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Tomonaga

Tomonaga is both a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname.

Possible writings
Tomonaga can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples:

 * 友永, "friend, eternity"
 * 友長, "friend, long/leader"
 * 知永, "know, eternity"
 * 知長, "know, long/leader"
 * 智永, "intellect, eternity"
 * 智長, "intellect, long/leader"
 * 共永, "together, eternity"
 * 共長, "together, long/leader"
 * 朋永, "companion, eternity"
 * 朋長, "companion, extend"
 * 朝永, "morning/dynasty, eternity"
 * 朝長, "morning/dynasty, long/leader"

The name can also be written in hiragana ともなが or katakana トモナガ.

Notable people with the given name Tomonaga

 * Tomonaga Minamoto (源 朝長), Japanese samurai

Notable people with the surname Tomonaga

 * Jacobo Kyushei Tomonaga (朝長 五郎兵衛), Gorōbyōe Tomonaga, Japanese priest in the Dominican Order of the Catholic Church
 * Natsumi Tomonaga (朝長 なつ美), Japanese modern pentathlete
 * Shin'ichirō Tomonaga (朝永 振一郎), Japanese physicist

title: Tomonaga


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Sissinghurst

Sissinghurst is a small village in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Originally called Milkhouse Street (also referred to as Mylkehouse), Sissinghurst changed its name in the 1850s, possibly to avoid association with the smuggling and cockfighting activities of the Hawkhurst Gang. It is in the civil parish of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst.

The nearest railway station is at Staplehurst.

Geography
Sissinghurst is situated with Cranbrook to the south, Goudhurst to the west, Tenterden to the east and Staplehurst to the north. It sits just back from the A229 which goes from Rochester to Hawkhurst.

History
Sissinghurst's history is similar to that of nearby Cranbrook. Iron Age working tools have been found and the village was for centuries a meeting and resting place for people travelling towards the south coast.

Sissinghurst Castle Garden
Sissinghurst's garden was created in the 1930s by Vita Sackville-West, poet and gardening writer, and her husband Harold Nicolson, author and diplomat. Sackville-West was a writer on the fringes of the Bloomsbury group who found her greatest popularity in the weekly columns she contributed as gardening correspondent of The Observer, which incidentally – for she never touted it – made her own garden famous. The garden itself is designed as a series of "rooms", each with a different character of colour and/or theme, divided by high clipped hedges and pink brick walls.

Trinity Church
Sissinghurst's religious activities are served by the Church of England. The church is titled 'Trinity Church' and was built in 1838. It is currently managed by Rev. Pete Deaves who is also Rector of Frittenden.

People
People of note who have lived in Sissinghurst include:
 * Sir Richard Baker (c. 1568–1645) a politician, historian and religious writer
 * Laurence Drummond (1861–1946) a British Army general officer
 * Sir Harold Nicolson (1886–1968) British diplomat, author and politician
 * Vita Sackville-West CH (1892–1962) The Hon Lady Nicolson, English poet, novelist and gardener
 * Pamela Schwerdt (1931-2009) joint head gardener at Sissinghurst Castle Garden from 1959 to 1990 and a pioneering horticulturalist
 * Christopher Lee (born 1941) a British writer, historian and broadcaster
 * Ian Hislop (born 1960) editor of Private Eye and team captain of Have I Got News for You, husband of Victoria Hislop.
 * Victoria Hislop (born 1959) novelist and author.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Sissinghurst


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Henry Bacon

Henry Bacon (November 28, 1866 –February 16, 1924) was an American Beaux-Arts architect who oversaw the engineering and design of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., built between 1915 and 1922, which was his final project before his 1924 death.

Early life and education
Bacon was born in Watseka, Illinois. He studied briefly at the University of Illinois, Urbana in 1884, but left to begin his architectural career as a draftsman.

Early career
Bacon initially worked in the office of McKim, Mead & White in New York City, one of the best-known architectural firms at the time. His works of that period were in the late Greek Revival and Beaux-Arts styles with which the firm was associated. They included the 1889 World Expo in Paris, Boston Public Library in Boston, the New York Herald Building, Harvard Club of New York City, Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus, and Pennsylvania Station, each in New York City, and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

While at McKim, Mead & White, Bacon won, in 1889, the Rotch Traveling Scholarship for architectural students. This gave him two years of study and travel in Europe, which he spent learning and drawing details of Roman and Greek architecture. In Turkey, he met his future wife, Laura Florence Calvert, daughter of a British consul. He traveled with another fellowship student, Albert Kahn from Detroit, Michigan, who also went on to become a leading industrial architect.

After returning to the U.S., Bacon worked for a few more years with his mentor, Charles McKim, including on such projects as the Rhode Island State House in Providence, Rhode Island. He served as McKim's personal representative in Paris during the World Exposition in 1889 and in Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, for which McKim, Mead & White was designing several buildings.

In 1897, Bacon left with James Brite, a younger architect from the firm, to found the partnership of Brite and Bacon Architects. Brite was in charge of financial, administrative, and contracting aspects of the partnership, while Bacon was in charge of the architectural design and construction. The partnership immediately won the competition for the Jersey City, New Jersey's public library and the Hall of History for American University in Washington, D.C. They built a number of public buildings and a small number of private residences, which most notably included La Fetra Mansion in Summit, New Jersey.

The partnership was selected in 1897 to build three private residences: La Fetra Mansion; Laurel Hill, a three-story Georgian mansion in Columbia, North Carolina; and Donald McRae House in Wilmington, North Carolina. The La Fetra Mansion was designed and built by Bacon, and his design was published in the September 1901 issue of Architecture, the preeminent architectural professional journal of its time. The LeFetra Mansion fully exhibits Bacon's preference for Beaux-Arts Neo-Greek and Roman architectural styles. His simple and elegant lines, and his skill in dimensions and proportions, were described as expressing a stately elegance, peaceful tranquility, and sense of divine protection.

Lincoln Memorial
In 1897, following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Bacon was also approached by a group, which had organized to raise public and private funds to build a monument in Washington, D.C., to memorialize President Abraham Lincoln. Bacon began his conceptual, artistic, and architectural design for the Lincoln Memorial that year. He continued in the effort, although the funding to build the project was not secured until years later. The Brite and Bacon Partnership dissolved in 1902, partly resulting from Brite's disagreement over Bacon's passion and the unpaid time he spent on the memorial design.

Prominent buildings and monuments
After that, Bacon practiced under his own name with significant success, building a large number of public buildings and monuments which became renowned, until his death in 1924. His later works included the Danforth Memorial Library in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1908, the Ridgewood, New Jersey 1924 War Memorial in Van Neste Park; the train station in Naugatuck, Connecticut; Waterbury Hospital Waterbury, Connecticut; Court of the Four Seasons at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915; World War I Memorial at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., the Confederate Memorial in Wilmington, North Carolina; and many other distinguished public buildings and monuments.

In 1913, Bacon was elected into the National Academy of Design as an associate member, and he became a full member in 1917.

Bacon was very active as a designer of monuments and settings for public sculpture. He designed the Court of the Four Seasons for the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, and the World War I Memorial at Yale University. He collaborated with sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens on the Sen. Mark Hanna Monument in Cleveland, Ohio, and with Daniel Chester French on several monuments, notably the Lincoln Memorial's pensive colossal Lincoln. Olin Memorial Library, one of Bacon's buildings at Wesleyan University, houses many of Bacon's documents and blueprints of the Lincoln Memorial.

Bacon rarely found time to design private residences. There are three known residential projects that are clearly his work. The first is the La Fetra Mansion in Summit, New Jersey, designed and built by the firm of Brite & Bacon from 1897 to 1900. Bacon skillfully integrated into a residential setting many of his signature Greek Revival and Roman Renaissance elements and proportions. The resulting elegance was astoundingly masterful. The La Fetra Mansion was commissioned by industrialist Harold A. La Fetra of the Royal Baking Powder Company, which later merged with RJR Nabisco. The second is Donald McRae House in Wilmington, North Carolina, built for his close friend Donald McRae.

The third Bacon-designed private residence is Chesterwood House, which he designed for his friend, the noted sculptor Daniel Chester French, as his summer home and studio at Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Its exterior bears similarity to the La Fetra Mansion. Bacon served as a member of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1921 until his death in 1924.

In May 1923, President Warren G. Harding presented Bacon with the American Institute of Architects's Gold Medal, making him the sixth recipient of the honor.

Death and legacy
Bacon died of cancer in New York City, and he is buried at Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington, North Carolina.

During World War II, a U.S. Navy Liberty Ship, the SS Henry Bacon, was named for Bacon. It was commissioned on November 11, 1942. In 1964, sculptor Joseph Kiselewski created the Henry Bacon Medal for Memorial Architecture, cast in bronze by the Medallic Arts Company in honor of Bacon.

