103-579: The Meitei people , also known as Meetei , Manipuri people , are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group native to Manipur . They form the largest and dominant ethnic group of Manipur in Northeast India . They speak the Meitei language (officially called Manipuri ), one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India and the sole official language of Government of Manipur . The Meiteis primarily settled in
206-615: A Central branch of Tibeto-Burman based on morphological evidence. Roger Blench and Mark Post (2011) list a number of divergent languages of Arunachal Pradesh , in northeastern India, that might have non-Tibeto-Burman substrates, or could even be non-Tibeto-Burman language isolates : Blench and Post believe the remaining languages with these substratal characteristics are more clearly Sino-Tibetan: Notes Bibliography Mandalay Mandalay ( / ˌ m æ n d ə ˈ l eɪ / or / ˈ m æ n d əl eɪ / ; Burmese : မန္တလေး ; MLCTS : manta.le: [màndəlé] )
309-436: A Meitei chronicle, record the gradual spread of Meiteis across Kangleipak ( Meitei for ' Manipur ') and their assimilation of other clans into a confederacy. In 1100 CE, Loyumba Shinyen ( Old Manipuri : ꯂꯣꯌꯨꯝꯄ ꯁꯤꯟꯌꯦꯟ , romanized: Loyumpa Shinyen ), an ancient Meitei language constitution was written and regulated under the supervision of Meitei King Loiyumba (Loyumba) (1074 CE-1112 CE) in
412-644: A commercial screening at a theatre. Imagi Ningthem ( Meitei for ' My Son, My Precious ') (1981) is the only Indian film that gets the Golden Montgolfiere at the Festival des 3 Continents , Nantes in 1982, bringing fame and honour of the Indian cinema at the international platform. Ishanou ( Meitei for ' The Chosen One ') (1990) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at
515-796: A delicacy. The vegetables are either made as stews (Kangsoi) with less oil/no oil used in sauteing, or stir fried directly in oil with various added spices to make an oily spicy side dish (Kanghou). Roasted/Smoked and Sun-dried fish or fried fresh fish is usually added in most of the stews and curry to impart special taste. The vegetables, herbs and fruits consumed in the region are more similar to those in Southeast/East/Central Asian, Siberian, Arctic, Polynesian and Micronesian cuisines such as Myanmar, Thailand, Inuit, etc. E.g. treebean (yongchak), galangal (loklei), culantro (awa phadigom), lime basil (mayangton), fishwort (tokningkhok) and many others, which are not cultivated in northern India. One of
618-465: A derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be maṇḍala (မဏ္ဍလ), referring to circular plains or Mandara , a mountain from Hindu mythology. When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanarbon ( ရတနာပုံ , [jədənàbòʊɰ̃] ), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra ( ရတနပူရ ) "City of Gems." It
721-645: A festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued. 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. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless. The fire caused US$ 96 million in property damage. Fires continue to plague
824-497: A long gap, presently, Meitei was written in the indigenous Meitei mayek script. The script was replaced by an alphabet based on the Bengali script in the early 18th century. The Meitei Mayek script has seen a revival in recent decades, and is now seen in street signs, schools, newspapers, and legislative proceeding records. Among the heritage of diverse literary works in Meitei literature,
927-566: A long period, leaving their affiliations difficult to determine. The grouping of the Bai language , with one million speakers in Yunnan, is particularly controversial, with some workers suggesting that it is a sister language to Chinese. The Naxi language of northern Yunnan is usually included in Lolo-Burmese, though other scholars prefer to leave it unclassified. The hills of northwestern Sichuan are home to
1030-941: A prosperous business community. Identity cards allowed the Chinese immigrants to stay indefinitely and bypass legal barriers on foreign ownership of businesses such as hotels, shops, and restaurants. The imposition of sanctions by the United States and the European Union in the 1990s and Burma's open-door immigration policy in the 1990s encouraged Chinese entrepreneurs to move to Mandalay. A substantial increase in foreign direct investment has poured in from mainland China, mostly ending up in Mandalay's real estate sector, through Burmese citizen intermediaries of Chinese ancestry. Retail outlets were opened by Chinese entrepreneurs, ranging from cement mixing to financial services turning Mandalay into
1133-1047: A retinue of Manipuri Brahmins called Bamons, also called Kathe Ponna (ကသည်းပုဏ္ဏား) to advise and conduct court rituals. The Meitei people speak the Meitei language (also known as the Manipuri language), a Tibeto-Burman language. Meitei is one of the languages with legal status in India , and was included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India in 1992. There are many Meitei language movements , including classical language movement (predominantly in Manipur), associate official language movement (in Assam ), linguistic purism movement (predominantly in Manipur ), etc. Historically and then after
