pic by anju

Hamburg 11.02.2017 - Demonstration: Stop deportations to Afghanistan now!

 

We, the people of Hamburg, demand: Stop deportations now!

Universal rigth to stay!

At 11th February 2017 we protest against deportations to Afghanistan. We as city society demand an end to this unworthy and inhumane policy at the expense of our fellow citizens. Afghanistan is not a safe country! The 11th February 2017 is a german-wide day of action against deportations, protests are planned in many cities. We prove a solid stance – united with people in Hamburg and Germany

Against isolationist policy!

Against deportations!

Everyone deserves to live in peace and security.

 

William Remington, a Commerce Department employee, reads messages sent to him July 30, 1948 after Elizabeth Bentley, an American former Soviet spy, accused him earlier in the day before a Senate committee of passing secret information to her during World War II.

 

Bentley was part of a group that passed classified information to the Soviet Union during World War II but turned herself in and began testifying against others. The Soviet Union was an ally of the U.S. at the time.

 

Remington then faced charges in 1948 in the U.S. Senate and by the government loyalty board that he also passed valuable wartime secrets to the Soviet Union.

 

He denied the allegations at that time and stated he had never been a member of the Communist Party or the Young Communist League..

 

However he was suspended from duty but cleared of the charges and reinstated to his job. However, in 1950 he was brought up on criminal charges for perjury, convicted and ,after two trials, sent to prison where he was murdered for his alleged communist sympathies.

 

Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period. He was investigated numerous times for alleged communist ties, tried twice for perjury and sent to jail where he was murdered.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he “moved left quite rapidly”; and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or “extreme liberals.”; He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him “a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents.”

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was “the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination,”; and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution. When he was killed in prison he was a pitiful figure who had no friends on the left after his betrayal of them and no sympathy on the right for what was regarded as his criminal actions.

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection

 

Hamburg 11.02.2017 - Demonstration: Stop deportations to Afghanistan now!

 

We, the people of Hamburg, demand: Stop deportations now!

Universal rigth to stay!

At 11th February 2017 we protest against deportations to Afghanistan. We as city society demand an end to this unworthy and inhumane policy at the expense of our fellow citizens. Afghanistan is not a safe country! The 11th February 2017 is a german-wide day of action against deportations, protests are planned in many cities. We prove a solid stance – united with people in Hamburg and Germany

Against isolationist policy!

Against deportations!

Everyone deserves to live in peace and security.

 

Daughters of America

The Daughters of America is an organization that has no connection with the similarly named Daughters of American Revolution.

 

The Daughters of America began in the Wildwoods in 1908 when there still was a Holly Beach and so they called themselves the Holly Council as part of a national organization that was founded in Ohio.

 

It is quite significant that this organization more than a century ago raised some national issues that are still prevalent today. In its “declaration of principle” the Daughters of America talk about illegal immigrants and terrorists. Only they don’t label them terrorists. Then they were called anarchists.

 

“The constant landing upon our shores of the hordes of ignorant, vicious and lawless criminals of the old world should be viewed with alarm by the loyal and patriotic citizens of this country,” the organization stated in its declaration of principles. “We affirm a warm and hearty welcome to all immigrants who desire to better their condition and become a part and parcel of our nationality, but we have not the square inch of room for the anarchist, the socialist and nihilist, nor for anyone who is not willing to bow allegiance to that flag which is powerful enough to shield and protect them, as well as us, in the exercise of civil and religious liberty.”

 

The women argued, too, that all classes in public schools should be taught in English, that the Bible should be read in public schools, “not to teach sectarianism but to inculcate its teachings.

 

“It is the recognized standard of all moral and civil law,” the declaration continues. “We therefore believe that our children should be educated in its teachings but that no dogma or creed should be taught at the same time.

 

“We believe that patriotism and love of country should be instilled into the hearts of children, and that with the sacred words of ‘mother, home and heaven,’ our children should be taught that our flag is the symbol of all that makes a home for us. We would place a flag upon every public school in our land, and a Bible within, and the object lesson therein set forth should be a beacon light in every storm that threatens to engulf us.

 

“In this noble and patriotic work we ask the cordial and hearty cooperation of all good citizens. In this grand work we need the helping hand of all organizations holding the same views and principles. We have no time for jealousies and bickering, but with a united front we should march forward, shoulder to shoulder, remembering that ‘United we stand divided we fall.’ In the strictest sense we are a national political organization, but we oppose with unanimity the slightest taint of partisanship. ‘Our Country’ is our motto, and we keep this motto steadily before us. We are cognizant that there are great and powerful enemies within our midst, requiring the strictest surveillance of all who are at heart, word and deed American. We as members of this order affirm our allegiance to the objects of the order as paramount to any partisan affiliation, and urge upon the membership harmonious, united and intelligent action in carrying out the principles.”

 

Daughters of America

In 1845 the Union of Workers was founded in Philadelphia. Its members were working people, men only, who opposed immigration, most particularly of Catholics.

 

Additionally, they provided in this pre-insurance era, a sick fund and a funeral fund which was incentive to join whether or not you were a bigot. They changed their name to the Order of United American Mechanics. Only native born, white, "Americans" who believed in a supreme being who controlled it all and kept things in order, were allowed to join. Ironically, many of the parents of these members, not being "native born," were not eligible to join and receive the insurance benefits. These people supported the separation of church and state, and members could not be involved in the liquor trade. Their basic reason for supporting this "non-sectarian" attitude was in its opposition to Catholic parochial schools. The founding of this organization and others like it coincided with the massive immigration of Irish escaping the starvation of their potato famine.

 

Since it was a male only organization, it formed a women's auxiliary unit called Daughters of Liberty, confiscating the name of an earlier organization that operated underground prior to and during the American Revolution. The D of A itself metamorphosed into the Sons and Daughters of Liberty in 1915. This also was a confiscation of a name that had been used in Philadelphia by an organization dedicated to preserving the history of the original Sons of Liberty and Daughters of Liberty. To further complicate an already complex issue, this same name is used in the present for radical organizations the purpose of which most of us would rather not know.

