Mandalay

**Mandalay** ( or ;  ) is a city in Myanmar. There is only one city in Myanmar that has more people than Mandalay. It is  north of Yangon. Mandalay is on the east side of the Irrawaddy River. In 2014, there were 1,225,553 people living there.

## Name 
The name "Mandalay" comes from the nearby hill called Mandalay Hill. "Mandalay" may come from the Pali language. Some people think that the name "Mandalay" comes from the Pali word *mandala*.

The original name of the city was **Yadanabon** (, ). This name came from the Pali word *Ratanapūra* (). "Ratanapūra" means "City of Gems." The city also had another name: **Lay Kyun Aung Myei** (, ). This means "Victorious Land over the Four Islands."

## History 
### Early history 
 grounds.]]

Mandalay was started by King Mindon. He started the city on 13 February 1857. He built Mandalay as the new capital city of the Kingdom of Burma.

Mindon's city was  in size. There were rivers on each side. It had 144 square blocks in a grid. In the middle was a palace that was 16 square blocks in size.
 walls.]]
The palace had four walls that were each  long. Around the walls was a moat that was  wide and  deep. Each wall had turrets (towers) for watchmen. These turrets were placed every . Each turret had a spire made of gold. Each side had three gates and five bridges across the moat. The first college in Mandalay wasn't built until 1925.

The royal palace was looted by the British. All of the treasures were stolen. Some treasures can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The British changed the name of the palace to Fort Dufferin. British soldiers used the palace as a barracks (a place to camp.)

Mandalay was the most important city for Burmese culture during the time the British were in charge. It was also the most important place for Buddhist learning. The Burmese people saw Mandalay as a symbol. Between World War I and World War II, there were many protests in Mandalay against the British.

The Japanese soon invaded Burma. The Imperial Japanese Army took over the city of Mandalay. They were in charge from May 1942 until March 1945. The palace citadel was made into a supply depot. (A supply depot is a building that stores supplies like food and machines.)

The Allied forces bombed the city after the Japanese took it over. Much of the palace was destroyed. Only the royal mint and watch tower were not destroyed. The palace was rebuild in the 1990s.

### Mandalay today (1948 - now) 
In 1948, the British left Burma. Mandalay was still the most important city for culture, education, and commerce in Upper Burma.

Until the 1990s, most students went to university in Mandalay. Until 1991, there were only three universities in Upper Burma: Mandalay University, The University of Medicine, Mandalay, and the Defense Services Academy. All of these universities are in Mandalay. Only some other cities had schools called "Degree Colleges." These were small schools that were part of Mandalay University. These colleges had classes in a small number of subjects.

From 1962 to 1988, Ne Win was in charge of the government. He was very isolationist. This means that he did not want Myanmar to be part of global trade or tourism. In the 1980s, Mandalay was the second biggest city in Myanmar. It looked like a town with low buildings, dusty streets, and more bicycles than cars.

During the 1980s, there were two big fires. In May 1981, a fire destroyed more than 6,000 buildings. 36,000 people were left homeless. On 24 March 1984, there was another fire. This fire destroyed 2,700 buildings. 23,000 more people were made homeless.

Fires are still a big problem. In February 2008, there was another big fire in Mandalay. It destroyed the Yadanabon Market. This was the second-biggest market in the city. In February 2009, a fire destroyed 320&nbsp;houses. More than 1,600 people were made homeless.

The fires during the 1980s destroyed a lot of buildings. This made a lot of land empty. Many Chinese people in Burma bought this land. A lot of these people had come from Yunnan in China. Many Chinese people came to Upper Burma and Mandalay from Yunnan and Sichuan in the 1990s. Today, about 30% to 40% of the people of Mandalay are Chinese.

Today, 40-50% of the people in Mandalay are Chinese. About 30% of Mandalay's people are Yunnanese. The rest of the people in Mandalay are probably Burman. There are also a lot of Burmese Indians in Mandalay. (These are Indian people who live in Myanmar.)

People in Mandalay speak the Burmese language. A lot of people also speak the Standard Chinese language. The Chinese language is used a lot in markets like Zegyo Market. People who have a lot of money and education also speak the English language.

## Place 
Mandalay is in the country of Myanmar. It is by the side of the Irrawaddy river. Its coordinates are 21.98° North, 96.08° East.

The city is  above sea level. It is in the same time zone as the rest of Mandalay: Myanmar Standard Time (MST), UTC+6:30.

Mandalay is on a tectonic fault. This means that there are two tectonic plates that come together underneath the city. (A *tectonic plate* is a big piece of earth.) The tectonic fault underneath Mandalay is called the Sagaing Fault. It is where the India Plate and the Sunda Plate meet.

A lot of earthquakes happen on tectonic faults. The biggest earthquake in Mandalay happened in 1956. That one was a magnitude 7 earthquake. That earthquake did a lot more damage to the city of Sagaing, which is nearby. It is now called the "Great Sagaing Quake."

## Weather 
Mandalay has a tropical savanna climate. This means that the city has a wet season and a dry season. There is a lot of rain during the wet season. There is very little rain during the dry season. The wet season is from May to October. The dry season is from November to April.

The coldest month is January. The average temperature is . The hottest month is April. Then, the average temperature is .

It is very hot in April and May. Most days it is hotter than . Some days it is hotter than .

The hottest temperature ever in Mandalay was . The coldest temperature ever was .

## Mandalay in writing 
There are some important books and poems that talk about Mandalay. Some of these are famous.

Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem called "Mandalay." He wrote it in 1890. This poem has a famous saying in it: "on the road to Mandalay."

In 1907, Oley Speaks wrote a song using the words of the poem. He called the song "On the Road to Mandalay." The song is very famous. Frank Sinatra sang the song and called it *Come Fly with Me*.

George Orwell wrote a novel called *Burmese Days*. He wrote it in 1934. Orwell was part of the Indian Imperial Police. He was stationed in Mandalay. The novel is about his experiences (what he did and saw.) He also wrote some non-fiction essays and short stories. Some of these are "A Hanging" (1931) and "Shooting an Elephant" (1936).

## Twin towns 
Mandalay has three twin towns:
*  Cirebon, Indonesia
*  Kunming, China
*  Phnom Penh, Cambodia

## Sources 
### Books 
*
*
*