Notable monuments and public buildings

 * Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
 * Danforth Memorial Library in Paterson, New Jersey
 * Naugatuck, Connecticut, train station
 * Great War Memorial, in Naugatuck, Connecticut, c. 1920
 * Van Vleck Observatory, the Olin Memorial Library, the Eclectic Society House, and many dormitories and other buildings at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut
 * Union Square Savings Bank, now Daryl Roth Theatre, in Manhattan, New York City
 * Ambrose Swasey Pavilion (1916) in Exeter, New Hampshire
 * Chelsea Savings Bank in Chelsea, Massachusetts
 * Halle Brothers Department Store in Cleveland, Ohio
 * The Eseeola Lodge in Linville, North Carolina
 * Waterbury General Hospital in Waterbury, Connecticut
 * National City Bank in New Rochelle, New York
 * Citizens & Manufacturers National Bank in Waterbury, Connecticut
 * First Congregational Church in Providence, Rhode Island
 * Gates for the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia
 * Woodmere High School in Woodmere, New York
 * Public Bath in Brooklyn, New York City
 * Foster Mausoleum at Upper Middleburgh Cemetery in Middleburgh, New York
 * Perry Memorial Arch at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut
 * Illinois Centennial Monument in Chicago, Illinois
 * Westlawn Mausoleum in Omaha, Nebraska

Architectural settings, bases and exedra for sculpture

 * Bonney Memorial (1898), Francis Edwin Elwell, sculptor, Lowell Cemetery, Lowell, Massachusetts
 * Commodore George Hamilton Perkins, (1902), Daniel Chester French, sculptor, New Hampshire State House, Concord, New Hampshire
 * Roswell Pettibone Flower Monument, (1902), Augustus Saint-Gaudens, sculptor, Watertown, New York
 * Col. James Anderson Monument, (1904), Daniel Chester French, sculptor, Allegheny Square, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
 * Melvin Memorial (1906-1908), Daniel Chester French, sculptor, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord, Massachusetts
 * August Robert Meyer Memorial, (1909) Daniel Chester French, sculptor, Kansas City, Missouri
 * Statue of Samuel Spencer, (1910) Daniel Chester French sculptor, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, Atlanta, Georgia
 * James Oglethorpe Monument, (1910) Daniel Chester French sculptor, Savannah, Georgia
 * Burnside Fountain, (1912) by Charles Y. Harvey, Worcester Common, Worcester, Massachusetts
 * Prehn Mausoleum, (1912) Karl Bitter sculptor, carved by the Piccirilli Brothers, Cedar Lawn Cemetery, Paterson, New Jersey
 * Abraham Lincoln 1912 statue by Daniel Chester French, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1912.
 * Carl Schurz Monument, (1913) Karl Bitter sculptor, Morningside Park, New York City
 * Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument, (1914), Daniel Chester French, sculptor, Longfellow Park, Cambridge, Massachusetts
 * Lafayette Memorial, (1917), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York
 * Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial, (1918), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Fairview Cemetery, Council Bluffs, Iowa
 * Depew Memorial Fountain, (1919), Karl Bitter and Alexander Stirling Calder sculptors, University Park, Indianapolis, Indiana
 * Russell Alger Memorial Fountain, (1921), Daniel Chester French, sculptor, Grand Circus Park, Detroit, Michigan
 * Dupont Circle Fountain, (1921), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C.
 * Statue of the Marquis de Lafayette, (1921), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Easton, Pennsylvania
 * Alexander Hamilton Monument, (1923), James Earle Fraser sculptor, Washington, D.C.
 * Jesse Parker Williams Memorial, (c. 1924), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Westview Cemetery, Atlanta, Georgia
 * American Revolutionary War Memorial, (c. 1915), Daniel Chester French sculptor, Jno. Williams, Inc. (NY) founder, Danville, Illinois

title: Henry Bacon


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Japanese bath

Japanese bath may refer to:

 * Sentō (銭湯), a type of Japanese communal bath house
 * Furo (お風呂), a type of bathtub commonly used in Japan
 * Onsen (温泉), a Japanese hot spring traditionally used for public bathing
 * The bathroom in a Japanese house
 * Customs and etiquette of Japan related to bathing

title: Japanese bath


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Talk:Tom Servo

recent appearances
Servo's appeared in the DVD for the How To Get Rid Of Your Godzilla vs Megalon DVD thing and the past couple of Turkey Day specials that Shout's done. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.47.135.207 (talk) 02:01, 3 October 2015 (UTC)

Joel Robinson
Does Joel Robinson (as opposed to Hodgson) really need a page? -- Lefty 16:26, 28 February 2004 (UTC)
 * — signature added by Jeff Q (talk) 13:40, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

 * I know it's 4 years late, but what does that have to do with Tom Servo?129.139.1.68 (talk) 20:13, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Deep Space Nine reference
Can someone point out which episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine mentioned Tom Servo? We could use a specific reference. Thanks. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 13:42, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

 * I've been checking on this as well, and I don't believe it was ever in an episode specifically. It seems to have been just one of many "in jokes" in the Promenade Store Directory (along with Red Dwarf and Hitchhiker's Guide references).  But the directory was probably never shown closely enough on-screen for it to be read.  This bit of trivia appears to have been made public in a special feature on the Season 5 dvd release, if this page at memory-alpha.org is trustworthy. 65.31.197.14 16:15, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I hadn't noticed that Memory Alpha is a wiki as well. This makes it ineligible for use as a reliable source, as anyone can edit it (as I confirmed by nearly creating an article for "Tom Servo's Used Robots" anonymously) and there is no professional editorial review. (That's also why we can't use Wikipedia articles as references for other Wikipedia articles, only as see-alsoes.) Do we have a better source? ~ Jeff Q (talk) 08:04, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

 * I was the one who provided that link. I didn't really intend to use Memory Alpha as the source.  I was thinking we could track down the source through them.  Does anyone have the Season 5 dvd release of DS9?  It shouldn't be too tough to double check.  Jwadeg 16:40, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Gumball Machine Head
Where does the claim "his head was replaced with the now familiar gumball machine during KTMA season episode K02" come from? That episode doesn't exist for double checking, and the minutiae section over at mst3ktemple.com seems to convincingly refute it. 65.31.197.14 04:43, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Good point about the lack of a source for K02 info. I didn't notice any specific statement about Servo's gumball head at mst3ktemple.com; could you be more specific about how it refutes the current text? If we can't pin down an episode, we can just say "sometime between the marketing 'pilot' and episode K03", as both recordings are available for review. There might even be something in the MST3K Scrapbook, which has excerpts from the first 2 shows, if I recall correctly. I'll look into that. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 06:38, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * At this link to mst3ktemple.com, there is a piecing together of extant clips from the first three episodes (most of them from the Scrapbook tape), using the color of Joel's jumpsuit as the controlling factor. Upon looking at the site again, it doesn't clearly refute the current text, but it does lend credence to the idea that Servo's head changed prior to or during episode K01.

 * His basic argument runs like this. Joel wore the blue jumpsuit with a white undershirt in K01.  There is an extant image of Joel in this outfit holding vacuum-flowers (which supposedly intoxicate anyone who smells them).  There is another image of Joel in this outfit with Gypsy; she has something on her nose.  He connects this to the shot of Crow and Servo with clothespins on their noses - as though they were all attempting not to smell the flowers.

 * However, Servo doesn't appear to have been in the theater in K01, there are no known images of Servo from K02, and the only image from K03 that appears to exist is a theater segment in which he has the gumball machine head.

 * So, while it's certainly not clear, it seems very plausible that Servo had the gumball head in episode K01. But the case rests entirely on the clothespin photo, which can't be definitively placed. 65.31.197.14 07:09, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * There's some impressive research and deduction on that page! The site itself is a bit obscure for a reliable reference, and the connection is plausible but not compelling. I've rephrased my suggested text to include the theory with an explicit citation, so readers can consider the case for themselves. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 11:19, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * I agree, and I think the new phrasing is as accurate as we can get. Good job there.

 * I still wonder about the origin of the original "during K02" comment though. I tracked it down, but it was an anonymous addition from April 29, 2005.  However, the very specificity of the comment is compelling.  It makes me wonder if this person knows something we don't.  I wish he/she'd come back to this discussion page and defend his/her addition.  I'd love to know where the idea came from.  65.31.197.14 15:51, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * You can always post a question to the anonymous user's IP talk page. I don't usually worry about tracking down such things, because 99% of the time, either no one responds, the information turns out to be sheer speculation, the person can't recall where they read it, or in the rare case they can reacll a source, it winds up being a fan forum whose postings fall into one or more of the aforementioned groups of unreliable info. We need to be careful about sourcing such data, because there is far too much fan speculation in Wikipedia TV-show articles, which tends to incur a not-unreasonable backlash of demands for proper sourcing, with wholesale deletion of sections or articles as a penalty for failure. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 19:55, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

 * the only episode missing now is episode 3 of the ktma series. the best resource for episodes ive found and extra content all packaged in a nice neat package is www.club-mst3k.com that is basically links to full eps through youtube, dailymotion, archive etc. and a ton of extra videos, and the only ep it doesn't have is 3, but 1 and 2 are defo there. its what i used to double check toms arms moved back in season 2, and then made my terrible edit that i commented about below, and am hoping someone will clean up for me as isuck at this stuff. btw toms head was made by carousel industries, and distributed by LEAF Inc, of Lake Forest, the name for it is 'executive snack dispenser'. as a side not, they would take the lid of another dispenser and add it between the bottom part (above his mouth) and the globe part as an added extension to his head. page 4 http://sol.semo.edu/mst3k/botbuilding/Bot%20Builders%20Booklet%20-%20Workbench%20Edition.pdf

this is also where i got the info for his arm movement mechanisms — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:4C12:CA00:7197:C96F:42EF:8FC7 (talk) 23:47, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

Black Servo?
I own the MST3K movie "The Skydivers", and was wondering when does the all black Servo make his cameo? I have yet to see this.