 

In 1853, they formed a Junior lodge (JOUAM) which outgrew them, declared its independence in 1885, and absorbed them. Perhaps its progeny became more radical than the parent, but it survived well beyond the lifetime of the parent organization. JOUAM formed an auxiliary which survives in the present time as Daughters of America.

 

The Daughters of America is possibly the only section of this group of related organizations that survives today. The Patriotic Order, Sons of America, a similarly Anti-Catholic, Anti-Immigration group that operated in the same geographic regions, also formed an auxiliary called (Patriotic) Daughters of America.Whether these two groups with similar ideology ever merged is not included in the references I have so far acquired.

 

A coalition of secret societies with isolationist and anti-immigration beliefs formed the nucleus of a politcal party called the Know Nothing Party formed in 1852. The OUAM was among these. The name came from the response of all members of the party who indicated to all questions that they "know nothing about it (the party)." Its momentum was lost with the formation of the Republican party in 1856, and it returned to its secret society roots.

 

All of these groups have in common that they hide their ideology behind symbols that society trusts and respects such as patriotism and religion. These same tactics are alive and well in our contemporary society. I have to say that seeing first hand the prevalence of the emblems of these ideologies in our area gives a different slant to our history than our textbooks might have emphasized.

Hamburg 11.02.2017 - Demonstration: Stop deportations to Afghanistan now!

 

We, the people of Hamburg, demand: Stop deportations now!

Universal rigth to stay!

At 11th February 2017 we protest against deportations to Afghanistan. We as city society demand an end to this unworthy and inhumane policy at the expense of our fellow citizens. Afghanistan is not a safe country! The 11th February 2017 is a german-wide day of action against deportations, protests are planned in many cities. We prove a solid stance – united with people in Hamburg and Germany

Against isolationist policy!

Against deportations!

Everyone deserves to live in peace and security.

 

The USS-Missouri (BB-63), known as the Mighty Mo or Big Mo, is a United States Navy Iowa-class battleship. Ordered in 1940 and commissioned in 1944, it was the last battleship built by the United States. In the Pacific Theater, she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, before serving as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan to end World War II. She fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, before being decommissioned in 1955. Reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, the Missouri provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Finally decommissioned in 1992, she remained on the Naval Register until her name was struck in 1995. In 1998, she became a museum ship moored at Foxtrot 5 Pier on Ford Island in Pearl Harbor.

 

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

 

USS Arizona Memorial National Register #66000944 (1966)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems." It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The memorial flagstaff at the USS Arizona Memorial is attached to the mast leg of the USS Arizona wreck. The USS Arizona was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December of 1942. On March 7, 1950, the Arizona was symbolically "re-commissioned" when this flagpole was erected. The USS Arizona is treated as one of the current fleet and the flag flying on the ship's mast only flies at half-staff when the other ships fly their flags at half-staff.

 

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

USS Arizona Memorial National Register #66000944 (1966)

USS Arizona Wreck National Register #89001083 (1989)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Hamburg 11.02.2017 - Demonstration: Stop deportations to Afghanistan now!

 

We, the people of Hamburg, demand: Stop deportations now!

Universal rigth to stay!

At 11th February 2017 we protest against deportations to Afghanistan. We as city society demand an end to this unworthy and inhumane policy at the expense of our fellow citizens. Afghanistan is not a safe country! The 11th February 2017 is a german-wide day of action against deportations, protests are planned in many cities. We prove a solid stance – united with people in Hamburg and Germany

Against isolationist policy!

Against deportations!

Everyone deserves to live in peace and security.

 

Carl Parker, one of three men charged with murdering William Remington in the Lewisburg Prison November 24, 1954 for communist affiliations, is shown in a mugshot from an earlier arrest.

 

Parker, 21, from Washington, D.C.; George McCoy, 34, from Grundy, Va. and Lewis Cagle Jr., 17, from Chattanooga, Tn. were all charged with murdering the former Commerce Department employee in the Lewisburg, Pa.. penitentiary. All three had been imprisoned for other crimes.

 

After numerous investigations and two trials, Remington was convicted of perjury when he denied knowledge of a communist group on his university campus in his second trial.

 

He had earlier been tried for perjury for denying he was a member of any communist groups, but federal officials pressed ahead because they believed Remington had passed classified information to the Soviet Union through confessed American born Soviet spy Elizabeth Bentley..

 

His high profile conviction led McCoy to plan the murder with the other two. Cagle beat Remington to death while he was asleep in his cell with piece of brick inside a sock.

 

The three would all plead guilty. McCoy and Cagle received life sentences while Parker received 20 years.

 

William Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he "moved left quite rapidly" and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or "extreme liberals." He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him "a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents."

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was "the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination," and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution.

 

--Remington timeline is partially excerpted from Wikipedia

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an FBI mugshot photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star collection.

 

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems." It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The Battle of Manila Bay is shown in this colored print of a painting by J.G. Tyler, copyright 1898 by P.F. Collier. Ships depicted in left side of print are (l-r): Spanish Warships Don Juan de Ulloa, Castilla, and Reina Cristina. Those in right side are (l-r): USS Boston, USS Baltimore and USS Olympia.

 

Collections of the Navy Department, purchased from Lawrence Lane, 1970.

U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command Photograph

 

By Naval History and Heritage Command

 

Yesterday, the first of our week-long spotlights on the Spanish-American War ended after the two big naval victories at the Battle of Manila Bay and Battle of Cuba de Santiago. Ground troops batting clean-up finished the less-than-four-month conflict.

 

But the impact of this “splendid little war” reached well beyond the duration of the war. It was the strategic shift that started the tsunami of fleet modernization and base acquisition that would carry the United States Navy well into the 20th Century through World War II.

 

Becoming a world power

 

As mentioned, having no U.S. ship capable of stopping a Spanish ironclad sitting in a New York port during the 1873 Virginius Affair led to President Chester Arthur calling for a rehabilitation of the fleet. While President Benjamin Harrison urged a continuation of constructing modern ships during his 1889 inaugural address, he also asked for the acquisition of bases to maintain the U.S. fleet in foreign seas, according to Naval History and Heritage Command historian Mark L. Evans.

