Taunggyi ( ;
Shan: ;
Pa'O Pa'O may refer to:
* Pa'O language, a Karen language of Burma
* Pa'O people
, native_name_lang = my
, image = Pa O Tribe Kalaw Shan Myanmar.jpg
, caption = A Pa'O woman near Kalaw, southern Shan State
, population = ...
: ) is the capital and largest city of
Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos ...
,
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 ...
(Burma) and lies on the
Thazi-
Kyaingtong
th , เชียงตุง
, other_name = Kyaingtong
, settlement_type = Town
, imagesize =
, image_caption =
, pushpin_map = Myanmar
, pushpin_label_position = left
, ...
road at an elevation of , just north of
Shwenyaung Shwe Nyaung is located in southern Shan state of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is near Taunggyi
Taunggyi ( ; Shan: ; Pa'O: ) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma) and lies on the Thazi- Kyaingtong road at an elevati ...
and
Inle Lake within the
Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth largest city of Myanmar, and has an estimated population of 380,665 as of 2014.
The city is famous for its
hot air balloon festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
held annually on the full moon day of
Tazaungmon.
Etymology
The name Taunggyi means "huge mountain" in the Burmese language, and is named after the ridge on the east of the city, part of the
Shan Hills system, whose prominent high point is called ''Taung-chun'' or "The Spur." Locally this spur is popularly known as ''Phaya Taung''. The ridge has a more prominent and more popular feature known as ''Chauk Talone'', meaning the ''Craigs''.
History
Prior to
British colonisation, Taunggyi was a small village of a few huts. The area lay on a wide shoulder of the
Sittaung Hills of the
Shan Hills and was populated by the
Shan people
The Shan people ( shn, တႆး; , my, ရှမ်းလူမျိုး; ), also known as the Tai Long, or Tai Yai are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan are the biggest minority of Burma (Myanmar) and primarily live in th ...
at the time. The signs of the original village of Taunggyi are long gone, but nearby villages can still be discerned quite easily.
During British occupation, the town became the chief city and capital of the Southern Shan States. Taunggyi's modern development began in 1894, when the British moved their administrative offices from
Maing Thauk (Fort Stedman) on the eastern shores of Inle Lake to the higher elevation of Taunggyi, for health and geographical reasons. Although geographically within the state of
Yawnghwe, the town was denoted as a "notified area" by the British, exempt from the
Sawbwa's administration. By 1906, there existed a thousand houses. Because of civil unrest throughout the Shan States during the early 1900s, Taunggyi served as the chief garrison for military police. Taunggyi also served as a supply centre for the Shan States, and catered to persons of many nationalities.
Geography
Taunggyi is at an elevation of above sea level. It sits on a high intermontaine basin (erroneously called a plateau) that rapidly descends to the western lowland river valleys that make up central Myanmar, but is otherwise surrounded by mountain range.
The city is from Yangon (Rangoun) by road.
Climate
Taunggyi has a
humid subtropical climate
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...
''Cwa''), closely bordering a
subtropical highland climate (''Cwb''). There is a winter dry season (December–March) and a summer wet-season (April–November). Temperatures are very warm throughout the year; the winter months (December–February) are milder but the nights can be quite cool.
Transportation
The main access to Taunggyi is by the mountainous road. A railway line that passes through Taunggyi was recently built in 1995, but at the moment it offers no passenger service to Taunggyi. Regular railway passenger service to the rest of the country is through the town of Shwenyaung, to the west. The nearest airport is
Heho Airport
Heho Airport ( my, ဟဲဟိုးလေဆိပ်) is an airport serving Heho, a town in Kalaw Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar. It is the main airport serving Inle Lake and Taunggyi the former of the top tourist destina ...
, about an hour driving distance, by road to the west of Taunggyi. Heho Airport has regular flights to
Yangon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
,
Mandalay
Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).
Mandalay was fou ...
and
Bagan
Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wo ...
.
Culture
Taunggyi is the melting pot for the
Myelat area of the Shan State. Like in most of Myanmar, influence of Buddhism is most evidenced by the monasteries scattered throughout the city. However, being a relatively new city, the monasteries are not of historical significance and architecturally not unique. There is also a significant Christian population, as the center of the Roman Catholic
Archdiocese of Taunggyi the St. Joseph's Cathedral and its associated seminary are the main facilities, as well as a Baptist church. Both churches were established by early missionaries. There is also a smaller
Anglican church, which originally served the British administrators, but recently it has fallen into a state of disrepair. Four
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
s serve the Muslim communities of the city. Among four mosques, Panthay mosque serves the Chinese
Panthay Muslims mainly. The other mosques are for large population of
Burmese Muslims
Islam is a minority religion in Myanmar, practiced by about 2.3% of the population, according to the 2014 Myanmar official statistics.