 * I've removed the statement, as it's too vague to properly verify. It was probably meant to connect the theater-Servo with the "Tom Star Show" in the teaser (opening) segment, where Servo has turned himself into a planetarium projector, his opaque head pierced with "star" points. The problem is that this is almost certainly not the same opaque Servo, because (A) the pinpoints might have interfered with future theater segments, and (B) Best Brains had no particular need to limit their Servos to two, as they amply demonstrated in at least four episodes I can recall offhand. This claim appears to be yet another case of a fan trying to make more connections out of what they see on the screen than they have evidence for. I've said it many times before in these articles, but we are supposed to limit our prose to that which is verifiable through specifically cited reliable sources. Let's try to avoid the fancruft, please. ~ Jeff Q (talk) 09:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Pssst...How About Some Paragraphs
Duh. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.230.177.44 (talk) 20:02, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Link repair
I was able to find the page that the construction history link previously linked to before a domain change at that site. But I can't find the page about the history of the heads used on the Tom Servo puppet, does anybody know where it is? 65.96.242.22 (talk) 22:11, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

toms moveable non moveable arms
ive added some info about toms arm movement. a lot of people, thanks to tom always saying it in the show, think his arms never moved, but they did. in this episode you see him moving a magazine with them https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ClJaz7grEw&feature=youtu.be&t=2399 and then from season two i think they inserted the bladders to move them up and down, which can be seen in ep 1 of season 2 they can be seen moving up and down, watch his arms closely as he sings daisy daisy and youll see them do it clear as day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVkqHqDUY5E&feature=youtu.be&t=181 they also move earlier in the ep when crow says not to use novocain but its not as noticeable and he only does it once. also ive yet to trawl through the previous 2 seasons (seasons 0 and 1) fully yet to see if they go up and down there also but i think its just season 2 onwards, i could be wrong) im new to the show and decided to watch from series 0 onwards, im up to season 4 so far, but noticed that even though he said they never moved, they did. then i watched a vid on making a version of him, but there was no mention of his arms moving, then i found this http://sol.semo.edu/mst3k/botbuilding/Bot%20Builders%20Booklet%20-%20Workbench%20Edition.pdf at the end of page 4 and start of page 5 it etion his arm assembly and how they worked. it goes a bit more in depth on the second paragraph of page 9 and even has a pic of the doll used. now my edit to the page i tried to contain links and the info itself, but i suck at editing wikipedia pages, so if anyone, using the references ive provided here with these links, can tidy up my edits please, or do a better job to explain the info, it would be great, that way people would finally know that toms arms do in fact move, and moved from pretty early on in the show. he deserves it, i mean look at him, he's so cute. thankyou to whoever takes on the daunting task of editing my horrendous edit. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:C7F:4C12:CA00:7197:C96F:42EF:8FC7 (talk) 23:28, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 21:51, 12 May 2022 (UTC)
 * Tom Servo on the Satellite of Love.jpg

title: Talk:Tom Servo


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Carving (disambiguation)

Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. It may also refer to:

Arts

 * Bone carving
 * Chip carving
 * Gourd carving or Gourd art
 * Ice carving or Ice sculpture
 * Ivory carving
 * Stone carving
 * Petroglyph
 * Vegetable carving
 * Wood carving
 * Hobo nickel

Others

 * Data carving and/or file carving, two closely related data recovery techniques
 * Meat carving
 * Skiing or snowboarding carving style, see carve turn
 * Carve (video game), a 2004 racing video game
 * Carved (film), a 2007 Japanese horror film
 * Carvings (Indiana State Library), a series of bas-relief limestone panels decorating the facade of the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
 * Carved Records, an American record label
 * Carving, a type of Self harm
 * Seam carving, an image resizing algorithm

title: Carving (disambiguation)


text:
Ayeyarwady Region

Ayeyarwady Region (ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ထံထၣ်စွ့, ထံၫထၪကျိၩ့; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the Rakhine State to the northwest, the Bago Region to the north, Bago Region and Yangon Region to the east, and the Bay of Bengal to the south and west.

The region lies between approximately latitude 15° 40' and 18° 30' north and between longitude 94° 15' and 96° 15' east. It has an area of 13566 sqmi. The estimated 2022 population is more than 6.5 million. According to the 2014 Burmese National Census the population of the Ayeyarwady Region was 6,184,829, making it the second most populous of Burma's states and regions after Yangon Region.

Ayeyarwady Region is flanked by the Rakhine Yoma (Arakan Mountains) range in the west. Large areas have been cleared for paddy cultivation, leading to its preeminent position as the main rice producer in the country, a position it has retained into the 21st century.

It has also a number of lakes. Of the rivers branching out from the mighty Ayeyarwady, Ngawun, Pathein and Toe are famous.

The capital city of Ayeyarwady division is Pathein.

Chaungtha Beach and Ngwesaung Beach are popular resorts for both foreigners and the Burmese. They are in the west of the Ayeyarwady Region, an hour from Pathein city and four hours from Yangon city by road.

Demographics
Bamar 4,873,027 (76.98%) and Karen 1,426,973 (22.5%) form the majority of the population, with a small minority of  Rakhine (0.47%) in western coastal regions. Burmese is the lingua franca. The majority of the people are Buddhist, with small minorities of Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Baháʼís.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists make up 92.2% of Ayeyawady Region's population, forming the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians (6.3%), Muslims (1.4%), and Hindus (0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Ayeyawady Region's population. 0.1% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee's 2016 statistics, 42,494 Buddhist monks were registered in Ayeyawady Region, comprising 7.9% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (80.1%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya (8.3%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 5,520 thilashin were registered in Ayeyawady Region, comprising 9.1% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.

Economy
Ayeyarwady Region is heavily forested and wood products are an important component of the economy. The principal crop of Ayeyarwady Region is rice, and the division is called the “granary of Burma.” In addition to rice, other crops include maize, sesame, groundnut, sunflower, beans, pulses, and jute. Fishery is also important; Ayeyarwady Region produces fish, prawn, fish-paste, dry fish, dry prawn, and fish sauce.

Despite the importance of agriculture to the region, landlessness is high in rural households. Most farms are small; nearly half are under 5 acres. Rice paddy agriculture is dominant during the monsoon but irrigation is limited, especially in smaller farms, during the dry season. Seeds are sourced from own reserves rather than from specialized traders. Yields from farms average 3.3 tons per hectare, lower than other Asian countries.

Ayeyarwady Region also has considerable tourist potential. The city of Pathein has numerous historic sights and temples. Outside Pathein are the beach resorts of Chaungtha Beach and the lake resort of Inye Lake. Inye lake is located in Kyonpyaw township, 59 mi north east of Pathein. Inye lake is also well known for fishery, as the major supplier of fresh water fish. Chaungtha is located in Pathein township. However, hotel and transportation infrastructure is still very poorly developed.

History
The Ayeyarwady delta region was Historically part of the Arakan kingdom. This area fell under Burmese (and occasional Mon Kingdom) rule from the 11th century AD. Its subsequent history mirrors that of the rest of lower Burma.

An ancient overland pre-Tang trade route from Sichuan (modern Yunnan Province) to Bengal passed through Ayeyarwady.

Cyclone Nargis
Ayeyarwady Region was the site of heavy devastation when Cyclone Nargis made landfall in early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall on the town of Wagon near Haigyi Island. Labutta Township was most heavily struck with around 80,000 deaths. The cyclone's path devastated the low-lying delta regions going through south-central Ayeyarwady Region and Bogale before entering neighbouring Yangon Region. Nargis was the most expensive tropical cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean at the time, costing $12 billion in aid.

Burma's state-controlled news media reported that Nargis left more than 66,000 people dead or missing after it struck the Irrawaddy Delta region May 2, unleashing torrential rains, 120 mph sustained winds and a 12 ft storm surge. Foreign relief officials and diplomats said the death toll could exceed 100,000, making it the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar. The final death toll was at least 146,000 with 90,000 confirmed dead and 56,000 or more missing.

Administrative divisions
Ayeyarwady Region consists of eight districts:
 * Pathein District
 * Kyonpyaw District
 * Hinthada District
 * Labutta District
 * Maubin District
 * Myanaung District
 * Myaungmya District
 * Pyapon District

Labutta District was formed in August 2008, three months after Cyclone Nargis hit the region. Kyonpyaw District and Myanaung District are the newest districts, formed in 2019 in the lead up to the 2020 Elections

Pathein is the capital city and capital. The region consists of 26 townships and 29 cities. In the townships there are 219 wards, 1912 village groups and 11651 villages.

Executive
Ayeyarwady Region Government

Judiciary
Ayeyarwady Region High Court

Transport
Ayeyarwady Region is served by Pathein Airport.

Bridges

 * Bo Myat Tun Bridge (Nyaungdon)
 * Daydalu Bridge (Pyapon)
 * Dedaye Bridge (Kungyangon Township in Yangon Region and Dedaye Township in Ayeyawady Region)
 * Gonnhindan Bridge
 * Kanyin Bridge (Mezaligone)
 * Khattiya Bridge (Maubin)
 * Kyauk Chaung Gyi Bridge (Pathein)
 * Kyungon Bridge
 * Labutta Bridge
 * Maubin Bridge (Maubin)
 * Maung Bi Wa Bridge (Pathein)
 * Mayan Ngu Bridge (Myaungmya)
 * Myaungmya Bridge (Myaungmya)
 * Natchaung Bridge (Bogalay)
 * Nga Wun Bridge (Myokwin)(Ingapu)
 * Ngathaingchaung Bridge
 * Pinlelay Bridge
 * Seikma Bridge (Bogalay)
 * Shwelaung Bridge
 * Thegon Bridge (Kyaunggon Township and Kangyidaunk Township)
 * Uto Bridge
 * Wakema Bridge

Education
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay. According to official statistics, less than 10% of primary school students in the division reach high school.

Pathein University is the main university in the state, and until recently the only four-year university in the state. In recent years, the military government, which closed down universities and colleges in the 1990s to quell student unrest, has "upgraded" former colleges and two-year institutes. The government now requires that students attend their local universities and colleges, such as Hinthada University and Maubin University.

Health care
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. For example, in 2003, Ayeyarwady Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region although Ayeyarwady Region had a slightly greater population.

Localities

 * Laabar Baari

title: Ayeyarwady Region


text:
Bago Region

Bago Region (ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region and Mandalay Region to the north; Kayin State, Mon State and the Gulf of Martaban to the east; Yangon Region to the south and Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State to the west. It is located between 46°45'N and 19°20'N and 94°35'E and 97°10'E. It has a population of 4,867,373 (2014).

History
According to legend, two Mon princes from Thaton founded the city of Bago in 573 AD. They saw a female Hamsa standing on the back of a male Hamsa on an island in a huge lake. Believing this was an auspicious omen, the princes built a city called Hanthawady (Pali: Hamsavati) on the edge of the lake.

The Arab geographer Ibn Khordadbeh mentions the city around 850 AD. The Mon capital was still in Thaton at that time. The Thiruvalangadu plate describe Rajendra Chola I, the Chola Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reign- 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago. More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to be Kedah in modern-day Malaysia, instead of Bago. The earliest reliable external record of Bago comes from Chinese sources that mention Jayavarman VII adding Pegu to the territory of the Khmer Empire in 1195. The Bamar from Bagan ruled the area in 1056. After the collapse of Bagan to the Mongols in 1287, the Mon regained their independence.

