Early history

King Mindon is the founder of Mandalay royal capital

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.^[10]

The Thudamma zayats built during the reign of Mindon Min

The new capital city site was 66 km² (25.5 sq mi) in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill.^[11] The 1020-acre (413-hectare) citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m (6,666 ft) long walls and a moat 64 m (210 ft) wide, 4.6 m (15 ft) deep. At intervals of 169 m (555 ft) along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen.^[12] The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat.^[11] In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein Ordination Hall, the Thudamma zayats or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

Mandalay Palace Grounds

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.^[10]

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the British conquered the city and sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile in India. Moreover, a group of drunken soldiers set fire to the Pitakataik (Royal Library) which had contained the genealogies of kings and the kingdom's official records. Mandalay was razed, however the palace, its structures and the city walls were spared destruction.^[13]

Colonial Mandalay (1885–1948)

A bastion at Mandalay Palace

Old street scene in Chinatown of Mandalay during the British colonial period

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889,^[14] less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925.^[15] The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures going on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum; in 1964 they were returned to Burma as a gesture of goodwill.^[16][17] The British also renamed the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

Myowun (Mayor) of Mandalay, c. 1900

Map of Mandalay, 1911

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–1905, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.^[6]

Troops of 19th Indian Division and a Lee tank in action during street fighting in Mandalay, 9–10 March 1945.

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On 3 April 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault. The city was in effect defenseless as its firefighting resources were weak, having been lost in earlier bombing, it had no anti-aircraft capacity, and the British RAF had by now withdrawn all its aircraft to India. Three-fifths of Mandalay's houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed.^[18][19][20] Many residents also fled when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, which had been turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was in turn burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

Contemporary Mandalay (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.^[21]

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 90,000 homeless.^[22] On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.^[23][24] The fire caused US$96 million in property damage.^[22]

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.^[25][26]

Illegal Chinese immigration

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Han Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan.^[27] The Chinese influx accelerated after the State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. Many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan and, to a lesser extent, Sichuan poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many ending up in Mandalay, living illegally there.^[28][5] In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay.^[29] Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 40%–50% of the city's population that is nearly the same as the natives,^[29] and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar.^[27] The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.^[6]

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center. In October 2018, Mandalay was ranked by CIO Asia as number fifth among the top 10 cities in Southeast Asia in the process of becoming a smart city for ASEAN Smart Cities Network.^[30]

Around the city

Atumashi Monastery has been rebuilt as a faithful replica of the original destroyed by a fire.

• Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.
• Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.
  

  Kuthodaw Pagoda – Some of the 729 stupas known as the world's largest book
• Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.
• Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.
• Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 12 feet and 7 inches (3.8 m) high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees every day. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda.
  

  Mandalay Hill, at 790 ft (240 m), is home to many of Mandalay's religious sites.
• Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres high, provides a view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.
• Mandalay Palace: The whole palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. The palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", were rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the palace grounds.
  

  Shwenandaw Monastery
• Shwenandaw Monastery: known for its wood carvings, it was a part of the old palace. In 1880 it was moved by King Thibaw to its current site close to Atumashi Monastery.
  

  U Bein Bridge
• U Bein Bridge : known for the oldest and (once) longest teakwood bridge in the world. It was constructed when the capital of Ava Kingdom moved to Amarapura .
• Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

Air

Mandalay International Airport

Mandalay International Airport (MDL) was one of the largest and most modern airports in Myanmar until the modernization of Yangon International Airport in 2008. Built at a cost of US$150 million in 2000, it is highly underused; it serves mostly domestic flights with the exception of those to Kunming and to/from Bangkok and Chiang Mai, with daily flights on Air Asia and Bangkok Airways.^[35] The airport has come to represent the military regime's propensity for bad planning and penchant for white elephant projects.^[36] Myanmar's recent opening stance on tourism means the airport is now receiving a growing number of visitors from Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

The airport is far from the city, 45 km (28 mi) on a modern highway. Before the construction of this airport, Mandalay Chanmyathazi Airport was the main airport of the city. The airport serves some flights to Myanmar towns.

