in Myanmar.
History
The Leinli Bridge was completed ...
, would become the highest of its kind in Myanmar. The bridge was opened on 5 November 2010, at a cost of 3.476 million in foreign currency and an additional 14,500 million kyats.
Climate
Pinlaung has a
subtropical highland climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...
(Cwb).
References
External links
Maplandia World Gazetteer
{{Shan State
Populated places in Shan State
Township capitals of Myanmar