From 1369 to 1539, Hanthawady was the capital of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom, which covered all of what is now lower Burma. The area came under Burman control again in 1539, when it was annexed by King Tabinshwehti of Kingdom of Taungoo. The kings of Taungoo made Bago their royal capital from 1539 to 1599, and used it as a base for their repeated invasions of Siam. As a major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, who commented on its magnificence. The Burmese capital was relocated to Ava in 1634. In 1740, the Mon revolted and briefly regained their independence, but Burmese King Alaungpaya sacked and completely destroyed the city (along with Mon independence) in 1757.

Burmese King Bodawpaya (1782–1819) rebuilt Bago, but by then the river had shifted course, cutting the city off from the sea. It never regained its previous importance. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the British annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, with the formation of the province of British Burma, the capital was moved to Yangon.

Administrative divisions
Bago Region occupies an area of 15214 sqmi divided into the six districts of Bago, Pyay, Tharrawaddy, Taungoo, Nyaunglebin and Nattalin. Bago, the divisional capital, is the fourth largest town of Burma. Other major cities include Taungoo and Pyay.

Bago Region's seal are two sibling hintha (Hamsa), due to historic Mon influences in the area.

Executive
Bago Region Government

Judiciary
Bago Region High Court

Transport
Bago Region is served by Pyay Airport.

Demographics
The total population of Bago Region is 4,863,455 according to 2014 Burma Census with Bamar, Karen, Mon, Chin, Rakhine, Shan, South Asians, Chinese, and Pa-O ethnic groups represented. Burmese language is the lingua franca.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists make up 93.5% of Bago Region's population, forming the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians (2.9%), Muslims (1.2%), Hindus (2.1%), and animists (0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Bago Region's population. 0.3% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee's 2016 statistics, 50,198 Buddhist monks were registered in Bago Region, comprising 9.4% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (77.3%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya (16.7%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 5,100 thilashin were registered in Bago Region, comprising 8.4% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.

Economy
The division's economy is strongly dependent on the timber trade. Taungoo, in the northern end of the Bago Region, is bordered by mountain ranges, home to teak and other hardwoods. Another natural resource is petroleum. The major crop is rice, occupying over two-thirds of the available agricultural land. Other major crops include betel nut, sugarcane, maize, groundnut, sesamum, sunflower, beans and pulses, cotton, jute, rubber, tobacco, tapioca, banana, Nipa palm and toddy. Industry includes fisheries, salt, ceramics, sugar, paper, plywood, distilleries, and monosodium glutamate.

The division has a small livestock breeding and fisheries sector, and a small industrial sector. In 2005, it had over 4 million farm animals; nearly 3000 acre of fish and prawn farms; and about 3000 private factories and about 100 state owned factories.

The major tourist sites of the Bago Region can be reached as a day trip from Yangon.

Hydropower plant
The Shwegyin Dam is in the eastern part of Bago Region. It is a 1568 ft long, 135 ft wide and 2.5 ft thick zone-type dam with a water storage capacity of 2,078,417 megalitres. The three concrete conduit pipes are 1765 ft in length, 16 ft in width and 20 ft in height each. The intake infrastructure is 121 ft long, 127 ft wide and 137 ft high. The spillway is 2542 ft long, 135 ft wide and 58 ft high. Two compressed steel pipe lines at the dam are 25 ft in diameter and 1100 ft in length each. The power plant is 295 ft long, 94 ft wide and 70 ft high. It is equipped with four 18.75-MW Francis vertical shaft turbines. It can generate 262 million KW hours per year.

The construction of the dam was launched in 2003. The first power station was opened on 29 December 2009, the second on 25 March 2011, the third on 2 June 2011 and the fourth on 21 July 2011. It was inaugurated on 22 October 2011.

Education

 * Bago University, Bago
 * Computer University, Pyay
 * Computer University, Taungoo
 * Pyay Education College
 * Pyay Technological University
 * Pyay University
 * Taungoo Educational College
 * Taungoo University
 * Technological University, Taungoo
 * Paku Divinity School

Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay. In 2005, Bago Region had 578 post-primary schools, 119 middle schools and 132 high schools. The following is a summary of the division public school system for the academic year of 2002–2003.

The division is home to one national university, Pyay Technological University and two local universities, Pyay University and Taungoo University.

Health
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. For example, in 2003, Bago Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region whose population was just slighter greater. More shocking still, in 2005, this division of five million had only 399 doctors in its public hospitals.

Notable sites

 * Kyaikpun Buddha
 * Shwemawdaw Pagoda
 * Shwethalyaung Buddha
 * Kanbawzathadi Palace

title: Bago Region


text:
Stick

Stick or the stick may refer to:

Thin elongated objects

 * Twig or branch
 * The weapon used in stick-fighting
 * Walking stick, a device to facilitate balancing while walking
 * Shepherd's crook
 * Swagger stick
 * Digging stick
 * Swizzle stick, used to stir drinks

Sports

 * Bandy stick, used in bandy
 * Cue stick, used in pool, snooker and carom billiards
 * Hockey stick, used in hockey
 * Field hockey stick
 * Ice hockey stick
 * Lacrosse stick, used in lacrosse
 * The rods, called "the sticks" used to measure distance by the chain crew in American football

Music

 * Drum stick, used to strike drums
 * Part of a bow used to play a string instrument
 * Chapman Stick, an electric musical instrument in the guitar family
 * Percussion stick, a struck percussion instrument
 * Led Zeppelin IV, a 1971 album sometimes referred to as Sticks
 * The Sticks (album), a 2012 album by Canadian band Mother Mother
 * Sticks, a 2019 EP by Bish included within the album Carrots and Sticks
 * "The Sticks", a track from the 1966 Cannonball Adderley Quintet album Cannonball in Japan
 * "Stick (song), a song from the 2022 Dreamville album D-Day: A Gangsta Grillz Mixtape

Transportation

 * Stick or stick shift, an automobile's manual transmission
 * Gear stick, used in a manual transmission-equipped automobile to change gears
 * Control or centre stick, an aircraft cockpit arrangement

Geography

 * Boondocks, also called "the sticks", a remote area
 * Candlestick Park, a defunct stadium in San Francisco, nicknamed "The Stick"

Fiction

 * Stick (comics), the teacher of Daredevil and Elektra in Marvel Comics
 * Stick (novel), a 1983 novel by Elmore Leonard
 * "Sticks" (short story), a 1974 short story by Karl Edward Wagner

Film and TV

 * Sticks (film), a 2001 film starring Justina Machado and Lillo Brancato
 * Stick (film), a 1985 Burt Reynolds film
 * The Stick, a 1987 film directed by Darrell Roodt
 * Stick (comics), a Marvel Comics character
 * Stick Stickly, a Nickelodeon character
 * Stick Bernard, protagonist of the anime series Genesis Climber MOSPEADA
 * Sticks the Badger, a character from the 2014 TV series Sonic Boom
 * "Stick" (Daredevil)

People

 * Stick Elliott (1934–1980), American stock car driver
 * Stephen Kernahan (born 1963), Australian footballer nicknamed "Sticks"
 * Gene Michael (1938–2017), American baseball player nicknamed "Stick"
 * Norm Provan (1932–2021), Australian former rugby league footballer and coach nicknamed "Sticks"
 * Easton Stick (born 1995), American football quarterback
 * Jan Stick, 21st century Canadian politician
 * Josh Stick (born 1980), New Zealand former footballer
 * Leonard Stick (1892–1979), Canadian politician
 * Mzwandile Stick (born 1984), South African rugby union player and coach
 * LeJerald Betters (born 1988), American sprinter nicknamed "Sticks"

Food

 * Pretzel sticks, pub snacks
 * Breadstick, dry baked bread
 * Fish sticks, processed food
 * Crab stick, seafood
 * Mozzarella sticks, hors d'oeuvre
 * Musk stick, confection
 * Cinnamon sticks, spice
 * Popsicle stick, to hold ice pops (among other uses)

Other uses

 * Stick (punishment), a rod used for corporal punishment
 * Stick (unit), several units of measurement
 * Stick, a British slang term for abuse, insult, or denigration
 * A group of paratroopers in a single aircraft
 * A group of soldiers corresponding to a section

title: Stick


text:
Magway Region

Magway Region (မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Magway Division) is an administrative division in central Myanmar. It is the second largest of Myanmar's seven divisions, with an area of 17306 sqmi. Pa Del Dam (ပဒဲဆည်) is one of the dams in Aunglan Township, Magway Division. The capital and second largest city of the Magway Division is Magway. The largest city is Pakokku. The major cities of Magway Division are Magway, Pakokku, Aunglan, Yenangyaung, Taungdwingyi, Chauk, Minbu, Thayet and Gangaw.

Geography
Magway Region sits approximately between north latitude 18° 50' to 22° 47' and east longitude 93° 47' to 95° 55'. It is bordered by Sagaing Region to the north, Mandalay Region to the east, Bago Region to the south, and Rakhine State and Chin State to the west.

History
Fossils of the early primates over 40 million years old were excavated in the Pondaung and Ponnya areas from Pakokku District in Magway Region, leading the government to proclaim that Myanmar as "the birthplace of humanity in the world," a claim which is unsupported by anthropologists. An ancient city of the Pyu, Peikthano-myo, about 2,000 years old, is located in Taungdwingyi Township, Magway Region.

The history of Magway Region mirrors that of the other divisions of central Burma. The ancient name of Magway Region is Minbu Region (or) Minbu Province. Minbu Region was established with 3 districts. They are Minbu District, Thayet District, and Yenangyaung District.Its capital city was Yenangyaung.In 1950,Chauk township was moved to Yenangyaung District from Myingyan District.

On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military. A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974.

The name of Minbu Region was changed to Magway Region and Yenangyaung District was abolished. Magway District was established with 6 townships. Pakokku Hill Tracts (or) Pakokku Province was abolished, and Pakokku District was added to the Magway Division and Mindat District was added to the Chin state. Magway Region was then divided into 4 districts: Magway District, Minbu District, Thayet District and Pakokku District. Its capital city was changed from Yenangyaung to Magway.