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#17328698950661236-519: A significant population of Meitei people in Kachin state , Yangon Region , Sagaing Region , Shan state , Ayeyarwady Region , among others. "The beginning of this old Manipuri literature (as in the case of Newari ) may go back to 1500 years, or even 2000 years, from now." — Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Padma Vibhushan awardee Indian scholar The earliest sections of the Cheitharol Kumbaba ,
1339-580: A valid subgroup in its own right. Most of the Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken in remote mountain areas, which has hampered their study. Many lack a written standard. It is generally easier to identify a language as Tibeto-Burman than to determine its precise relationship with other languages of the group. The subgroupings that have been established with certainty number several dozen, ranging from well-studied groups of dozens of languages with millions of speakers to several isolates , some only discovered in
1442-625: Is Burmese , the national language of Myanmar, with over 32 million speakers and a literary tradition dating from the early 12th century. It is one of the Lolo-Burmese languages , an intensively studied and well-defined group comprising approximately 100 languages spoken in Myanmar and the highlands of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and southwest China . Major languages include the Loloish languages , with two million speakers in western Sichuan and northern Yunnan ,
1545-524: Is the longest Indian epic just after the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. Some of the significant intricate designs of the traditional Meitei architecture and sculptures are seen in various buildings and institutions, especially the temples of traditional Meitei religion : Hiyangthang Lairembi Temple , Pakhangba Temple, Kangla , Sanamahi Kiyong Temple , Thangjing Temple, Moirang , among many. Others include
1648-532: Is UTC/GMT +6:30 hours and is 626 km from Yangon. Mandalay lies along the Sagaing Fault , a tectonic plate boundary between the India and Sunda plates. The biggest earthquake in its history, occurred on 23 March 1839 , an estimated magnitude 8.2 destroyed the former capital Ava and caused extreme destruction in nearby cities. The most recent quake was a magnitude of 7, occurred in 1956. The devastation
1751-521: Is a staple crop. However, they also grow mangoes, lemons, pineapples, oranges, guavas, and other fruits. Fishing is also common among the Meitei that can either be a profession or a hobby. Women tend to dominate the local markets as sellers of food items, textiles, and traditional clothing. Tibeto-Burman languages The Tibeto-Burman languages are the non- Sinitic members of the Sino-Tibetan language family , over 400 of which are spoken throughout
1854-643: Is an extensive literature in Classical Tibetan dating from the 8th century. The Tibetic languages are usually grouped with the smaller East Bodish languages of Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh as the Bodish group. Many diverse Tibeto-Burman languages are spoken on the southern slopes of the Himalayas. Sizable groups that have been identified are the West Himalayish languages of Himachal Pradesh and western Nepal,
1957-494: Is central to the family in that it contains features of many of the other branches, and is also located around the center of the Tibeto-Burman-speaking area. Since Benedict (1972), many languages previously inadequately documented have received more attention with the publication of new grammars, dictionaries, and wordlists. This new research has greatly benefited comparative work, and Bradley (2002) incorporates much of
2060-541: Is connected to other parts of the country and to China and India by multiple modes of transportation. 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. The airport has come to represent
2163-630: Is known from inscriptions using a variant of the Gupta script . The Tangut language of the 12th century Western Xia of northern China is preserved in numerous texts written in the Chinese-inspired Tangut script . Over eight million people in the Tibetan Plateau and neighbouring areas in Baltistan , Ladakh , Nepal , Sikkim and Bhutan speak one of several related Tibetic languages . There
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#17328698950662266-448: Is now accepted by most linguists, with a few exceptions such as Roy Andrew Miller and Christopher Beckwith . More recent controversy has centred on the proposed primary branching of Sino-Tibetan into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman subgroups. In spite of the popularity of this classification, first proposed by Kuhn and Conrady, and also promoted by Paul Benedict (1972) and later James Matisoff , Tibeto-Burman has not been demonstrated to be