History
In the early Bagan era (AD 652-660), Arab Muslim merchants landed at ports such as Thaton and M ...
. There are also a few temples serving the Chinese Buddhist community. After 1990s, Chinese migrants are settling in Taunggyi and now they constitute the considerable proportion in communities.
The Taunggyi celebration of the
Tazaungdaing Festival, a national holiday marking the end of the rainy season, has achieved international notoriety.
"...balloons with large fireworks displays attached are sent airborne - but if they don't rise quickly enough, the pyrotechnics rocket back towards to crowds - sending people scattering. Videos of balloons engulfed in flames exploding amongst onlookers have become wildly popular on YouTube." There were nine people injured in 2018,
two deaths and 12 injuries in 2017, and
four deaths in 2014.
Being the capital of the Shan State, Taunggyi hosts many government offices. The city also hosts Eastern Command of the
Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) and it occupies a significant portion of the north-east area of the city.
Shan State Cultural Museum
The Shan State Cultural Museum, now known as Cultural Museum (Taunggyi), is a museum located at Bogyoke Aung San Road and Eintawshay Road, in Taunggyi, Shan State, Myanmar (Burma). This museum is one of the cultural museums under the Department ...
lies in Taunggyi. The museum displays the Shan culture, as well as items of historical interest, such as the belongings of
Sawbwa.
Economy
Tourism
The Taunggyi area is a popular tourist destination. The city itself has an interesting
five-day market, where farmers from around the area would come to the Taunggyi on market day and sell fresh produce in the open market, but with more development of the city, the significance of market day has been lessened. However, the market-day tradition continues strong in the outlying small towns. Nearby,
Inle Lake is the home of the unique
Intha culture. Inlay is famous for its traditional crafts industry and
floating markets that are accessible via traditional longboats. The most unique thing is that Intha row the boat with their leg. On the way to the
Pindaya Caves
The Pindaya Caves ( my, ပင်းတယရွှေဥမင်, ; officially ), located next to the town of Pindaya, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar) are a Buddhist pilgrimage site and a tourist attraction located on a limestone ridge in the Myel ...
provides visitors with a good view of the Myelat countryside. Near Taunggyi, in Kekku, there are hundreds of stupas which dates back to 16th century.
Industry
There is no significant industry in Taunggyi. It used to be the trans-shipment point for many of the agricultural products of southern Shan State. However, due to recently imposed zoning regulations, most of these operations have been moved to the surrounding new town of
Ayetharyar.
Agriculture
Another economy of Taunggyi is farming and gardening. Farmers around Taunggyi are mostly Shan and Pa-O ethnic origins. The main agricultural products of Taunggyi are potatoes, tea leaf, tomato, beans, damson and seasonal fruits.
Education
The city is home to:
*
Taunggyi University
* University of Computer Studies, Taunggyi
*
University of Medicine, Taunggyi
*
Technological University, Taunggyi
Technological University, Taunggyi is situated in Ayetharyar township, Taunggyi District, Shan State, Myanmar. The university is run by Ministry of Education (Myanmar).It was established in 1992 as Government Technical Institute and was upgrade ...
*
Taunggyi Education College
Sports
The 7,000-seat
Taunggyi Stadium is a multi-use
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in Taunggyi. The stadium is the home ground of
Shan United FC, a
Myanmar National League
The MPT Myanmar National League ( my, မြန်မာ နေရှင်နယ် လိဂ်; abbreviated MNL) is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which co ...
(MNL) football club.
Health care
Public Hospitals
*
Sao San Tun General Hospital
* Taunggyi Women and Children Hospital
*Taunggyi University Hospital
* Mettashin Charity Hospital-Eye Care Services
Gallery
File:Taunggyi Sulamuni Pagoda.jpg, Taunggyi Sulamuni Pagoda
File:TU Taunggyi.jpg, Technological University Taunggyi
File:Sulamani Pagoda - Taunggyi.jpg, Sulamani Pagoda at night
File:Baloon Festival - panoramio (4).jpg, Hot air balloon Festival
File:Taunggyi-Myo Ma-Markt-22-gje.jpg, Myoma Market
File:Taunggyi Medicine University.jpg, University of Medicine (Taunggyi)
File:Taung Gyi Fireballon Event.jpg, A festival in Taunggyi
File:Nyi_Yan_Moe_Htet(middle)_and_his_family_at_Sulamuni_Pagoda,_Taunggyi,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.png, Sulamuni Pagoda on 21 December 2019
Notes
References
{{Coord, 20, 47, 01.08, N, 97, 02, 07.30, E, region:MM_type:city, display=title
Township capitals of Myanmar
Populated places in Taunggyi District
Taunggyi Township