In 4 April 1996, Pakokku District was divided into two districts: Pakokku District and Gangaw District. Currently, Magway Region has a total of 5 districts and 25 townships.

Administrative divisions
Magway Region's districts are Magwe, Minbu, Thayet, Pakokku and Gangaw, comprising 25 townships and 1,696 ward village tracts. Its capital city is Magwe (2020 urban population estimated as 85,214) and its largest city is Pakokku (2020 urban population estimated as 107,890).

Other major cities are Aunglan (2020 urban population estimated as 52,431), Yenangyaung (2020 urban population estimated as 49,938), Taungdwingyi (2020 urban population estimated as 47,739), Chauk (2020 urban population estimated as 47,568) and Minbu (2020 urban population estimated as 40,304).

List of cities and towns by urban population (2020, September Estimate)

 * http://www.gad.gov.mm/my/content/မကွေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး၏-ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်အလက်များ

Executive
Magway Region Government

Judiciary
Magway Region High Court

Demographics
The population of Magway Region is 3,912,711 in 2014. Over 95% the people are Bamar, with very small numbers of minorities including Chin, Rakhine, Karen, Shan, and a tiny Anglo-Burmese population. During colonial times, this part of Burma had a large Anglo-Burmese population, descended from Western oil workers and their Burmese partners.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists make up 98.8% of Magway Region’s population, forming the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians (0.7%), Muslims (0.3%), Hindus (0.1%), and animists (0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Magway Region’s population.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee’s 2016 statistics, 31,349 Buddhist monks were registered in Magway Region, comprising 5.9% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (97%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya (2.4%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 2,473 thilashin were registered in Magway Region, comprising 4.1% of Myanmar’s total thilashin community.

Transport
The Irrawaddy River is the major transportation system in Magway Region, both in terms of volume of goods and population served. Most major towns in the region are river ports on the Irrawaddy; among them are Magway, Pakokku, Minbu, Yenangyaung, Chauk, Allanmyo, and Thayetmyo. Pakokku's river port is a major port of Magway Region and the third most important river port in Myanmar after Yangon port and Mandalay port.

The major form of transport for non-Irrawaddy areas is by road. The road system is less developed on the western side of the river. The towns are connected with two-lane roads. Most towns have regular bus transportation to Rangoon (Yangon) and Mandalay.Pakokku Bridge is part of the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway and is the longest bridge in Myanmar.

The Pyay to Nyaung-U, Pakokku and Myingyan railway runs through eastern Magway with connections to the capital Naypyidaw, Rangoon and Mandalay. The major stops in Magway on that line are Taungdwingyi and Natmauk. In addition, there are two rail lines running north from the Irrawaddy port of Kyangin, one to Chaung-U in Sagaing Region and the other to the Myittha River valley past Myaing and Kyaw.

The capital Magway has a small non-commercial airport with air traffic for the city of Magway mostly coming in through Bagan Airport at Nyaung U some 113 km to the north along the Irrawaddy. There are commercial airports at Gangaw, Kyauktu, Pakokku, and Pauk. , however, none of them have regularly scheduled flights. Pakokku airport, however, plans to upgrade to an international airport soon.

Economy
The principal product of Magway Region is petroleum. It produces most of the oil and natural gas in Burma. Magway Region's oil fields are located in Mann, Yenangyaung, Chauk, Kyauk-khwet, Letpando and Ayadaw.

In May 2002, Russia agreed to help Myanmar build a 10-megawatt nuclear reactor and two laboratories in the region. Other industries include cement, cotton weaving, and tobacco, iron and bronze. Magway Region produces a large quantity of edible oil as well as petroleum, hence gaining its reputation as the "oil pot of Myanmar".

Pakokku is the largest rice market city of Upper Myanmar (Burma). Agriculture is another important practice, the major crops being sesamum and groundnut. Other crops grown are rice, millet, maize, sunflower, beans and pulses, tobacco, toddy, chili, onions, and potatoes. Famous products of Magway Region include Thanaka (Limonia acidissima) and Phangar (Chebulic myrobalan) fruit.

Only Pakokku and Yenangyaung have industrial zones.

The Largest Rice Market of Upper Myanmar
Pakokku is the biggest rice market in Upper Myanmar due to the rice requirement of the region itself and being a door to Chin State which also needs rice. Of the incoming rice to Pakokku, 70% is from the Ayeyawady Region (Myaungmya, Hinthada and Myanaung) and 30% is from Shwebo and Ye-U of the Sagaing Region. Some 20% of rice coming into the market of Pakokku is consumed by Pakokku itself, and the remaining 80% is sent to other township markets. Most buyers are from Myaing, Yesagyo, Pauk, Myingyan, Kalaymyo and Chin State. In the Pakokku market, consumption is 15% for top class, 50% for middle class and 35% for lower class rice. There are about 5 large rice wholesalers and 10 small rice wholesalers. A large rice wholesaler sells 500 to 1,500 bags per day, so it can sell 180,000 to 200,000 bags (9,000-10,000 tons) a year. Due to the smooth transportation and the booming market, the rice price becomes very high. Thus, the rice market in Pakokku has increased to double that of the Mandalay market.

Education
As of 2002, Magway Region have 3859 schools, of which only 70 are high schools. Only about 10% of the division's primary school students reach high school.

Most of 12 colleges and universities in the division are located in Magway, Pakokku and Yenangyaung.

Health care
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. As of 2003, Magway Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region with a slightly greater population.

Notable sites

 * Fort Min Hla and Fort Kway Chaung: Two late-Konbaung-era forts built to resist a British invasion. The first is situated in the town of Minhla, while the latter is located at opposite bank of the Irrawaddy river.
 * Thihoshin Pagoda: Famous Buddhist pagoda in Pakokku, built by King Alaungsithu.

title: Magway Region


text:
Sagaing Region

Sagaing Region (စစ်ကိုင်းတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and longitude 94° 97' east. It is bordered by India's Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh states to the north, Kachin State, Shan State, and Mandalay Region to the east, Mandalay Region and Magway Region to the south, with the Ayeyarwady River forming a greater part of its eastern and also southern boundary, and Chin State and India to the west. The region has an area of 93,527 km2. In 1996, it had a population of over 5,300,000 while its population in 2012 was 6,600,000. The urban population in 2012 was 1,230,000 and the rural population 5,360,000. The capital city and the largest city of Sagaing Region is Monywa.

0 - 1200 A.D

The Pyu were the first in recorded history to populate the area of Sagaing Region by the first century CE. The Burmans first migrated into Upper Myanmar by ninth century CE. The area came under the Pagan Kingdom certainly by the middle of 11th century when the King Anawrahta (r. 1044–1077) founded the Pagan Empire, which encompasses the modern day Myanmar.

1287 - 1900
After the fall of Pagan in 1287, the northwestern parts of Upper Myanmar came under the Sagaing Kingdom (1315–1364) ruled by Burmanized Shan kings. The area was ruled by the kings of Ava from 1364 to 1555 and the kings of Taungoo from 1555 to 1752. Konbaung Dynasty (1752–1885), founded by king Alaungpaya in Shwebo, became the last Burmese dynasty before the British conquest of Upper Burma in 1885. The area became Sagaing Division after the Burmese independence in January 1948.

In the aftermath of the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, Sagaing Region, which is part of the Bamar homeland, emerged as a stronghold of resistance against military rule. Myanmar Armed Forces have engaged in significant military offensives throughout the region to quell resistance and intimidate local villagers. Sagaing Region has since become the site of several high-profile massacres by military forces, including the 2022 Let Yet Kone massacre and the 2023 Tar Taing massacre.

Administrative divisions
As of 2022, Sagaing Region consists of 13 districts and 1 Self-Administered Zone divided into 34 townships with 198 wards and villages. The major cities are Sagaing, Shwebo, Monywa, Ye U, Katha, Kale, Tamu, Mawlaik and Hkamti. Mingun with its famous bell is located near Sagaing but can be reached across the Ayeyarwady from Mandalay.

In August 2010, three former townships of Hkamti District were transferred, in accordance with the 2008 constitution, to a new administrative unit, the Naga Self-Administered Zone.

Demographics
The Bamar (Burmans) are the majority ethnic group in the dry regions and along the Mandalay-Myitkyina Railroad. Shan live in the upper Chindwin River valley. Kuki people which includes the Thadou people in the south. Smaller ethnic groups native to the Region include the Kadu and Ganang, who live in the upper Mu River valley and Meza River valley. There are also an unknown number of Catholic Bayingyi people (at least 3,000), the descendants of 16th and 17th century Portuguese adventurers and mercenaries, who live in their ancestral villages on the expansive plains of the Mu River valley.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists, who make up 92.2% of Sagaing Region's population, form the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians (6.6%), Muslims (1.1%), and Hindus (0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Sagaing Region's population. 0.1% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee’s 2016 statistics, 55,041 Buddhist monks were registered in Sagaing Region, comprising 10.3% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (83.8%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya (16.1%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 9,915 thilashin were registered in Sagaing Region, comprising 16.4% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.

Ecology
There are a number of protected areas in Sagaing Region, among them are Alaungdaw Kathapa National Park, Chatthin Wildlife Sanctuary, Mahamyaing Wildlife Sanctuary, and Htamanthi Wildlife Sanctuary in Homalin Township.

Transport
Hemmed in by two great rivers of Myanmar, the Irrawaddy and the Chindwin, river transport is a common way to move people and cargo. Much of the inland Sagaing Region relies on roads and rail in poor condition.

Economy
Agriculture is the chief occupation. The leading crop is rice, which occupies most of the arable ground. Other crops include wheat, sesame, peanut, pulses, cotton, and tobacco. The region being next to India, depends on the export import business from India. It is the gateway to India for Myanmar. Sagaing is Myanmar's leading producer of wheat, contributing more than 80% of the country's total production. Important minerals include gold, coal, salt and small amounts of petroleum. Industry includes textiles, copper refining, gold smelting, and a diesel engine plant. The Region has many rice mills, edible oil mills, saw mills, cotton mills, and mechanized weaving factories. Local industry includes earthen pots, silverware, bronze-wares, iron-wares and lacquerware.