 

Harrison worked with Secretary of the Navy Benjamin Tracy and Navy Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan, who believed the countries with the greatest sea power would have the most impact worldwide. He had written a book touting that concept, The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660-1783 that would be released a year later. His ideas would be embraced by many of the major world powers and set into motion the United States Navy as we know it today.

 

Rear Adm. Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose views on sea power shaped the U.S. Navy of the 20th Century.

Rear Adm. Alfred Thayer Mahan, whose views on sea power shaped the U.S. Navy of the 20th Century.

 

“Their work bore fruit with the Navy Bill of June 30, 1890, authorizing construction of three battleships later named Indiana, Oregon and Massachusetts. Along with the battleship Iowa, authorized in 1892, this force formed the core of the new fleet willing to challenge European navies for control of the waters in the Western Hemisphere,” Evans wrote in a paper on the Spanish-American War.

 

It was the birth of navalism in a young country on the precipice of emerging into a world power.

 

“The United States decided if it was going to be a ‘big boy,’ it needed a strong navy. So the country went from a fifth-rate sea service to the third largest in the world during this period of time,” said Dennis Conrad, another NHHC historian.

 

But along with building up its naval forces, the United States was also beginning to flex its muscles beyond its borders. By the time the previously Euro-centric world began the 20th century, the power had tilted toward the United States during the start of the American Century, Conrad said.

 

The Navy’s transference from wood and sail to steam and steel had already proven itself in the defeat of the Spanish Navy.

 

But the over-arching changes that affected the country after winning the war was ending up with the Philippines.

 

“The Spanish-American War got us involved with Asia,” Conrad said. “We did not go into the war with the idea of taking over the Philippines. But it was an example of the importance of mission forward, presence and protecting the sea lanes.”

 

After crushing the Spanish navy, the United States could have become a major colonial power. But Americans did not follow the European model of imperialism.

 

“We didn’t pick up colonies like other countries after World War I, we just wanted access and trade, not to run colonies,” Conrad said. “So the aftermath of the Spanish-American War and our opting for independence for the Philippines on the heels of having subdued it, really defined the United States approach in the 20th century.”

 

Despite the victory, post-war wasn’t an easy time for the United States. The 1823 Monroe Doctrine decreed that the Western Hemisphere would forever be free from European expansion. Anti-imperialists called the U.S. hypocritical for condemning European empires while pursuing one of their own.

 

And just as the Cuban resistance fought against their landlords, so did the Philippines against the United States. Few Sailors, Soldiers or Marines were killed during the four-month Spanish-American War, while 4,000 American lives were lost fighting in the Philippine Insurrection.

 

But by the time Theodore Roosevelt, old Rough Rider himself, was elected president in 1901, America was just beginning to flex its might. The 1901 Platt Amendment forbade Cuba from incurring debt to keep foreign gunboats away from its shores. And if any conditions were violated, the United States would send the necessary force to restore order, thanks to the lease of a naval base at Guantanamo Bay — still in existence today.

 

Then-Col. Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba- 1898, as one of the famed Rough Riders

Then-Col. Theodore Roosevelt in Cuba- 1898, as one of the famed Rough Riders. National Park Service photo

 

America then entered its “protectorate” status with Cuba and even other nations over the next few years. The Roosevelt Corollary specified if any Latin American country engaged in “chronic wrongdoing,” the United States would step in and restore order, as evidenced by its intervention with the Dominican Republic when it came under U.S. protection in 1905. And the year before, President Theodore Roosevelt earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation of the Russo-Japan conflict.

 

By 1907, Roosevelt sent off his Great White Fleet for an around-the-world show of strength, otherwise known as the “big stick” in his “speak softly, but carry a big stick,” mantra.

 

In order to get his naval fleet from the Atlantic to the Pacific faster if necessary, Roosevelt began his biggest achievement: the Panama Canal. The United States’ emerging power caused Great Britain to nullify the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty that had both countries agreeing neither side would build such a canal.

 

After negotiating a six-mile wide strip of land for the United States to lease to build the canal, Colombia held out for more. Roosevelt wielded his “big stick” by sending in a Navy gunboat and supporting revolutionaries fighting to free the Panama territory from Colombia. The United States was the first nation to recognize the new country of Panama and the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty gave the U.S. a 10-mile strip for the canal. Begun in 1907, the Panama Canal was completed in 1914 at the cost of $345 million. And American doctors, such as Walter Reed — the namesake of the military’s largest hospital – did their part in combatting malaria and yellow fever.

 

The United States had shed its isolationist past, but in doing so, began to hear rumblings of discontent from her South American neighbors, Japan and Russia.

 

Be prepared

 

While the United States was ramping up its steel navy, the Navy was investing in its leadership. Founded in 1884, the Naval War College was instrumental in getting its officers to adapt to constantly changing technology and also plan for operations in the event of war. The Naval War Board was formed in March 1898. But four years earlier, an 1894 paper by Lt. Cmdr. Charles J. Train addressed the “strategy in the Event of War with Spain,” Evans said. Train’s suggestion was for the U.S. Navy to destroy the Spanish fleet as early as possible and blockade Cuba’s principal ports. If Spain sent a fleet to stop it, the United States would be ready.

 

In 1895, a “special plan” was sent to Naval College War students to secure Cuba’s independence.

 

By the time USS Maine was destroyed in Havana Harbor on Feb. 15, 1898, the Navy Department already had a number of plans honed by four years of debate by its leading officers, Evans pointed out. Although the realities of war forced modifications to the plans, it allowed for quick decisions prior to the declaration of war.

 

America’s victory in the Battle of Manila could be attributed to Commodore George Dewey’s decision to plan strategies among his leadership and then train, train and train some more the crew until the day of the battle. After seven hours, with a 3-hour meal break, Dewey’s fleet blew apart the Spanish flotilla in Manila, without a single loss of life.

 

The Navy Department then ordered Commodore Winfield Scott Schley’s Flying Squadron to protect the east coast of the United States from the Spanish fleet led by Adm. Pascual Cervera, and sent Adm. William Sampson’s North Atlantic squadron to blockade Havana Harbor. After being hemmed in for six weeks, Cervera’s ships attempted to run the blockade during Sunday morning services on July 3. Chased down by the American armored ships, the rest of the Spanish ships were destroyed within 90 minutes.

