The advent of British colonialism merely a quarter of a century on, would significantly influence Mandalay’ s role in the face of Burma’ s hubs of trade. Yangon, which featured in our last issue, started to become the country’ s main port of commerce and executive importance, thus relegating Mandalay to a role beyond that of the country’ s economic hub. Instead, Mandalay was to become a centre for Buddhist teachings and cultural displays, making it the symbol of independent sovereignty for the Burmese people.
Mandalay’ s cultural heterogeneity was further powered by the large influx of Indian immigrants that resulted as a result of the British Raj’ s dominion on India. Mandalay was to keep its symbolism of independence and its name as the bastion of Buddhism in Burma upon the gaining of independence in 1948, further cementing the cultural strength attributed to it. Moreover, most learning centres about Buddhism around the country were single handedly run by offshoots of Mandalay University.
Mandalay as a city decayed under the rule of Ne Win, who had all but forsaken the infrastructural maintenance of its architectonic beauty. With it came a number of fires that destroyed many buildings, the grounds of which were purchased by Chinse businessmen from Yunnan. It is this way that settlers upon settlers, Mandalay owes its unique ethnic make up to its rich past.
The city’ s urban sprawl today has continued to garner heavy investment on the part of the Chinese, who are considered the agents leading this change.
Modern day Mandalay has therefore a rich demographic diversity, within its population of about a million people, it is not just home to the traditional Bamar majority but more and more, it is a home to a large array of Chinese people, which provide much needed activity in its commercial districts, especially Chinatown. There are too an important quantity of Burmese Indians, who established themselves during the colonial period and today have come to provide a rich diversity in the scene across the city.
Mandalay is situated by the famous Irrawaddy River and has both a tropical wet and a dry season. It sees considerable heat increments toward the months of March, April and May before the downpours are almost daily.
42 HOT Magazine