Forestry is important in the wetter upper regions along the Chindwin River, with teak and other hardwoods extracted. As in other parts of the country, reforestation is not effective enough to maintain sustainable forestry. Since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, illegal logging of teak and tamalan trees has surged in Sagaing Region, predominantly in key contested battlegrounds, including Kani, Yinmabin, Kantbalu, Indaw and Banmauk townships. Both the Burmese military and resistance groups have profited from the illegal logging trade. Smugglers transport the wood to India in order to circumvent economic sanctions, and use the Myanma Timber Enterprise to license the wood as being sourced from permitted areas.

Education
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay. According to official statistics, less than 10% of primary school students in Sagaing Region reach high school.

Sagaing Region has three national "professional" universities in the Monywa University of Economics, Sagaing University of Education and the Sagaing Institute of Education. Monywa University is the main liberal arts university in the region. Sagaing Institute of Education also known Sagaing University of Education is the one of two senior universities of education in Myanmar.

Healthcare
The general state of healthcare in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although healthcare is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the healthcare infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor. In 2003, Sagaing Region had less than a quarter of the number of hospital beds counted in Yangon Region, with a similar size of population.

title: Sagaing Region


text:
Magway, Myanmar

Magway is the capital city of Magway Region (formerly Magway Division) of Myanmar, and situated on the banks of the Irrawaddy River. The Myathalun Pagoda,, located at the north of the city, is the landmark of Magway. Magway Region is famous for the cultivation of sesame and many kinds of nuts. It is also the second largest city of Magway Region and it is home to Magway Airport.

History
During British Occupation, Magway was a township of Minbu Division (or) Minbu province. Minbu Region was established with 3 districts. They are Minbu District, Thayet District and Yenangyaung District. Magway was a township of Yenangyaung District until 1974.

On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military. A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974.

By 1974, the name of Minbu region was changed to Magway Region and Yenangyaung District was abolished. Magway District was established with 6 townships. The Capital city was changed to Magway from Yenangyaung. In 1974, the urban population of Magway was 7,896.

Notable Places

 * Mya Tha Lun Pagoda
 * Ayerwady River Bridge
 * Kantkaw 1000 Pagoda
 * Kantharyar

Climate
Magway has a tropical wet and dry climate (Aw) bordering on a hot semi-arid climate (BSh) under the Köppen climate classification.

List of universities and colleges in Magway

 * Magway Education Degree College
 * Magway University
 * Computer University, Magway
 * University of Medicine, Magway
 * University of Community Health, Magway
 * Technological University, Magway
 * University of Computer Studies, Magway

Sports
The 3,000-seat Magway Stadium is a multi-use stadium and used mostly for football matches. The stadium is the home ground of Magway F.C, a Myanmar National League (MNL) football club. But, Magway FC was abolished in 2020,October.

Public Hospitals

 * Magway Regional Hospital
 * University Teaching Hospital of the University of Medicine (Magway)
 * Magway Traditional Medicine Hospital

Future Plans

 * Magwe Inland port development project in Irrawaddy River
 * A new Cinema
 * Upgrading Magwe Airport
 * Kantha Lake upgrading

title: Magway, Myanmar


text:
Chin State

Chin State is a state in western Myanmar. Chin State is bordered by Sagaing Division and Magway Division to the east, Rakhine State to the south, the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the west, and the Indian states of Mizoram to the west and Manipur to the north. The population of Chin State is about 488,801 according to the 2014 census, and its capital city is Hakha.

The state is named for the Chin people, an ethnic group native to Chin State and neighboring Rakhine State. Much of the state is mountainous and sparsely populated, with few transportation links and low levels of economic development. It also has Myanmar's highest poverty rate, at 58%, according to a 2017 report.

Early history
Situated in a far hilly region, Chin Hills was traditionally autonomous and far from their neighboring powers like Burman kingdoms in the east and Indian states in the west to reach. Until the British advancement in the region, independent city-states such as Ciimnuai (Chinwe/Chin Nwe) later shifted to Tedim and Vangteh in the north, Tlaisun (also recorded as Tashon) and Rallang in the mid-land, and Hakha, Thantlang and Zokhua (Yokwa) in the south played important political role in securing peace of the region, and each city-state practised its own independent sovereignty in their own rights.

20th century
Upon Burma's independence from the United Kingdom in 1948, the Chin Hills Special Division was created, with its capital at Falam. Hakha later became the capital. However, three townships that are today part of present-day Chin State (Mindat, Kanpetlet and Matupi) were previously part of the Pakokku Hill Tracts of Pakokku District and Paletwa Township of the Arakan Hill Tracts, until 4 January 1974. On this date, the Chin Hills Special Division was granted state status and became Chin State.

"Chin National Day" is designated on 20 February to commemorate the "General Assembly of Chinland" held in 1948. The first celebration of Chin National Day was held in 1951, but it was not recognized by the Myanmar government until the 2010s.

Myanmar civil war
Chin State, like much of Myanmar, has been deeply affected by the Myanmar civil war since it broke out in 2021. Tens of thousands of Chin State residents have fled to neighboring Mizoram, India, and towns such as Thantlang were destroyed in the fighting. Since the war broke out, several armed opposition groups have emerged calling themselves the Chinland Defense Force. The groups are reportedly funded by the Chin diaspora and by the National Unity Government of Myanmar, an opposition government-in-exile.

On December 6, 2023, the Chin National Front ratified the Chinland Constitution, proclaiming the state of Chinland.

Administrative divisions

 * Tedim District of Northern Chin State
 * Tedim Township
 * Tonzang Township
 * Cikha Sub-township
 * Falam District Central Chin State
 * Falam Township
 * Rihkhawdar Sub-township
 * Hakha District of Central Chin State
 * Hakha Township
 * Thantlang Township
 * Matupi District of Central and Southwestern Chin State
 * Matupi Township
 * Rezua Sub-township
 * Mindat District of Southeastern Chin State
 * Mindat Township
 * Kanpetlet Township
 * Paletwa District of Southwestern Chin State
 * Paletwa Township
 * Sami Sub-township

Hakha District was formed by the first Chin State Hluttaw emergency meeting No. 2/2012 on 1 June. Matupi District was formed by the second Pyidaungsu Hluttaw regular meeting on 28 June 2017.

Economy
Chin State has little infrastructure and remains extremely poor and undeveloped.

Demographics
The people of Chin State are made up of many tribes which, though historically related, now speak divergent languages and have different cultural and historical identities. Some consider the name Chin an exonym, given by the Burmese and of unclear origin. Ethnic groups in Chin State include Zo, Zomi, Laimi, K'Cho, Khumi, Asho.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Christians make up the vast majority of Chin State's population, at 91.5%. Minority religious communities include Buddhists (8.0%), Islam (0.0%), Hindus (0.0%), and Animism and other religions (0.4%), including adherents of Pau Cin Hau, who collectively comprise the remainder of Chin State's population. 0.1% of the population listed no religion, or other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated. Chin State is the only state in Myanmar with a majority Christian population.

Education
According to official statistics, Chin State had 25 high schools in 2003.

 * Bethel Bible College in Tedim Township
 * Chin Christian College in Hakha Township
 * Zomi Theological College in Falam, Falam Township

title: Chin State


text:
Kachin State

Kachin State (ကချင်ပြည်နယ်; Kachin: Jinghpaw Mungdaw) is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet and Yunnan, respectively), Shan State to the south, and Sagaing Region and India (Arunachal Pradesh) to the west. It lies between north latitude 23° 27' and 28° 25' longitude 96° 0' and 98° 44'. The area of Kachin State is 89041 km2. The capital of the state is Myitkyina. Other important towns include Bhamo, Mohnyin and Putao.

Kachin State has Myanmar's highest mountain, Hkakabo Razi at 5889 m, forming the southern tip of the Himalayas, and a large inland lake, Indawgyi Lake.

History

What is now Kachin State was historically inhabited by a diverse population of various ethnolinguistic groups, including the Rawang, the Lisu, the Jingpo, the Zaiwa, the Lashi/Lachik and the Lawngwaw/Maru, all of whom had overlapping territories and varying social structures. The term "Kachin" is a term given by the British during the colony period referring to ethnic groups living between the central Bamar heartland to the south and China to the north.

Traditional Kachin society was based on shifting hill agriculture. According to "The Political Systems of Highland Burma: A Study of Kachin Social Structure", written by E. R. Leach, Kachin was not a linguistic category. Political authority was based on chieftains who depended on support from immediate kinsmen. Considerable attention has been given by anthropologists of the Kachin custom of maternal cousin marriage, wherein it is permissible for a man to marry his mother's brother's daughter, but not with the father's sister's daughter. In pre-colonial times, the Kachin were animist.

After the 1760s Qing-Konbaung war, the Chinese exercised a degree of control over the present-day northeastern Kachin State. During the British colonization of Burma, the Kachin Hills tribal autonomy was accepted by the British government. British forces carried out two expeditions against the Kachin in 1892 and 1896. In 1910, the British occupied Hpimaw (Pianma) in the Pianma Incident.

The pre-independence Burmese government under Aung San reached the Panglong Agreement with the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947. The agreement accepted "Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas" in principle and envisioned the creation of a Kachin State by the Constituent Assembly. Burma attained independence on 4 January 1948. Kachin State was formed in the same year out of the former British Burma civil districts of Bhamo and Myitkyina, together with the larger northern district of Puta-o. Kachin State was officially announced on 10 January 1948 and Kachin State Government held "Mungdaw Masat Masat Manau" (forming of Kachin State Manau) for three consecutive days since 9 to 11 January as happiness since that year they held Manau on 10 January every year until the 1962 Burmese coup d'état. The vast mountainous hinterlands are predominantly Kachin, whereas the more densely populated railway corridor and southern valleys are mostly Shan and Bamar. The northern frontier was not demarcated and until the 1960s. Various Chinese governments had claimed the northern-half of Kachin State as Chinese territory since the 18th century. Before the British rule, roughly 75% of all Kachin jadeite ended up in China, where it was prized much more highly than the local Chinese nephrite.