 

“The overall success of U.S. naval operations during the Spanish-American War demonstrated the value of extensive peace-time preparations,” Evans wrote. “In the technological warfare of the last one hundred years, the most important preparations have not always been the construction of major warships, but also planning for adequate logistical support and vigorous intellectual debate.”

 

Tomorrow will feature a profile on Commodore George Dewey, the Civil War-era admiral who led the Battle of Manila Bay.

 

On Thursday, NHHC historian Dennis Conrad will discuss plans for NHHC’s newest documentary on the Spanish-American War “that will capture the drama and heroism that catapulted the United States Navy to world prominence.”

Their hotly anticipated second debut hour. A sordid soiree full of wild, dark and ridiculous sketches, characters and songs woven within a narrative of underlying aggression between Norris & Parker themselves.

 

Photographs by Shay Rowan taken at the King's Arms, Salford, during Greater Manchester Fringe.

 

‘The bizarre isolationists, the power crazed, the sublimated, the sexually confused and more…’ ***** (Skinny).

 

'A truly formidable double act' ***** (TheReviewsHub.com).

 

‘Surreal, fun and frankly pretty ridiculous’ **** (WhatsOnStage.com).

 

'Quite simply, if you don’t spend most of the show raucously belly-laughing, you’re probably dead.' ***** (BroadwayBaby.com).

 

‘Topical, political, sexual and nonsensical.’ ***** (Tusk).

 

STORMING IT AT EDINBURGH FRINGE 2016...

 

FOUR AND A HALF STARS FROM SHORTCOM

www.shortcom.co.uk/comedy/comedy-reviews/norris-and-parke...

 

FOUR STARS FROM THE LIST edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/83064-norris-and-par...

 

FIVE STARS FROM ARTS AWARD VOICE www.artsawardvoice.com/magazine/reviews/norris-and-parker...

 

FOUR STARS FROM DEFINE ARTS www.definearts.co.uk/reviews/see-you-gallows-norris-parker

 

4 STARS FROM THE TELEGRAPH www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/what-to-see/best-and-funniest-...

 

ON THE MIC AT BROADWAY BABY www.broadwaybaby.com/news/on-the-mic-edinburgh-podcast-no...

As an entrepreneur in my field, I realized once you’ve built your business, there is a next step. This important step is to maintain what you’ve built with the same passion, strength, and faith that it took to build it. If you don’t learn this very important lesson, you will not be able to keep your business successful. Most people think if they created a business, put it on the market and have thrived with it, the work load can be lessened and they can relax. This could not be further from the truth. If you don’t maintain the quality of your business with the same standards that you worked so hard when you opened it, your business will not survive. So building a business is like climbing Mount Everest. Maintaining a business is the magic formula to success.

   

32

 

It was around 4 p.m. on a Tuesday in early March when the phone rang in our Rocky River office. I was out and about, travelling between different locations. One of my employees, our bookkeeper, answered the phone.

 

“Hello,” she said. “Le Chaperon Rouge. May I help you?”

 

“Hello,” a female voice said, not identifying herself. “We are looking for Ms. Stella Moga.”

 

“She is not here right now,” she replied. “Can I take a message for her?”

 

“Yes. We would like to invite Ms. Moga to join the President on stage tomorrow morning.”

 

There was a slight pause before she asked, “President of what?”

 

“President of the United States,” the woman said.

 

My bookkeeper scoffed. “Ms. Moga doesn’t have time for jokes,” she said, then hung up the phone.

 

Less than a minute later the phone rang again.

 

“Hello,” my bookkeeper said. “Le Chaperon Rouge. May I help you?”

 

“Miss,” the woman said. “This is not a joke. This is real.”

 

While my employee sat stunned for a moment, the woman reeled off a telephone number in Washington, D.C.

 

“Please give Ms. Moga this phone number to call as soon as possible,” the woman said. “We need her full name and social security number so that we can get her clearance to appear on stage with President Bush tomorrow morning.”

 

And then she hung up. For a few minutes, my staff member sat there in a panic. And then she proceeded to tracked me down and recount the entire conversation. When she was finished, she said, “I’m so sorry, Ms. Moga. I thought it was a joke.”

 

“That’s OK,” I said. “How could you have known?”

 

After getting the message, I sat there wondering exactly what was going on. And then I called the number the woman in D.C. has provided.

 

“Thank you for returning our call, Ms. Moga,” the woman said. “We would like to invite you to site on the stage tomorrow morning with the President.”

 

She asked for several pieces of personal information so that the Secret Service could clear me for the appearance then said, “You’ll need to be there at 7:30 a.m.”

 

“It would nice if I had more notice,” I said. “I have a full day of meetings.”

 

“Ms. Moga, do you want to sit with the President on stage or not?” she said.

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then be there no later than 7:30 a.m.,” she said, and hung up.

 

I quickly called all my appointments for Wednesday and cancelled them.

 

The next morning, on Wednesday, March 10, I woke up early and got dressed. I arrived at the Cleveland Convention Center for the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Summit a little before 7:30 a.m. and found a long line of people waiting to get in.

 

After my phone call with the woman in Washington I called around to find out what exactly the event I was invited to was about. It turned out to be a summit for women entrepreneurs, and more than 1,000 women were expected to attend. The President was coming to speak with a key constituent group – women – as part of his re-election campaign.

 

So I became aggravated when I saw the line. I hadn’t solicited the President to appear with him. I hadn’t signed up for this event. And quite frankly, I didn’t have time to stand in this line when I was supposed to check in at 7:30 a.m. to sit on the stage. I began looking around for event organizers. Instead, I found a couple of Secret Service agents. They were busy guiding people in and searching purses and bags.

 

I walked up to one gentleman wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, just like in the movies, and said, “I can’t stand in this line. I was invited by the President to sit on the stage. Where can I go check in?”

 

He didn’t miss a beat. “What is your name?” he asked.

 

I told him. He checked a sheet he had and said, “Ms. Moga, come in on please.”

 

I was ushered into a large room filled with women and news reporters everywhere. A man directed me to the stage, where there were many tables seats set up astride the podium. In reality, it didn’t seem as special as it sounded but it still was very flattering to be invited to be up there. There were more than 1,000 people and only a handful up on the stage.