2369-495: Is spoken in an area from eastern Nepal to western Bhutan. Most of the languages of Bhutan are Bodish, but it also has three small isolates, 'Ole ("Black Mountain Monpa"), Lhokpu and Gongduk and a larger community of speakers of Tshangla . The Tani languages include most of the Tibeto-Burman languages of Arunachal Pradesh and adjacent areas of Tibet. The remaining languages of Arunachal Pradesh are much more diverse, belonging to
2472-565: 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. 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
2575-568: Is the second-largest city in Myanmar , after Yangon . Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River , 631 km (392 miles; road distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was founded in 1857 by King Mindon , replacing Amarapura as the new royal capital of the Konbaung dynasty . It was Burma's final royal capital before the kingdom's annexation by
2678-460: Is then divided into several branches, some of them geographic conveniences rather than linguistic proposals: Matisoff makes no claim that the families in the Kamarupan or Himalayish branches have a special relationship to one another other than a geographic one. They are intended rather as categories of convenience pending more detailed comparative work. Matisoff also notes that Jingpho–Nungish–Luish
2781-402: Is widely used, but problematic because of its ambiguous scope: next to being a synonym for Meitei / Meetei , it can also refer in a wider sense to the native ethnic groups in the hills of Manipur. The Indian state of Manipur has the largest Meitei population among all its geographical distribution. Meitei people are the third largest ethnic group, after Bengalis and Hindi speaking people, in
2884-539: The Khamba Thoibi Sheireng , ( Meitei : ꯈꯝꯕ ꯊꯣꯏꯕꯤ ꯁꯩꯔꯦꯡ , lit. ' poem on Khamba Thoibi ' )), is regarded as the national epic of the Manipuris . It is an epic poem based on the ancient romantic adventure tale of Khamba and Thoibi . It is the best known magnum opus of Hijam Anganghal Singh . It is often considered to be the greatest of all the Meitei epic poems. At 39,000 verses , it
2987-571: The 1991 Cannes Film Festival , and again after a gap of 33 years, it was recognised as a "World Classic" by the 2023 Cannes Film Festival . Notably, it was the only film selected from India for the event in that year. According to the 2011 census, 83.38% of Meiteis practice Hinduism , around 16% of Meiteis follow the traditional Sanamahi religion, about 8% follow Islam and are known as Meitei Pangals , and about 1.06% are Christians. Meiteis follow both Hinduism as well as Sanamahi religious traditions and rituals. For example, they worship Sanamahi in
3090-628: The Akha language and Hani languages , with two million speakers in southern Yunnan, eastern Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, and Lisu and Lahu in Yunnan, northern Myanmar and northern Thailand. All languages of the Loloish subgroup show significant Austroasiatic influence. The Pai-lang songs, transcribed in Chinese characters in the 1st century, appear to record words from a Lolo-Burmese language, but arranged in Chinese order. The Tibeto-Burman languages of south-west China have been heavily influenced by Chinese over
3193-540: The Ancient Kangleipak (early Manipur ). It is a formal proclamation of the proto-constitution which was drafted in 429 CE by Meitei King Naophangba . The idea of its constitutionalism was functional until it was substituted by the Manipur State Constitution Act 1947 . Myanmar is home to a sizeable community of Meiteis, who are called Kathe in Burmese. Unlike other Hindu communities in Myanmar,
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3296-575: The Barak Valley region of Assam state of India. The population of Meiteis are found in four districts of Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, namely Sylhet District (thirteen villages), Moulvibazar District (twenty-eight villages), Sunamganj District (three villages) and Habiganj District (four villages). In early times, there were Meitei population in Dhaka , Mymensingh and Comilla also. Myanmar has
3399-584: The British Empire in 1885. Under British rule, Mandalay remained commercially and culturally important despite the rise of Yangon, the new capital of British Burma. The city suffered extensive destruction during the Japanese conquest of Burma in the Second World War . In 1948, Mandalay became part of the newly independent Union of Burma. Today, Mandalay is the economic centre of Upper Myanmar and considered
3502-571: 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
3605-515: The Ima Keithel , Kangla Sanathong . include Some of the worthy to mention finely crafted sculptures are the Marjing Polo Statue , Kangla Sha sculptures, Statue of Meidingu Nara Singh . The Lai Haraoba ( Meitei for 'Merrymaking festival of the gods') is a traditional Meitei ritualistic theatrical festival, consisting of different dances, musical performances and carnivals in