Kachin troops formerly formed a significant part of the Burmese army. With the unilateral abrogation of the Union of Burma constitution by the Ne Win regime in 1962, Kachin forces withdrew and formed the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) under the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO). Aside from the major towns and railway corridor, Kachin State has been virtually independent from the mid-1960s through 1994, with an economy based on agriculture and trade with China, including of jade. After a Myanmar army offensive in 1994 seized the jade mines from the KIO, a peace treaty was signed, permitting continued KIO effective control of most of the State, under aegis of the Myanmar military. This ceasefire immediately resulted in the creation of numerous splinter factions from the KIO and KIA of groups opposed to the SPDC's sham peace accord, and the political landscape remains highly unstable.

Kachin conflict
The complex political situation started when the Kachin armed group was established on 25 October 1960, after the U Nu government announced the state religion as Buddhism, as the Kachin people stopped believing in the government administration system, established after the federal union was agreed upon in the 1947 Panglong agreement. Between 1962 and 2010, the military government ruled over Myanmar. Cease fire agreements between ethnic armed groups and the government were made starting in 1989. And then in 2011 the new government led by President Thein Sein, broke the cease fire agreement which was agreed upon by the former military government and the Kachin ethnic armed group in 1994, resuming fighting against the Kachin who are living in the northern part of Myanmar, northern part of Shan, near the China border on 9 June 2011. Because of the abrupt internal conflict, thousands of internally displaced people fled to refugee camps which are located in the government-controlled area as well in the Kachin Independence Army controlled area (Hlaing, 2005).

KIO made a ceasefire agreement with the military government in 1994 while leaving political issues to be discussed with the next elected government. Throughout its struggle, both in the ceasefire and non-ceasefire period, KIO also made agreements with other ethnic rebels and alliances including the Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB), the National Democratic Front (NDF), and United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC). The main goal was to pressure the military government and restore the federal democratic government with greater autonomy to Kachin State. During its 17 years of ceasefire from 1994 to 2011 the KIO actively participated in the military-led constitution-drafting-process, attending the National Convention, which was boycotted by the democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and ethnic political parties. The KIO together with 12 other ethnic groups demanded amendments of the draft to be more in line with a federal democratic system and to give autonomy to states (Zaw Oo & Win Min 2007).

The seventeen-year ceasefire broke down and fighting between the Kachin Independence Organization and the government resumed in June 2011 after the Kachin Independent Army disallowed the government's order to transform into a Border Guard Force and it claimed that the regime's 2008 Constitution lacked federal democratic principles and equal political rights for ethnic minorities based on the Panglong Agreement. Renewed fighting between the Kachin Independence Army and the Burmese army began on 9 June 2011 at Ta-pein hydropower plan and continued throughout 2012. Initial reports suggested that from June to September 2011 a total of 5,580 Internally Displaced Persons from 1,397 households arrived at 38 IDP camps under Myanmar Government control. In August 2012 thousands of Kachin refugees were forced by the Chinese Government back into Myanmar despite the continued fighting there; NGOs like Human Rights Watch called to cease such action and pointed the illegality of doing so under international law. As of 9 October 2012, over 100,000 IDPs are taking shelter in various camps across Kachin State. The majority of IDPs (est. 70,000) are currently sheltering in KIA controlled territory. Fatality estimates were difficult to estimate but most reports suggested that between government troops, Kachin Independence Army rebels, and civilians upwards of 1,000 people had died in the conflict.

Even though many Kachins were already displaced internally, only around 150,000 people are reported as IDPs. The Kachins are currently the major target for the Burmese government, yet relatively few Kachins have chosen to resettle in countries such as the United States or Australia, in comparison to other Myanmar ethnic minorities, such as the Karens and Chins.

Government
The Kachin State Government consists of an executive (Kachin State Government), a legislature (Kachin State Hluttaw), and a judiciary.

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists, who make up 64.0% of Kachin State's population, form the largest religious community there. Religious minority communities include Christians (33.8%), Muslims (1.6%), Hindus (0.4%), and animists (0.2%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Kachin State's population. 2.8% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee's 2016 statistics, 7,966 Buddhist monks were registered in Kachin State, comprising 1.5% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (95.3%), followed by the Shwegyin Nikaya (4.7%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 1,103 thilashin were registered in Kachin State, comprising 1.8% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.

Language
Burmese and Jingpho are lingua francas of Kachin State. Since Burma achieved independence in 1948, significant numbers of Burmese speakers have settled in Kachin State, which has accelerated a language shift from Jingpho to Burmese. Other Kachin tribes speak and write their own language: the Zaiwa, the Rawang, and the Lisu, who speak both the Lisu language and the Lipo language. English is also widely spoken as a working language.

Ethnicity
The ethnic data from the 2014 census is available only with the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) and not released to the public. As per the 1983 Census, the ethnic composition was Bamar: 29.3%, Shan: 24.2% and Kachin: 38.1%. In a speech delivered on 2016, Min Aung Hlaing of Tatmadaw gave the ethnic composition of the Kachin state as follows: Bamar – 29.2%, Shan – 23.6%, Jingphaw – 18.97%, Lisu – 7%, Rawam – 5%, Lawwaw – 3.33%, Lacheik – 2.89%, Zaikwa – 1.57% and Others – 8%.

Economy
The economy of Kachin State is predominantly agricultural. The main products include rice, teak, sugar cane, opium. Mineral products include gold, jade, and rare-earth elements. Hpakant is well known for its jade mines. Bhamo is one of the border trading points between China and Myanmar. A significant amount of legal and illegal cross-border trade along the China–Myanmar border passes through Kachin State, through border posts operated by both the central government (e.g., Lweje) and ethnic armed organisations (e.g., Laiza and Kanpaikti).

Jade mining
Over 600 tons of jade stones, which were unearthed from Lone-Khin area in Hpakant Township in Kachin State, had been displayed in Myanmar Naypyidaw to be sold in November 2011. Most of the jade stones extracted in Myanmar, 25,795 tons in 2009–10 and 32,921 tons in 2008–09, are from Kachin State. The largest jade stone in the world, 3000 tons, 21 metres long, 4.8 metres wide and 10.5 metres high was found in Hpakant in 2000. The Myanmar government pays little attention to the deterioration of environment in Kachin because of jade mining. There has been erosion, flooding and mudslides. Several houses are destroyed every year.

Hydropower
In 2006, the Prime Minister General Thein Sein made an agreement with the China Power Investment Cooperation in Beijing to build seven dams in Kachin State. The controversial construction project of a huge 1,055 megawatt hydroelectric power plant dam, the Myitsone Dam, is ongoing. It is funded by China Power Investment Cooperation. When completed, the dam will measure 152 metre high and the electricity produced will be sold to China. This project displaced about 15,000 people and is one of 7 projects planned for the Irrawaddy River.

Rare earth mining
Kachin State is the world's largest source of rare earths, which are critical in the supply chains of many multinational corporations, including Tesla and General Motors. In 2021, China imported US$200 million of rare earths from Myanmar in December 2021, exceeding 20,000 tonnes. Rare earths were discovered near Pangwa in Chipwi Township in the late 2010s.

As China has shut down domestic mines due to the severe environmental impact, it has largely outsourced rare earth mining to Kachin State. Chinese companies and miners illegally set up operations in Kachin State without government permits, and instead circumvent the central government by working with a Border Guard Force militia under the Tatmadaw, formerly known as the New Democratic Army – Kachin, which has profited from this extractive industry. Mining operations also began in areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Organisation in 2022.

Rare earth mining has contaminated and polluted the local environment, including waterways and forests, and eroded mountainous landscapes, and impacted the health of locals. Since the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, mining of rare earths in Kachin State has accelerated, due to lack of proper oversight. Land has also been seized from locals to conduct mining operations. , 2,700 mining collection pools scattered across 300 separate locations were found in Kachin State, encompassing the area of Singapore, and an exponential increase from 2016.

Transportation
Kachin State is served by the following airports: There is a railroad between Myitkyina and Mandalay (through Sagaing). The train takes 21–30 hours from Mandalay to Myitkyina.
 * Bhamo Airport
 * Myitkyina Airport
 * Putao Airport

Education

Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay. It is especially a problem in Kachin State where over 60 years of fighting between the government and insurgents has displaced thousands of people. The following is a summary of the education system in the state.

Health care
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world. Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. In general, the health care infrastructure outside of Yangon and Mandalay is extremely poor but is especially worse in remote areas like Kachin State. The following is a summary of the public health care system in the state.

title: Kachin State


text:
Kayah State

Kayah State (ကယားပြည်နယ်, ), or Karenni State, is a state of Myanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by Shan State, on the east by Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, and on the south and west by Kayin State. It lies approximately between 18° 30′ and 19° 55′ north latitude and between 96° 50′ and 97° 50′ east longitude. The area is 11,670 km2. Its capital is Loikaw (also spelt Loi-kaw). The estimated population in the 2014 Myanmar Census was 286,738, the smallest among Myanmar's seven states. It is inhabited primarily by the Karenni ethnic group, also known as Red Karen or Kayah, a Sino-Tibetan people.

Geography
Karenni (Kayah) State is located in the eastern part of Myanmar. The relief of Karenni (Kayah) State is mountainous with the Dawna Range and the Karen Hills also known as "Karenni-Karen" mountains separated by the Salween River as it flows through Karenni (Kayah) State. Balu Chaung flows from Inle Lake to Than Lwin River and converges with the Salween in southern Karenni (Kayah) State.

Lawpita Dam, built in 1950 as a bilateral reparation agreement with Japan, is a major hydroelectric production dam that produces a quarter of the total hydroelectric power generation in Myanmar.