 

I took my seat at an assigned table and began listening to the speakers, successful women from all over the country. The President was supposed to speak at 10 a.m.; he didn’t arrive until noon. Instead, we heard more speeches – mostly prepared – from successful female entrepreneurs and other women who held powerful positions at large companies.

 

After about an hour, I looked around my table and said to the other women there, “Do you feel how I feel? These ladies are wasting our time. These are mothers and grandmothers who left their businesses to attend this and hear something meaningful. And guess what, they didn’t say anything meaningful.”

 

I raised my hand and said, “Excuse me. Can I have your microphone for a second?”

 

At first, the woman at the podium didn’t understand me. She continued her speech.

 

I repeated myself and asked if I could use the microphone.

 

Finally, the woman said, “Yes, of course. You have a question?”

 

I stood up and took the microphone. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m very sorry to interrupt your presentation, but all these people here – mothers and wives and grandmothers of America – they have questions. We have questions. We need answers. You talk with no substance. We have questions for you and the President.”

 

And then I launched into a series of questions, like a Russian machine gun. “What about education? What about so many children in classrooms? What about terrorism? What about people taking our factories and our industries abroad? And what about not having jobs?”

 

The audience applauded.

 

The woman – I can’t remember her name – began answering some of the questions. And then she opened the discussion up to other women in the audience who continued to ask questions.

 

I looked around. It seemed like the women on stage, including those who were sitting at my table, were glaring at me with either hatred or disdain in their eyes. But the women in the audience, at least those I could see clearly from the stage, were smiling at me. I looked back at my table and their glares. I didn’t care. The questions needed to be asked.

 

Finally, around noon the President arrived.

 

He shook hands with all of the women on stage before approaching the podium. He was smiling and laughing. I wasn’t that impressed with him. I thought I would be but I wasn’t. You would think that when a person like the President of the United States came and you shook hands with him that you would feel amazing. But I didn’t feel that way at all. He didn’t have that presence I had expected. He was just a man, and I treated him as such.

 

Once he reached the podium, a member of the Secret Service came over to our table, leaned close to me and said, “Miss, if you say a word or move during the President’s speech, we’ll take you out.”

 

I felt like I was in communism. If those people hadn’t stood by me and made sure I didn’t speak, I would have. And when the President began to speak, he confirmed my ambivalent feeling.

 

“There are people who doubt our ability to compete,” the president said. “There are economic isolationists who surrender and wall us off. It's bad for the economy, bad for consumers. It's bad for workers. We'll prove the pessimists wrong again.”

 

It sounded like a typical stump speech. “I know there are workers here concerned about jobs goings overseas,” he said, looking over at me. “I understand that.”

 

Then the president publicly acknowledged that Ohio's unemployment rate, 6.2 percent, was higher than the national average, which was 5.6 percent, and argued against trade barriers and higher taxes.

 

“They don't explain how closing off markets, closing off markets abroad, would help the millions of Americans who produce goods for export, or work for foreign companies right here in the United States,” he said, adding that new jobs were on the horizon. “Economic isolation would lead to retaliation from abroad, and put many of those jobs at risk.”

 

When the President was done the crowd gave him warm applause. I didn’t bother. I also didn’t stick around once we were allowed to leave.

 

Ironically, later that year I was named the Ohio Republication of the Year for 2004. It certainly didn’t come about from my appearance with the President that day. And so, in late May 2005, after the President had been re-elected, I was invited to Washington, D.C., with the other 2004 Republicans of the Year.

 

It was a good opportunity, not just to go to D.C. and have dinner with President Bush and his wife but also to meet with senators and congressmen to talk about all the issues with education and daycare centers in America that had been bothering me for years.Add a captionAs an entrepreneur in my field, I realized once you’ve built your business, there is a next step. This important step is to maintain what you’ve built with the same passion, strength, and faith that it took to build it. If you don’t learn this very important lesson, you will not be able to keep your business successful. Most people think if they created a business, put it on the market and have thrived with it, the work load can be lessened and they can relax. This could not be further from the truth. If you don’t maintain the quality of your business with the same standards that you worked so hard when you opened it, your business will not survive. So building a business is like climbing Mount Everest. Maintaining a business is the magic formula to success.

   

32

 

It was around 4 p.m. on a Tuesday in early March when the phone rang in our Rocky River office. I was out and about, travelling between different locations. One of my employees, our bookkeeper, answered the phone.

 

“Hello,” she said. “Le Chaperon Rouge. May I help you?”

 

“Hello,” a female voice said, not identifying herself. “We are looking for Ms. Stella Moga.”

 

“She is not here right now,” she replied. “Can I take a message for her?”

 

“Yes. We would like to invite Ms. Moga to join the President on stage tomorrow morning.”

 

There was a slight pause before she asked, “President of what?”

 

“President of the United States,” the woman said.

 

My bookkeeper scoffed. “Ms. Moga doesn’t have time for jokes,” she said, then hung up the phone.

 

Less than a minute later the phone rang again.

 

“Hello,” my bookkeeper said. “Le Chaperon Rouge. May I help you?”

 

“Miss,” the woman said. “This is not a joke. This is real.”

 

While my employee sat stunned for a moment, the woman reeled off a telephone number in Washington, D.C.

 

“Please give Ms. Moga this phone number to call as soon as possible,” the woman said. “We need her full name and social security number so that we can get her clearance to appear on stage with President Bush tomorrow morning.”

 

And then she hung up. For a few minutes, my staff member sat there in a panic. And then she proceeded to tracked me down and recount the entire conversation. When she was finished, she said, “I’m so sorry, Ms. Moga. I thought it was a joke.”

 

“That’s OK,” I said. “How could you have known?”

 

After getting the message, I sat there wondering exactly what was going on. And then I called the number the woman in D.C. has provided.

 

“Thank you for returning our call, Ms. Moga,” the woman said. “We would like to invite you to site on the stage tomorrow morning with the President.”

 

She asked for several pieces of personal information so that the Secret Service could clear me for the appearance then said, “You’ll need to be there at 7:30 a.m.”

 

“It would nice if I had more notice,” I said. “I have a full day of meetings.”

 

“Ms. Moga, do you want to sit with the President on stage or not?” she said.

