Taunggyi

Taunggyi (Burmese: တောင်ကြီးမြို့, MLCTS: taung kri: mrui. [tàʊɰ̃dʑí mjo̰]) is the capital and largest city of Shan State, Myanmar (Burma); and lies on the Thazi-Kyaingtong road at an elevation of 4,712 feet (1,436 m), just north of Shwenyaung and Inle Lake within the Myelat region. Taunggyi is the fifth largest city of Myanmar. The city is famous for its hot air balloon festival held annually on the full-moon day of Tazaungmon, the eighth month of the traditional Burmese calendar. Taunggyi is colloquially regarded as Myanmar's City of Music, famous for its live music heritage, diverse music culture, numerous festivals, and commitment to nurturing local talent and the music industry.

The name Taunggyi (Burmese: တောင်ကြီးမြို့, Shan: ဝဵင်းတူၼ်ႈတီး) means "big mountain" in Burmese, referencing a ridge on the east of the city, part of the Shan Hills system, whose prominent high point is called Taung-chun or "The Spur." Locally this spur is also known as Mingalar Taung-chun, meaning “The Auspicious Spur.” The ridge has a more prominent and more popular feature known as Chauk Talone, meaning the Craigs.

Taunggyi is also known as Tonti (ဝဵင်းတူၼ်ႈတီး, Shan pronunciation: [weŋ˥ ton˧˧˨ ti˥]) in Shan and ဝေင်ꩻတောင်ႏကီꩻ (Pa'O pronunciation: [weŋ˨ tɔːŋ˧ kiː˨]) in Pa'O.

Prior to British colonisation, Taunggyi was a small Shan village called Taungte. The area lay on a wide shoulder of the Sittaung Hills of the Shan Hills and was populated by those ethnicities at the time. The signs of the original village of Taunggyi are long gone, but nearby villages can still be discerned quite easily.

During British occupation, 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 of Yawnghwe, the town was denoted as a "notified area" by the British, exempt from the administration of the Sawbwa, the hereditary rulers of Shan states in Upper Myanmar. 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, and catered to persons of many nationalities.

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 a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cwa), closely bordering a subtropical 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 but the nights can be quite cool.

Taunggyi is ethnically diverse, with inhabitants from the Shan, Bamar, and Pa'O ethnicities. The 2014 Myanmar Census reported that Taunggyi Township had a population of 381,639.