3708-637: The Imphal Valley region in modern-day Manipur, though a sizeable population has settled in the other Indian states of Assam , Tripura , Nagaland , Meghalaya , and Mizoram . There is also a notable presence of Meitei people in the neighbouring countries of Myanmar and Bangladesh . The Meitei ethnic group represents about 53% of Manipur's population. The Meitei are known by a number of endonyms , Meitei , Meetei , Meithei ( Meitei ), and as well as by numerous exonyms , such as Meckley , Manipuri , Cassay-Shan , and Kathe ( Burmese ). The term Manipuri
3811-600: The Jingpho–Luish languages , including Jingpho with nearly a million speakers. The Brahmaputran or Sal languages include at least the Boro–Garo and Konyak languages , spoken in an area stretching from northern Myanmar through the Indian states of Nagaland , Meghalaya , and Tripura , and are often considered to include the Jingpho–Luish group. The border highlands of Nagaland , Manipur and western Myanmar are home to
3914-473: The Songlin and Chamdo languages , both of which were only described in the 2010s. New Tibeto-Burman languages continue to be recognized, some not closely related to other languages. Distinct languages only recognized in the 2010s include Koki Naga . Randy LaPolla (2003) proposed a Rung branch of Tibeto-Burman, based on morphological evidence, but this is not widely accepted. Scott DeLancey (2015) proposed
4017-591: The Southeast Asian Massif ("Zomia") as well as parts of East Asia and South Asia . Around 60 million people speak Tibeto-Burman languages. The name derives from the most widely spoken of these languages, Burmese and the Tibetic languages , which also have extensive literary traditions, dating from the 12th and 7th centuries respectively. Most of the other languages are spoken by much smaller communities, and many of them have not been described in detail. Though
4120-455: 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. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 40%–50% of
4223-659: The Tamangic languages of western Nepal, including Tamang with one million speakers, and the Kiranti languages of eastern Nepal. The remaining groups are small, with several isolates. The Newar language (Nepal Bhasa) of central Nepal has a million speakers and literature dating from the 12th century, and nearly a million people speak Magaric languages , but the rest have small speech communities. Other isolates and small groups in Nepal are Dura , Raji–Raute , Chepangic and Dhimalish . Lepcha
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4326-504: The Thudamma zayats or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon . 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. For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be
4429-564: The 21st century but in danger of extinction. These subgroups are here surveyed on a geographical basis. The southernmost group is the Karen languages , spoken by three million people on both sides of the Burma–Thailand border. They differ from all other Tibeto-Burman languages (except Bai) in having a subject–verb–object word order, attributed to contact with Tai–Kadai and Austroasiatic languages . The most widely spoken Tibeto-Burman language
4532-511: 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. 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
4635-517: The Burmese occupation of Manipur from 1819 to 1826. Alaungpaya , during the former campaign, resettled Meiteis in Sagaing and Amarapura . The Meitei people's horsemanship skills were employed in the Burmese royal army, where they formed the elite Cassay cavalry (ကသည်းမြင်းတပ်) and artillery regiments (ကသည်းအမြောက်တပ်) which were employed during the Burmese–Siamese wars . The Burmese court also retained
4738-400: The English language New Light of Myanmar . The state-run Yadanabon is published in Mandalay and serves the Upper Burma market. The Mandalay Daily newspaper is published by Mandalay City Development Committee since 30 November 1997. Mandalay's sporting facilities are quite poor by international standards but are still the best in Upper Burma. The 17,000 seat Bahtoo Stadium was
4841-454: The Meitei resemble other Burmese ethnic groups in terms of physical appearance, which has accelerated their assimilation and integration into Burmese society. In the early 1950s, Burmese Meiteis numbered approximately 40,000, with a third of them residing in Mandalay . Current estimates are approximately 25,000. Meiteis have resettled throughout the country, including in villages near Myitkyina to
4944-484: The UN puts Mandalay's population at nearly 1 million. The city's population is projected to reach nearly 1.5 million by 2025. While Mandalay has traditionally been the bastion of Bamar (Burman) culture and populace, the massive influx of illegal ethnic Han Chinese in the last 20 years has effectively influenced the ethnic Bamar majority there. Although many native ethnic Han Chinese could not get Burmese citizenship,