 

“Of course.”

 

“Then be there no later than 7:30 a.m.,” she said, and hung up.

 

I quickly called all my appointments for Wednesday and cancelled them.

 

The next morning, on Wednesday, March 10, I woke up early and got dressed. I arrived at the Cleveland Convention Center for the Women’s Entrepreneurship in the 21st Century Summit a little before 7:30 a.m. and found a long line of people waiting to get in.

 

After my phone call with the woman in Washington I called around to find out what exactly the event I was invited to was about. It turned out to be a summit for women entrepreneurs, and more than 1,000 women were expected to attend. The President was coming to speak with a key constituent group – women – as part of his re-election campaign.

 

So I became aggravated when I saw the line. I hadn’t solicited the President to appear with him. I hadn’t signed up for this event. And quite frankly, I didn’t have time to stand in this line when I was supposed to check in at 7:30 a.m. to sit on the stage. I began looking around for event organizers. Instead, I found a couple of Secret Service agents. They were busy guiding people in and searching purses and bags.

 

I walked up to one gentleman wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, just like in the movies, and said, “I can’t stand in this line. I was invited by the President to sit on the stage. Where can I go check in?”

 

He didn’t miss a beat. “What is your name?” he asked.

 

I told him. He checked a sheet he had and said, “Ms. Moga, come in on please.”

 

I was ushered into a large room filled with women and news reporters everywhere. A man directed me to the stage, where there were many tables seats set up astride the podium. In reality, it didn’t seem as special as it sounded but it still was very flattering to be invited to be up there. There were more than 1,000 people and only a handful up on the stage.

 

I took my seat at an assigned table and began listening to the speakers, successful women from all over the country. The President was supposed to speak at 10 a.m.; he didn’t arrive until noon. Instead, we heard more speeches – mostly prepared – from successful female entrepreneurs and other women who held powerful positions at large companies.

 

After about an hour, I looked around my table and said to the other women there, “Do you feel how I feel? These ladies are wasting our time. These are mothers and grandmothers who left their businesses to attend this and hear something meaningful. And guess what, they didn’t say anything meaningful.”

 

I raised my hand and said, “Excuse me. Can I have your microphone for a second?”

 

At first, the woman at the podium didn’t understand me. She continued her speech.

 

I repeated myself and asked if I could use the microphone.

 

Finally, the woman said, “Yes, of course. You have a question?”

 

I stood up and took the microphone. “Thank you,” I said. “I’m very sorry to interrupt your presentation, but all these people here – mothers and wives and grandmothers of America – they have questions. We have questions. We need answers. You talk with no substance. We have questions for you and the President.”

 

And then I launched into a series of questions, like a Russian machine gun. “What about education? What about so many children in classrooms? What about terrorism? What about people taking our factories and our industries abroad? And what about not having jobs?”

 

The audience applauded.

 

The woman – I can’t remember her name – began answering some of the questions. And then she opened the discussion up to other women in the audience who continued to ask questions.

 

I looked around. It seemed like the women on stage, including those who were sitting at my table, were glaring at me with either hatred or disdain in their eyes. But the women in the audience, at least those I could see clearly from the stage, were smiling at me. I looked back at my table and their glares. I didn’t care. The questions needed to be asked.

 

Finally, around noon the President arrived.

 

He shook hands with all of the women on stage before approaching the podium. He was smiling and laughing. I wasn’t that impressed with him. I thought I would be but I wasn’t. You would think that when a person like the President of the United States came and you shook hands with him that you would feel amazing. But I didn’t feel that way at all. He didn’t have that presence I had expected. He was just a man, and I treated him as such.

 

Once he reached the podium, a member of the Secret Service came over to our table, leaned close to me and said, “Miss, if you say a word or move during the President’s speech, we’ll take you out.”

 

I felt like I was in communism. If those people hadn’t stood by me and made sure I didn’t speak, I would have. And when the President began to speak, he confirmed my ambivalent feeling.

 

“There are people who doubt our ability to compete,” the president said. “There are economic isolationists who surrender and wall us off. It's bad for the economy, bad for consumers. It's bad for workers. We'll prove the pessimists wrong again.”

 

It sounded like a typical stump speech. “I know there are workers here concerned about jobs goings overseas,” he said, looking over at me. “I understand that.”

 

Then the president publicly acknowledged that Ohio's unemployment rate, 6.2 percent, was higher than the national average, which was 5.6 percent, and argued against trade barriers and higher taxes.

 

“They don't explain how closing off markets, closing off markets abroad, would help the millions of Americans who produce goods for export, or work for foreign companies right here in the United States,” he said, adding that new jobs were on the horizon. “Economic isolation would lead to retaliation from abroad, and put many of those jobs at risk.”

 

When the President was done the crowd gave him warm applause. I didn’t bother. I also didn’t stick around once we were allowed to leave.

 

Ironically, later that year I was named the Ohio Republication of the Year for 2004. It certainly didn’t come about from my appearance with the President that day. And so, in late May 2005, after the President had been re-elected, I was invited to Washington, D.C., with the other 2004 Republicans of the Year.

 

It was a good opportunity, not just to go to D.C. and have dinner with President Bush and his wife but also to meet with senators and congressmen to talk about all the issues with education and daycare centers in America that had been bothering me for years.

The base of gun turret no. 3 can be seen from the USS Arizona Memorial. The cement landing to the right was built after the sinking.

 

The memorial flagstaff at the USS Arizona Memorial is attached to the mast leg of the USS Arizona wreck. The USS Arizona was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register in December of 1942. On March 7, 1950, the Arizona was symbolically "re-commissioned" when this flagpole was erected. The USS Arizona is treated as one of the current fleet and the flag flying on the ship's mast only flies at half-staff when the other ships fly their flags at half-staff.

