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Taunggyi | |
|---|---|
City | |
 A view of Taunggyi | |
  Taunggyi Location of Taunggyi, Myanmar | |
| Coordinates:20°47′N97°02′E / 20.783°N 97.033°E /20.783; 97.033 | |
| Country |  Myanmar |
| State |  Shan State |
| District | Taunggyi District |
| Township | Taunggyi Township |
| Founded | 1894 |
| Elevation | 4,711 ft (1,436 m) |
| Population | |
• City | 381,639 |
| • Urban | 264,804 |
| • Rural | 116,835 |
| • Ethnicities | ShanPa-OTaiBurmese ChineseBurmese IndiansGurkha |
| • Religions | BuddhismIslamChristianity |
| Time zone | UTC+6.30 (MST) |
Taunggyi (Burmese:တောင်ကြီးမြို့,MLCTS:taung kri: mrui.[tàʊɰ̃dʑímjo̰]) is the capital and largest city ofShan State,Myanmar (Burma); and lies on theThazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of 4,712 feet (1,436 m), just north ofShwenyaung andInle Lake within theMyelat region.[2] Taunggyi is the fifth largest city of Myanmar.[3] Even though Taunggyi city is the capital of Shan State, 45% of population are Pa'O People, 35% are Bamar People and 6% of population are Shan aka Tai People. The city is famous for itshot air balloonfestival held annually on the full-moon day ofTazaungmon, the eighth month of the traditionalBurmese calendar.[4] Taunggyi is colloquially regarded as Myanmar's City of Music, famous for its culture of live music and numerous festivals.
The name Taunggyi (Burmese: တောင်ကြီးမြို့, Shan: ဝဵင်းတူၼ်ႈတီး) means "big mountain" inBurmese, referencing a ridge on the east of the city, part of theShan Hills system, whose prominent high point is calledTaung-chun or "The Spur." Locally this spur is also known asMingalar Taung-chun, meaning “The Auspicious Spur.” The ridge has a more prominent and more popular feature known asChauk Talone, meaning theCraigs.
Taunggyi is also known asTonti (ဝဵင်းတူၼ်ႈတီး,Shan pronunciation:[weŋ˥ton˧˧˨ti˥]) inShan andဝေင်ꩻတောင်ႏကီꩻ (Pa'O pronunciation: [weŋ˨ tɔːŋ˧ kiː˨]) inPa'O.
Taunggyi was a small Shan village called Tonti until it was incorporated intoBritish Burma. The area lies on a wide shoulder of the Sittaung Hills of theShan Hills. The signs of the original village of Taunggyi are long gone, but nearby villages can still be discerned quite easily.
During British rule, 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 ofYawnghwe, the town was denoted as a "notified area" by the British, exempt from the administration of theSawbwa, the hereditary rulers of Shan states inUpper. 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, which led to a steady growth in its population.[5]
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Taunggyi is at an elevation of 4,712 feet (1,436 m) 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 635 kilometres (395 mi) from Yangon (Rangoun) by road.
Taunggyi has ahumid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classificationCwa), closely bordering asubtropical 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 and the nights can be quite cool.