19th century and British rule
Karenni States is the name formerly given to a group of states that included Kantarawadi, Kyebogyi and Bawlake. These states were located south of the Federated Shan States and east of British Burma. According to the 1930 census, the states had a total population of 58,761 with Kantarawadi (3161 sqmi), 30,677, Kyebogyi (790 sqmi), 14,282 and Bawlake (568 sqmi), 13,802.

The British government recognised and guaranteed the independence of the Karenni States in an 1875 treaty with Burmese King Mindon Min, by which both parties recognised the area as belonging neither to Konbaung Burma nor to Great Britain. Consequently, the Karenni States were never fully incorporated into British Burma. The Karenni States were recognised as tributary to British Burma in 1892, when their rulers agreed to accept a stipend from the British government. In the 1930s, the Mawchi Mine in Bawlake was the most important source of tungsten in the world.

Independence to 1988
The Constitution of the Union of Burma in 1947 proclaimed that the three Karenni States be amalgamated into a single constituent state of the union, called Karenni State. It also provided for the possibility of secession from the Union after 10 years.

In August 1948, the Karenni leader U Bee Htu Re was assassinated by central government militia for his opposition to the inclusion of the Karenni States in the Union of Burma. An armed uprising swept the state that has continued to the present day.

In 1952, the former Shan state of Mong Pai (1901. pop - 19,351) was added to Karenni State, and the whole renamed Kayah State, possibly with the intent of driving a wedge between the Karenni (in Kayah State) and the rest of the Karen people (in Karen State), both fighting for independence.

In 1957, pro-independence groups already active in the area formed the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), backed by its own army, the Karenni Army (KA). Apart from a brief ceasefire in 1995, the KA has been fighting ever since. Rivals to the KNPP include the leftist Kayan New Land Party (KNLP), and the Karenni National People's Liberation Front (KNPLF), both of which are now allied with the Myanmar military.

1988–2021
In 1996, Myanmar's State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) stepped up its campaign to crush Karenni independence with a population transfer program, forcibly moving villagers to designated relocation sites to deprive the pro-independence forces of bases of support. The Myanmar government has been accused of massive human rights violations in the region.

In June 2019, six young Karenni protesters were arrested after being sued by the Kayah State government for calling Chief Minister L Phaung Sho a "traitor" to Karennis due to a statue of Gen. Aung San being erected in Loikaw, the state capital.

In September 2020, Sho was impeached by the state's parliament and subsequently removed as chief minister by President Win Myint due to his misuse of state funds, with Boss Ko appointed as acting chief minister in his stead.

Post-2021
In the context of the ongoing post-coup civil war, on 7 November 2023, the Karenni National People's Liberation Front, Karenni Army, and Karenni Nationalities Defence Force launched a military offensive known as Operation 1107 against the ruling State Administration Council junta. An additional offensive, known as Operation 1111, started on 11 November 2023 with the aim of capturing Loikaw. In an interview with The Irrawaddy on 28 November, the KNDF's deputy commander-in-chief Marwi (မာဝီက) claimed that the anti-junta forces controlled 80% of Kayah state and had control over half of Loikaw, where an interim Karenni state government was being established to replace the junta installed state government which had collapsed.

Demographics
Ethnographers classify anywhere from seven to ten ethnic groups (not including ethnic sub-groups) as native to Kayah State. In addition, Shan, Intha, and Bamar live in the north and Pa-O in surrounding hills. Each group is also known by more than one name. Clearly, ethnicity in Kayah State is a complex issue, made more complex by the current political situation. According to the 1983 census conducted by United Nations and the Burmese government, the Kayah composed 56.12%, while Bamar (17.58%), Shan (16.66%), Karen (6.45%), mixed races (2.08%), and other groups formed minorities. Ethnolinguists distinguish the following linguistic groups in Kayah State:
 * 1) Karenni (Red people)
 * 2) Padaung (Kayan)
 * 3) Bwe
 * 4) Geba
 * 5) Manumanaw (Kayaw)
 * 6) Yantale
 * 7) Zayein (Kayăn Lahta)
 * 8) Geko (Kayăn Kakhong)
 * 9) Yinbaw (Kayăn Kangan)
 * 10) Paku (Karen)

Religion
According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, Buddhists, who make up 49.9% of Kayah State's population, form the largest religious community there. Minority religious communities include Christians (45.8%), Muslims (1.1%), Hindus (0.1%), and animists (1.9%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Kayah State's population. 1.2% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.

According to the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee’s 2016 statistics, 2060 Buddhist monks were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.4% of Myanmar's total Sangha membership, which includes both novice samanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu. The majority of monks belong to the Thudhamma Nikaya (82.4%), followed by Shwegyin Nikaya (17.6%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other small monastic orders. 303 thilashin were registered in Kayah State, comprising 0.5% of Myanmar’s total thilashin community.

The Kayans' traditional religion is called Kan Khwan, and has been practised since the people migrated from Mongolia during the Bronze Age. It includes the belief that the Kayan people are the result of a union between a female dragon and a male human/angel hybrid.

The major religious festival is the three-day Kay Htein Bo festival, which commemorates the belief that the creator god gave form to the world by planting a small post in the ground. During this festival, held in late March or early April, a Kay Htoe Boe pole is erected and participants dance around the pole. This festival is held to venerate the eternal god and creator messengers, to give thanks for blessings during the year, to appeal for forgiveness, and pray for rain. It is also an opportunity for Kayan from different villages to come together to maintain the solidarity of the tribe.

The Kayan have a strong belief in augury and nothing is done without reference to some form of divination, including breaking thatch grass, but most importantly consulting the chicken bones. Nowadays the annual Kay Htein Bo festival is always accompanied by a reading of the chicken bones to predict the year ahead. Fowl bone prognostication can be witnessed in the Kayan villages in Thailand's Mae Hong Son province during the annual festival and during “Cleansing Ceremonies” which are held when a family has encountered misfortune. Dreams are also used to make predictions.

Politics
As with many other states in Myanmar, which have ethnic minority populations, Kayah state has experienced human rights abuses by the Burmese military junta and the Burmese armed forces.

Villagers live under the constant threat of rape, beatings, arbitrary arrest or execution, conscription as slave labour for the Myanmar army, and having their food and possessions taken without compensation. "The SPDC also arbitrarily closes roads for non-military travel in Karenni State, further restricting villagers movements. Landmines are often planted along roads to prohibit the villagers' movements. Villagers, fearful of landmines and potential injuries, further restrict their own movements.

Even with a valid travel pass villagers are still vulnerable to abuses and exploitation. There have been reports of arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings and rapes of villagers who have had permission to travel. Villagers have also been shot at when they have been outside of their communities." It has also been alleged that the relocation centers have inadequate access to water, food, medical services, and educational facilities. As of April 2024, more than 80% of the state's population is classified as internally displaced. Thousands of Karenni people are in refugee camps in Thailand. "Currently there are 4,800 IDPs in eight forced relocation sites throughout Karenni State. These relocation sites are a result of the Burmese military regimes mass relocation program in Karenni State in 1996. Following the collapse of the ceasefire between SLORC and the KNPP, tens of thousands of people were forcibly evicted from their homes during this program.

"Most relocation sites are located close to military camps, army bases and along main roads. This increases the vulnerability of exploitation and abuse. IDPs are subjected to force labour demands from the soldiers and arbitrary taxation (essentially theft). IDPs are also vulnerable to torture; murder and rape by soldiers and their movements are heavily restricted.

"The relocation sites are also inadequate to sustain a healthy and economically viable livelihood. The majority of relocation sites do not have sanitation facilities, electricity or access to safe drinking water. The land surrounding the sites is often barren and over populated. As productive land has usually been claimed by the original inhabitants or confiscated by the soldiers, opportunities to farm are limited. There are also very few employment opportunities in forced relocation sites."

Administration
The state capital is Loikaw. The state is divided into 4 districts which are divided into 7 townships with 106 wards and villages.

Towns

 * Bawlakhe
 * Demoso
 * Hpasawng
 * Hpruso
 * Lawpita
 * Loikaw
 * Loilinlay
 * Mawchi
 * Mese
 * Nanmekon
 * Shadaw
 * Ywathit

Judiciary
Kayah State High Court

List of chief ministers

 * Khin Maung Oo (2011–2016; 2021–2022)
 * L Phaung Sho (2016–2020)
 * Boss Ko (acting; 2020–2021)
 * Zaw Myo Tin (2022–2023)

Transport
Kayah State is served by Loikaw Airport and Loikaw Train station

Economy
Kayah State has a primarily extraction-based economy. The main crop is rice, mostly irrigated, with other important crops including millet, maize, sesame, groundnut, garlic, and vegetables. Mineral products include alabaster, tin, and tungsten. Valuable woods such as teak and pine were once produced, but the forests have largely been stripped bare by illegal logging authorised by the Tatmadaw (Burmese military). The hydroelectric power plant at Lawpita Falls outside of Loikaw is of strategic importance, as it supplies over 20% of Myanmar's total electrical power.

Kayah State has theoretical tourist potential, if the political situation is resolved. The state has rugged mountains, river streams, lakes and waterfalls; however, transport and communication are difficult. At present, Kayah State is open to outsiders by permit only, which can be difficult to obtain depending on the current military situation. Even with a permit, usually only a 25 km radius around Loikaw is allowed. The central government effectively controls only Loikaw and parts of the western half of the state. 16 January 2012

As of 2018, the state is the most electrified in Myanmar, at 87%.

Education

 * Loikaw University
 * Technological University, Loikaw
 * Computer University, Loikaw

Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities of Yangon and Mandalay. According to official statistics, Kayah State has the lowest number of public schools in the country. Loikaw University is the state's main university.

Health care
Kayah State, most of Myanmar, has poor health care facilities due to the alleged mismanagement by the Burmese military junta and economic sanctions by the US government. Although health care is nominally free, in reality patients have to pay for medicine and treatment even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. As Kayah State is perhaps the most isolated state in Myanmar, it has great difficulties in addressing health concerns. In 2016, Loikaw General Hospital was upgraded with the 1.945 billion yen funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The following is a summary of the public health care system in the state.

title: Kayah State