 

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

USS Arizona Memorial National Register #66000944 (1966)

USS Arizona Wreck National Register #89001083 (1989)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

...Porto Palermo Castle (Albanian:Kalaja e Porto Palermos) is a castle near Himarë in southern Albania. It is situated in the bay of Porto Palermo, a few kilometers south of Himarë. The well preserved castle is commonly, but wrongly, asserted, by guide books and the local tourist guides, to have been built in early 19th century by Ali Pasha of Tepelena. It looks to have been built prior to the evolution of the star fort design. Most probably it was built by the Venetians as it could be relieved by sea and it has the same triangular plan with round towers found in the Venetian fort at Butrint. In 1921 the castle was called Venetian . At this time the identity of its builders ought to have been clear, from a plaque above the entrance gate. This plaque is now missing but the weathering of the stones clearly shows that it has not been missing for many decades. Almost certainly this plaque had a carving of the lion of St. Mark. The most plausible explanation of the error found in the guide books is a rewriting of history in the communist period. Re-ascribing a colonial legacy to construction by an Albanian fits a nationalist isolationist agenda.

The castle would have been vulnerable to cannon fire from the hill above and this also suggests an early date for its construction when cannon had not developed the range they had later. In 1662 the Venetians feared the Turks would recondition it. In 1803 Ali Pasha offered the castle and port to the Royal Navy. At which time the fort only had 4 or 5 cannon implying that Ali Pasha did not see the fort as important for him.

INFO from WikipediA

Carl Parker, 21, from Washington, D.C.; George McCoy, 34, from Grundy, Va. and Lewis Cagle Jr., 17, from Chattanooga, Tn. are shown outside the post office in Lewisburg, Pa. December 13, 1954 after appearing before Judge F. V. Follmer where they were charged with the murder of William Remington.

 

After numerous investigations and two trials, Remington was convicted of perjury when he denied passing information to Soviet Union spy Elizabeth Bentley.

 

His high profile conviction led McCoy to plan the murder with the other two. Cagle beat Remington to death while he was asleep in his cell with piece of brick inside a sock.

 

The three would all plead guilty. McCoy and Cagle received life sentences while Parker received 20 years.

 

William Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he "moved left quite rapidly" and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or "extreme liberals." He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him "a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents."

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was "the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination," and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution.

 

--Remington timeline is partially excerpted from Wikipedia

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star collection.

William Remington, left, is reinstated to his job as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department Feb. 1, 1949 after a suspension while alleged ties to communists were investigated.

 

His boss Francis McIntyre, assistant director of the Office of International Trade, is at the right.

 

He would later be jailed and murdered for his communist affiliations.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he "moved left quite rapidly" and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or "extreme liberals." He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him "a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents."

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was "the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination," and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution.

 

--Remington timeline is partially excerpted from Wikipedia.

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star collection.

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

NORRIS & PARKER: SEE YOU AT THE GALLOWS

Wednesday 6 July 2016, 7.30pm, £6.

3MT, Afflecks Arcade, 35-39 Oldham St, Manchester M1 1JG.

 

Thursday 21 July 2016, 7.30pm, £6.

King’s Arms Theatre, 11 Bloom Street, Salford, M3 6AN.

www.ticketea.co.uk/tickets-theatre-norris-parker-see-you-...

 

Their hotly anticipated second debut hour. A sordid soiree full of wild, dark and ridiculous sketches, characters and songs weaved within a narrative of underlying aggression between Norris & Parker themselves. ‘The bizarre isolationists, the power crazed, the sublimated, the sexually confused and more…’ ***** (The Skinny)

www.norrisandparker.co.uk/

 

ComedyComedyTV - Norris & Parker INTERVIEW: youtu.be/eXjxpiQOQA0?list=PL61a-OWSKWkHLVXL1E2pf3v8yuvrr7B2e

 

Greater Manchester Fringe 24 June - 31 July 2016: www.greatermanchesterfringe.co.uk

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

 

USS Arizona Memorial National Register #66000944 (1966)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

Think French automakers, and you think Peugeot, Renault and Citroen. For a great many years these three marques have dominated French sales and production.

 

France though, has a long history of car making, innovation, styling and coachbuilding. Unfortunately, like in many countries, most of this activity was severely hampered by WWII, and what was left struggled to find their feet in the 1950s and 1960s.

 

France, now part of the common European market, was more isolationist in the 1950s. If you wanted to sell cars in France you probably had to build cars in France. For a car-maker like Ford, this meant a French manufacturing arm combined with a design and engineering centre - Ford of France. Contrary to popular modern wisdom, Ford of France models were significantly different to those made in Germany and England - the two other large European car markets. Ultimately the market forces and logic corrected this oversight, and Ford of France's assets were sold to rival Simca in 1954.

 

Prior to this date though, Ford France produced this gem, the Comète. The Comète was based on the platform of the Ford Vedette, a range of cars bearing a resemblance to a 8/10ths scale Mercury from 1948. The Comète deployed a shorter wheelbase, and used the Vedette's Aquilon V8 engine, first at 2.2 litres (1951), 2.4 litres (1952) and switched to the Ford truck Mistral V8 of 3.9 litres for 1953-1954. The Mistral provided a big uplift in power and torque, but was ill-favoured due to its commercial vehicle roots, and secondly, the taxation regime for automobiles in France had strong disincentive for engine capacities over 2.0 litres.

 

Of further interest, the Comète had its body built by the Facel concern, who would later go on to make their own high-end luxury cars using large capacity Chrysler V8s (the Facel Vega).

 

In all, this is a handsome car, and very powerful for the period. The car is rare, and surviving examples have a strong following.

 

Read more on wikipedia:

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Com%C3%A8te

 

This Lego Miniland-scale 1954 Ford Comète Monte Carlo has been created for Flickr LUGNuts' 115th Build Challenge, - "The French Connection", - for cars from France.

  

Lobby Card(11" X 14").

This abridgement of Universal's 12-episode serial Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe as Dick Calkins' famed comic-strip space adventurer. Buck and Buddy (Jackie Moran) and are recruited to battle against modernistic gangster Killer Kane (Anthony Warde), by Wilma Deering (Constance Moore) and Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw). The duo travels to Saturn to get help in their mission, and after Buck and Buddy quell the internal struggles of the Saturnians, Buck triumphs over Killer Kane and his cosmic thugs.

Planet Outlaws Feature link: youtu.be/UD3xKy42KUY

 

Link to all 12 Serial Episodes:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTtc-u3zFGk&feature=share&amp...