5047-572: The basis of vocabulary and typological features shared with Chinese. Jean Przyluski introduced the term sino-tibétain (Sino-Tibetan) as the title of his chapter on the group in Antoine Meillet and Marcel Cohen 's Les Langues du Monde in 1924. The Tai languages have not been included in most Western accounts of Sino-Tibetan since the Second World War, though many Chinese linguists still include them. The link between Tibeto-Burman and Chinese
5150-407: The centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of irregular Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan , since the late 20th century, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw 's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Myanmar's main commercial, educational and health center. The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill . The name is probably
5253-487: The city of Mandalay, with clients from Hong Kong continuing to be the source of main customers. Mandalay has been virtually sinicized economically and culturally, to the resentment of locals. More than 50 percent of the commercial business activity generated in Downtown Mandalay is derived from the eclipsing plethora of Chinese-owned shops, hotels, restaurants, and showrooms that predominate the area. About 80 percent of
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#17328698950665356-438: The city's output of commercial business activity relative to their small population size. Prime residential and commercial real estate in central Mandalay have been bought by wealthy Chinese businessmen and investors. As many as half of the city's residents have Chinese ancestry with the seven of the top ten entrepreneurs in Mandalay being of Chinese descent fully controlling 60 percent of its entire economy. About 50 percent of
5459-526: The city's population that is nearly the same as the natives, 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. 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. Despite
5562-554: 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. 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 . The Chinese influx accelerated after
5665-518: The city. In 1904–1905, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city. During World War II , Mandalay suffered devastating air raids. 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
5768-419: The city. Mandalay also features wet and dry seasons of nearly equal length, with the wet season running from May through October and the dry season covering the remaining six months. The highest reliably recorded temperature in Mandalay is 45.0 °C (113.0 °F) on 12 May 2010 while the lowest is 7.6 °C (45.7 °F) on 26 December 1999. There is considerably more diurnal temperature variation in
5871-534: The city. The airport serves some flights to Myanmar towns. 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. 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
5974-399: The classification of Sino-Tibetan and Tibeto-Burman languages, Shafer (1955) and Benedict (1972) , which were actually produced in the 1930s and 1940s respectively. Shafer's tentative classification took an agnostic position and did not recognize Tibeto-Burman, but placed Chinese (Sinitic) on the same level as the other branches of a Sino-Tibetan family. He retained Tai–Kadai (Daic) within
6077-486: The division of Sino-Tibetan into Sinitic and Tibeto-Burman branches (e.g. Benedict, Matisoff) is widely used, some historical linguists criticize this classification, as the non-Sinitic Sino-Tibetan languages lack any shared innovations in phonology or morphology to show that they comprise a clade of the phylogenetic tree . During the 18th century, several scholars noticed parallels between Tibetan and Burmese, both languages with extensive literary traditions. In
6180-455: The dry season than the wet season. The Mandalay Region Government is the government for Mandalay Region including Mandalay City. The Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) is municipal organization for Mandalay City. The Mandalay District consists of seven townships. Mandalay's strategic location in Central Burma makes it an important hub for transport of people and goods. The city
6283-522: The entire Pāli Canon , each housed in its own white stupa . The buildings inside the old Mandalay city walls, surrounded by a moat, which was repaired in recent times using prison labor, comprise the Mandalay Palace , mostly destroyed during World War II . İt is now replaced by a replica, military Prison and a military garrison, the headquarters of the Central Military Command . Much of
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#17328698950666386-444: The ethnic Bamar. A sizable community of Indian immigrants (mostly Tamils ) also resides in Mandalay. Burmese is the principal language of the city, while Chinese is increasingly heard in the city's commerce centers as the second language. English is the third language, only known by some urban people. Mandalay is Burma's cultural and religious center of Buddhism, having numerous monasteries and more than 700 pagodas . At