| Climate data for Taunggyi (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 28.4 (83.1) | 33.0 (91.4) | 33.0 (91.4) | 34.3 (93.7) | 34.6 (94.3) | 34.0 (93.2) | 31.0 (87.8) | 30.2 (86.4) | 28.7 (83.7) | 30.2 (86.4) | 30.0 (86.0) | 29.7 (85.5) | 34.6 (94.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 23.6 (74.5) | 25.7 (78.3) | 28.4 (83.1) | 29.5 (85.1) | 27.2 (81.0) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.3 (75.7) | 24.1 (75.4) | 24.9 (76.8) | 25.1 (77.2) | 24.5 (76.1) | 23.2 (73.8) | 25.5 (77.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 16.2 (61.2) | 17.9 (64.2) | 21.0 (69.8) | 23.0 (73.4) | 22.5 (72.5) | 21.7 (71.1) | 21.2 (70.2) | 21.1 (70.0) | 21.3 (70.3) | 20.7 (69.3) | 18.8 (65.8) | 16.5 (61.7) | 20.1 (68.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 8.7 (47.7) | 10.2 (50.4) | 13.6 (56.5) | 16.5 (61.7) | 17.7 (63.9) | 18.2 (64.8) | 18.1 (64.6) | 18.0 (64.4) | 17.7 (63.9) | 16.3 (61.3) | 13.1 (55.6) | 9.9 (49.8) | 14.8 (58.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 3.9 (39.0) | 5.0 (41.0) | 8.5 (47.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 12.7 (54.9) | 13.2 (55.8) | 16.4 (61.5) | 16.2 (61.2) | 15.0 (59.0) | 10.0 (50.0) | 6.0 (42.8) | 3.0 (37.4) | 3.0 (37.4) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 11.5 (0.45) | 4.4 (0.17) | 9.3 (0.37) | 51.4 (2.02) | 172.2 (6.78) | 170.6 (6.72) | 217.4 (8.56) | 300.8 (11.84) | 258.0 (10.16) | 182.2 (7.17) | 54.2 (2.13) | 12.7 (0.50) | 1,444.8 (56.88) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 6.1 | 15.0 | 19.3 | 22.4 | 24.5 | 20.5 | 14.6 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 132.3 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 57 | 47 | 43 | 49 | 72 | 81 | 83 | 85 | 84 | 81 | 71 | 64 | 68 |
| Source 1:World Meteorological Organization[6] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:Norwegian Meteorological Institute (extremes),[7] Climate Data (humidity),[8]NOAA (extremes)[9] | |||||||||||||
Taunggyi is ethnically diverse, with inhabitants from theShan,Bamar, andPa'O ethnicities. The2014 Myanmar Census reported thatTaunggyi Township had a population of 381,639.[10]
The main access to Taunggyi is by the mountainous road. A railway line that passes through Taunggyi was built in 1995, but at the moment[when?] it offers no passenger service to Taunggyi. Regular railway passenger service to the rest of the country is through the town of Shwenyaung, 12 miles (19 km) to the west. The nearest airport isHeho Airport, 24 mi (39 km) about an hour driving distance, by road to the west of Taunggyi. Heho Airport has regular flights toYangon,Mandalay andBagan.
Taunggyi is the melting pot for theMyelat area of the Shan State. As with most of Myanmar, the influence of Buddhism is demonstrated 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 centre of the Roman CatholicArchdiocese 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 smallerAnglican church, which originally served the British administrators, but recently it has fallen into a state of disrepair. Fourmosques serve the Muslim communities of the city, of which Panthay mosque serves the ChinesePanthay Muslims mainly. There are also a few temples serving the Chinese Buddhist community.
The Taunggyi celebration of theTazaungdaing Festival, a national holiday marking the end of the rainy season, has achieved international attention for pyrotechnic rockets involved in theTaunggyi Hot Air Balloon Festival.[11] There were nine people injured in 2018,[12][13] two deaths and 12 injuries in 2017,[14][15] and four deaths in 2014.[16][17]
The city also hosts Eastern Command of theTatmadaw (Myanmar military) and it occupies a significant portion of the north-east area of the city. TheShan State Cultural Museum lies in Taunggyi. The museum displays the Shan culture, as well as items of historical interest, such as the belongings ofSawbwa.
The Taunggyi area is a popular tourist destination. The city itself has an interestingfive-day market, where farmers from around the area 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 ၼွင်ႁႆၢးယႃႈ is the home of the uniqueIntha culture. Inlay is famous for its traditional crafts industry andfloating markets that are accessible via traditional longboats. The most unique thing is that Intha row the boat with their leg. On the way to thePindaya Caves provides visitors with a good view of the Myelat countryside. TheKekku Pagodasၵၢတ်ႇၵူႇ, which feature hundreds of stupas dating to the 16th century, are near Taunggyi.
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 ofAyetharyar.
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.
The city is home to:
The 7,000-seatTaunggyi Stadium is a multi-usestadium in Taunggyi. The stadium is the home ground ofShan United FC, aMyanmar National League (MNL) football club.
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| 2,000,000 and more | |
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| 1,000,000–1,999,999 | |
| 500,000–999,999 |
|
| 200,000–499,999 | |
| 100,000–199,999 | |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
20°47′01.08″N97°02′07.30″E / 20.7836333°N 97.0353611°E /20.7836333; 97.0353611