River

The Ayeyarwady River remains an important arterial route for transporting goods such as farm produce including rice, beans and pulses, cooking oil, pottery, bamboo and teak.

Rail

Central Railway Station on 78th and 30th

Mandalay Central Railway Station is the terminus of Myanmar Railways's metre gauge main rail line from Yangon (Yangon–Mandalay Railway) and the starting point of branch lines to Pyin U Lwin (Maymyo), Lashio (Mandalay–Lashio Railway), Monywa, Pakokku, Kalay, Gangaw, and to the north, Shwebo, Kawlin, Naba, Kanbalu, Mohnyin, Hopin, Mogaung and Myitkyina (Mandalay–Myitkyina Railway).

Mandalay has a station on the standard gauge Kunming, China - Kyaukphyu port railway.

Mandalay does not have an intra-city metro rail system. The former Trams in Mandalay has been decommissioned.

Roads

Mandalay literally is at the center of Burma's road network. The highway network includes roads towards:^[37]

• Upper Burma and China—Mandalay–Tagaung–Bhamo–Myitkyina Road, Mandalay–Mogok–SiU–Bhamo Road, Mandalay–Lashio–Muse Road (part of Asian Highway route 14 or AH14)^[38]
• Western Burma and India—Mandalay–Sagaing–Monywa–Kalewa–Tamu Road^[38]
• Lower Burma– Yangon-Mandalay Expressway and AH1^[38]

Most stretches of these highways are one-lane roads in poor condition.

Buses and cars

As the government allows only a few thousands of vehicles to be imported each year, motor transportation in Burma is highly expensive for most of its citizens.^[39] Most people rely on bicycles, motorcycles and/or private and public buses to get around. Back in the 2000s, the most popular car in Mandalay was the 1982/83 Nissan Sunny pickup truck. Because of its utility as a private bus or taxi, the two-and-a-half-decade old model still had strong demand and heady prices to match—from K10 million to K14 million (US$8,000 to US$11,000) in mid-2008.^[40] To get around severe import limits, people of Mandalay had turned to illegally imported and hence unregistered (called "without" in Burmese English) motorcycles and cars despite the government's periodic confiscation sprees then.^[41]

In March 2008, Mandalay had nearly 81,000 registered motor vehicles^[42] plus an unknown number of unregistered vehicles. Although the number of cars in a city of one million is low, traffic in Mandalay is highly chaotic as thousands of bicycles and (unregistered) motorbikes freely roam around all the lanes of the streets. Unlike in Yangon where motorbikes, cycle rickshaws and bicycles are prohibited from entering downtown and busy areas, in Mandalay it is anything goes. In 2018, as part of Mandalay Smart City initiatives, new traffic lights with internet-connected sensors have been installed by Mandalay City Development Committee to manage traffic at junctions.^[43]

Media

Much of the media in Mandalay – like elsewhere in Burma – comes from Yangon. The city's non-satellite TV programming comes from Yangon-based state-run TV Myanmar and military-run Myawaddy, both of which provide Burmese language news and entertainment. Since December 2006, MRTV-4, formerly a paid channel, has also been available in Mandalay.^[48] Mandalay has two radio stations. Naypyidaw-based Myanmar Radio National Service is the national radio service and broadcasts mostly in Burmese (and in English during specific times.) Semi-state-run Mandalay City FM (87.9FM) is the Mandalay metropolitan area's pop culture oriented station.^[49]

The military government, which controls all daily newspapers in Burma, uses Mandalay to publish and distribute its three national newspapers, the Burmese language Myanmar Alin and Kyemon and the English language New Light of Myanmar.^[50] The state-run Yadanabon is published in Mandalay and serves the Upper Burma market.^[51] The Mandalay Daily newspaper is published by Mandalay City Development Committee since 30 November 1997.^[52]

Sport climbing

At Waterfall Hill, the first bolted rock climbing site in Myanmar have been developed with the help of Mandalay climbers led by Steve, Tylor and Technical Climbing Club of Myanmar since 2010. ^{[54] [55] [56]}