6489-924: The family as uniting the Gangetic and Lohitic branches of Max Müller 's Turanian , a huge family consisting of all the Eurasian languages except the Semitic , "Aryan" ( Indo-European ) and Chinese languages. The third volume of the Linguistic Survey of India was devoted to the Tibeto-Burman languages of British India . Julius Klaproth had noted in 1823 that Burmese, Tibetan and Chinese all shared common basic vocabulary , but that Thai , Mon and Vietnamese were quite different. Several authors, including Ernst Kuhn in 1883 and August Conrady in 1896, described an "Indo-Chinese" family consisting of two branches, Tibeto-Burman and Chinese-Siamese. The Tai languages were included on
6592-415: The family, allegedly at the insistence of colleagues, despite his personal belief that they were not related. A very influential, although also tentative, classification is that of Benedict (1972) , which was actually written around 1941. Like Shafer's work, this drew on the data assembled by the Sino-Tibetan Philology Project, which was directed by Shafer and Benedict in turn. Benedict envisaged Chinese as
6695-416: The first family to branch off, followed by Karen. The Tibeto-Burman family is then divided into seven primary branches: James Matisoff proposes a modification of Benedict that demoted Karen but kept the divergent position of Sinitic. Of the 7 branches within Tibeto-Burman, 2 branches (Baic and Karenic) have SVO -order languages, whereas all the other 5 branches have SOV -order languages. Tibeto-Burman
6798-433: The following century, Brian Houghton Hodgson collected a wealth of data on the non-literary languages of the Himalayas and northeast India, noting that many of these were related to Tibetan and Burmese. Others identified related languages in the highlands of Southeast Asia and south-west China. The name "Tibeto-Burman" was first applied to this group in 1856 by James Logan , who added Karen in 1858. Charles Forbes viewed
6901-439: The foot of Mandalay Hill sits the world's official " Buddhist Bible ", also known as the world's largest book, in Kuthodaw Pagoda . The styles of Mandalay Buddha Images and Buddha Statues were many since King Mandon, who was a devout Buddhist, and had filled Mandalay with them and through the years Mandalay Buddhist art became established as the pure art of Myanmar. There are 729 slabs of stone that together are inscribed with
7004-465: 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. The new capital city site was 66 km (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. The 1,020-acre (413-hectare) citadel
7107-399: The foreign-born Yunnanese can easily obtain Burmese citizenship cards on the black market. Ludu Daw Amar of Mandalay, the native journalist had said it felt like "an undeclared colony of Yunnan ". Today, the percentage of ethnic Han Chinese, estimated at 50% of the city (with the Yunnanese forming an estimated 30% of Mandalay's population), is believed to be nearly the same as that of
7210-399: 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. 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)
7313-400: 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. 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,
7416-465: The hotels and guesthouses, more than 70 percent of the restaurants, more than 45 percent of gold and jewellery shops, about 30 percent of jade and gemstone trading, and nearly 100 percent of the sale centres for mainland Chinese-made commodities in Mandalay are owned and operated by the Chinese. Chinese entrepreneurs and investors have acquired much of Central Mandalay's economic crown jewels and have been disproportionately responsible for generating much of
7519-576: The land plots in Downtown Mandalay are controlled by the Chinese. In addition, all of Mandalay's shopping malls and hotels were entirely built by Chinese-owned construction and real estate development companies. Besides Mandalay's economic development being shaped by the Burmese Chinese business community's immense development output, it has also been amplified with additional investment from foreign Chinese investment from mainland China and overseas bamboo networks . The apparent influence of mainland China
7622-475: The largest in Upper Myanmar before the construction of Mandalarthiri Stadium and hosts mainly local and regional association football and track-and-field tournaments. Since May 2009, professional football has arrived in Mandalay, with Yadanabon FC representing the city in the newly formed Myanmar National League , the country's first professional football league. In 2013, a new stadium, Mandalarthiri Stadium
7725-505: 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
7828-565: The leading traditional industries are silk weaving, tapestry , jade cutting and polishing, stone and wood carving, making marble and bronze Buddha images, temple ornaments and paraphernalia, the working of gold leaves and of silver, the manufacture of matches, brewing and distilling. Since the country's post-1988 shift towards economic liberalization , large numbers of Chinese migrants in search of economic opportunity have poured into Mandalay. These migrants brought with them talent, skills, goods and services, and capital, but also purchased most of
7931-466: The major Indian classical dance forms, originating from the historical Manipur Kingdom . The first Manipuri-language film , Matamgi Manipur , was released on 9 April 1972. Paokhum Ama (1983) is the first full-length colour feature film (according to the Academy's definition of a feature film) of Manipur and was directed by Aribam Syam Sharma . Lammei (2002) is the first Manipuri Video film to have
8034-428: 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. Mandalay has two radio stations. Naypyidaw -based Myanmar Radio National Service
8137-408: The military regime's propensity for bad planning and penchant for white elephant projects. 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
8240-448: The most important ingredients in Meitei cooking is Ngari (fermented fish). Roasted ngari is used in the singju (a kind of salad), morok metpa (chilli chutney), eromba (boiled and mashed veggies with chillies). A variety of fermented bamboo shoots (soibum) as well as fresh bamboo shoots (Ushoi/Shoidon), and fermented soya beans (hawaijaar) also form an important part of Meitei cuisines. All meals are served with some fresh aromatic herbs on
8343-551: The newer data. George van Driem rejects the primary split of Sinitic, making Tibeto-Burman synonymous with Sino-Tibetan. The internal structure of Tibeto-Burman is tentatively classified as follows by Matisoff (2015: xxxii, 1123–1127) in the final release of the Sino-Tibetan Etymological Dictionary and Thesaurus (STEDT). The classification of Tujia is difficult due to extensive borrowing. Other unclassified Tibeto-Burman languages include Basum and
8446-399: The north, Homalin , Kalewa , Pyay , in the center of the country, and Yangon to the south. They continue to practice Hinduism in Myanmar. As a result of wars between the Meitei kingdom and the Konbaung dynasty between the 17th and 18th centuries, many Meiteis were resettled in the Burmese kingdom. Some Meitei settlements in modern-day Myanmar originate from the 1758–1759 war, and from
8549-525: 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. Mandalay literally is at the center of Burma's road network. The highway network includes roads towards: Most stretches of these highways are one-lane roads in poor condition. As
8652-612: 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. A 2007 estimate by
8755-514: The only non-vegetarian elements used and a significant number of meiteis follow it where meat is cooked and eaten outside the house if consumed. Rice is the main carbohydrate source in a Meitei dish; typically, it is served with vegetables, fish, freshwater snails, crabs, oyesters, eels etc. Among the most famous species of fishes Manipuri Sareng ( Wallago attu ) or commonly known as Helicopter catfish, Hilsa ( ilish Tenualosa ilisha), freshwater snails ( pila (gastropod) ) and edible oysters are considered
8858-460: The palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops. 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
8961-922: The prosperous business centre it is today. As Mandalay became more economically prosperous, existing Burmese Chinese have facilitated continued immigration from China. The transformation of Mandalay into a booming modern metropolis filled with foreign businesses and gem trading centers occurred under the auspices of the entrepreneurial Chinese minority. The Chinese minority in Mandalay own virtually all of Mandalay's retail gold shops, mining concessions, foreign businesses and timber trading companies. In Central Mandalay, about 80 percent or four out of five gold and jewellery shops are Chinese-owned. Many Chinese-owned and operated businesses such as trading cooperatives, market stalls, food joints, traditional Chinese medicinal clinics, hotels, gemstone mining concessions, wholesale marketing, hotels, restaurants, and real estate have also flourished. Foreign purchasers of jade and gems flock to
9064-604: 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 . Mandalay is located in the central Dry Zone of Burma by the Irrawaddy river at 21.98° North, 96.08° East, 80 meters (260 feet) above sea level. Its standard time zone
9167-482: The shops and real estate in the centre of Mandalay, transforming the economic dynamics of the city. This influx of poor Han Chinese immigrants mostly trace their ancestry to the Southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan . Many were able to illegally obtain identity papers on the black market to become naturalized Burmese citizens overnight. Arriving impoverished, they now sit at the helm of the Burmese economy as
9270-669: The side. A typical every day Meitei meal will have rice, vegetable or fish curry, a piquant side dish (either morok metpa or eromba accompanied with herbs), a champhut (a steamed/boiled vegetable with little sugar, e.g., carrot, pumpkin or cucumber slices or steamed/boiled mustard green stems, etc. without sugar), and a Kanghou. Meat cuisines are also popular amongst the Meiteis and some of the common meat curries are yen thongba (chicken curry) and nganu thongba (duck cury) and depending on regions, oak thongba (pork curry) and shan thongba (beef curry). The Meitei are mainly agriculturists in which rice
9373-658: The small Ao , Angami–Pochuri , Tangkhulic , and Zeme groups of languages, as well as the Karbi language . Meithei , the main language of Manipur with 1.4 million speakers, is sometimes linked with the 50 or so Kuki-Chin languages are spoken in Mizoram and the Chin State of Myanmar. The Mru language is spoken by a small group in the Chittagong Hill Tracts between Bangladesh and Myanmar. There have been two milestones in
9476-461: The small Qiangic and Rgyalrongic groups of languages, which preserve many archaic features. The most easterly Tibeto-Burman language is Tujia , spoken in the Wuling Mountains on the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Guizhou and Chongqing. Two historical languages are believed to be Tibeto-Burman, but their precise affiliation is uncertain. The Pyu language of central Myanmar in the first centuries
9579-481: The small Siangic , Kho-Bwa (or Kamengic), Hruso , Miju and Digaro languages (or Mishmic) groups. These groups have relatively little Tibeto-Burman vocabulary, and Bench and Post dispute their inclusion in Sino-Tibetan. The greatest variety of languages and subgroups is found in the highlands stretching from northern Myanmar to northeast India. Northern Myanmar is home to the small Nungish group, as well as
9682-415: The south-west corners of their homes. The Meitei people follow a traditional calendar called Maliyafam Palcha Kumsing , which has 12 months and a 7-day week. Rice, vegetables and fish are staple food of the Meiteis, although meat is also consumed; but in traditional meitei dishes meat is never used in non-vegetarian dishes. In traditional and cultural gatherings fish, snails, oysters, crabs, eels etc. are
9785-511: The temples and the streets. It's dedicated to the worship of the ancient Meitei gods and goddesses , who are categorised as the Umang Lai ( Meitei for 'Sylvan deities') and Lam Lai ( Meitei for 'Tutelary deities'). The Manipuri classical dance , also referred to as the Manipuri Raas Leela ( Meitei : Jagoi Raas, Raas Jagoi ), is a jagoi and is one of
9888-584: 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. 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. In March 2008, Mandalay had nearly 81,000 registered motor vehicles plus an unknown number of unregistered vehicles. Although
9991-464: The watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.) 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
10094-453: The year. Average temperatures in January, the mildest month, hovers around 22 °C or 71.6 °F while the hottest month, April, averages 32 °C or 89.6 °F. Mandalay is very hot in the months of April and May, with average high temperatures easily exceeding 37 °C or 99 °F. It is not uncommon to see high temperatures surpass 40 °C or 104 °F during these two months in
10197-475: Was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei ( လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ , [lé dʑʊ́ɰ̃ àʊɰ̃ mjè] , "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace ( မြနန်းစံကျော် , [mja̰ náɰ̃ sàɰ̃ tɕɔ̀] , "Famed Royal Emerald Palace"). 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
10300-538: Was built to host the Women Football matches of 27th SEA Games and became the largest stadium in Mandalay and Upper Myanmar. 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. Mandalay is the major trading and communications center for Upper Myanmar . Much of Burmese external trade to China and India goes through Mandalay. Among
10403-676: Was greatest in nearby Sagaing , and it came to be known as the Great Sagaing Quake . Bodies of water near Mandalay are Mandalay Kantawgyi, a small lake and Irrawaddy River to the west of the city. Although the rain shadow of the Arakan Mountains is powerful, the city qualifies as having a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen climate classification: Aw ), bordering a hot semi-arid climate ( BSh ), though if using 1981-2010 data, Mandalay does qualify as hot semi-arid ( BSh ). Mandalay features noticeably warmer and cooler periods of
10506-488: Was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College , was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. 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. The British also renamed
10609-565: 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. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda , the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein Ordination Hall ,
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