 

Starring Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran, Jack Mulhall, Anthony Warde, C. Montague Shaw, Guy Usher, William Gould, Philson Ahn. Directed by Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind.

Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade are in the middle of a trans-polar dirigible flight when they are caught in a blizzard and crash. Buddy then releases a special gas to keep them in suspended animation until a rescue party can arrive. However, an avalanche covers the craft and the two are in suspended animation for 500 years. When they are found, they awake to find out that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Along with Lieutenant Wilma Deering, Buck and Buddy join in the fight to overthrow Kane and with the help of Prince Tallen of Saturn and his forces, they eventually do and Earth is free of Kane's grip.

 

This is actually a pretty enjoyable serial, but it seems doomed to be forever overshadowed by the much superior Flash Gordon trilogy. Universal brought BUCK ROGERS out in 1939, in between their own chapterplays FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE; it also starred Buster Crabbe (but with his natural dark hair instead of Flash's golden curls) and although it is filled with space ships and weird gadgets, BUCK ROGERS lacks most of the elements that gave the Flash serials their intense emotional draw.

 

For one thing, there is none of the strong sexual charge that the Flash series had. Instead of nubile Dale Arden and sultry Princess Aura both competing for the hero's attention while the villain openly lusted for the heroine, Buck's epic featured Constance Moore as Col. Wilma Deering. Now, Moore is perfectly fine in her role, but she is after all a soldier in the resistance army and not a fair damsel in distress. She has a nice moment when she wrests a ray gun away from a guard and blasts her way out of her cell, but she and Buck seem to be merely chums on the same side.

 

Also, although BUCK ROGERS has plenty of futuristic gadgets (rayguns and buzzing spaceships which shoot sparks from their backs, teleportation tubes and invisibility rays), there are no grotesque monsters or nonhuman alien races on view. Prisoners have remarkably goofy metal helmets strapped on which turn them into docile zombies, and there are these homely goons called Zuggs moping around, but that's hardly as fascinating as Lion Men and Clay People and horned apes (that Orangapoid critter).

 

What's ironic about all this is that the comic strip BUCK ROGERS by Philip Nolan and Richard Calkins started in 1929, was immensely popular for many years and it success inspired the creation of Flash. Yet the Flash strip benefitted from the genius of Alex Raymond, one of the all-time great cartoon artists, and it produced stunning visual images (from the samples of Buck's strip I've seen, it was imaginative enough but pretty crude and drab). This contrast carried over to the serials.

 

Buck Rogers and his sidekick Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran) are pilots who crash in the Arctic in1938 and survive for 500 years because the 'Nirvano' gas they were carrying put them in a state of suspended animation. They both seem to adapt to waking up in the year 2424 pretty well, where I would think most people would be so traumatized it would take a while to adjust. In this dystopic future, the Earth is ruled by a mega-gangster called Killer Kane (another setback; Anthony Warde would be okay as a crimelord but he just doesn't have the imposing presence to convince me this guy can dominate an entire planet).

 

Luckily, Buck and Buddy have been found by the small resistance movement hopelessly trying to overthrow Kane from their hidden city. Here is Dr Huer (C. Montague Shaw, who I just saw in the UNDERSEA KINGDOM doing the same gig with his wild inventions) and Wilma Deering leading the good fight. For some reason I missed, everyone immediately puts all their trust in Buck and he pretty much takes over. (Maybe he's just one of those charismatic alpha males or something.) Most of the serial involves desperate trips back and forth to Saturn to enlist the aid of the isolationist Saturnians, and this means running the blockade of Kane's ships. The usual fistfights and explosions and captures and escapes normal for this sort of situation ensue. It's a lot of fun if you take it on its own terms, with a strong linear plot and likeable heroes, but it really never kicks into high gear and seems a bit drab.

 

It's interesting that some (but not all) of the Saturnians are played by Asian actors. Prince Tallen, who gets caught up in most of the fun, was portrayed by a very young Philson Ahn, and I thought for years this was the same guy who in 1972 impressed us as the head of the Shaolin Temple in TV's KUNG FU (he taught all the styles, really amazing if you think about it). Turns out that was Phiip Ahn, Philson's brother.

 

Dir: Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind - 12 Chapters

 

BUCK ROGERS (1939): Director Ford Beebe, who also worked on Flash Gordon (1938), came straight from The Phantom Creeps (1939) and then went back to finish Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940). Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe or, as his family knew him, Lawrence. Now, Lawrence ‘Larry’ ‘Buster’ Crabbe had previously starred in two Flash Gordon serials, a couple of Tarzan movies and a long string of westerns, so it was only natural for Universal to decide he was perfect as the heroic Buck Rogers, aka that blonde guy who saves the universe but isn’t Flash Gordon. Actually, Buster Crabbe wasn’t the first actor to play Buck Rogers in-the-flesh, so to speak.

That honour goes to an unknown man who played Buck in a Virginia department store, instead of their regular Santa Claus. Santa was off conquering Martians at the time, I think it was an exchange program of sorts. It strikes me that Buck Rogers is not unlike a male fantasy come to life. Just think of it – Buck gets to take a nice five-hundred-year-long sleep-in. With my busy schedule, I’m ecstatic if I can get twenty minutes nap on the weekend. Then, when he wakes up, Buck is the smartest, most dynamic guy around. In reality he’d be treated like something that’s escaped from the zoo. And finally, everyone needs Buck to go on exciting missions, fight the bad guys, test exotic equipment and crash rocket ships – out of the half-dozen flights Buck makes, he only lands successfully once. It’s easy to see the bullet cars used in the movie are the same ones from Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars (1938), and even the script is rather suspect.

Planet Outlaws

This film is actually a compilation of the Buck Rogers serials that ran originally in 1939. The cliffhanger endings and recap beginnings have been edited out to make it flow better -- with partial success. Some new footage was shot for the introduction and summary. At the opening, there are some newspaper headlines about jets chasing flying discs, and the obligatory checkered V2 launch, etc. to add a modern segue. After that, it's pure 1939.

Sci-fi movie technology had come a long way in the 14 years since Buck's debut. Audiences had grown accustomed to sleek and pointy rockets, flying saucers, strange aliens, etc. The Buck Rogers style world-of-the-future must have looked oddly quaint. (if not laughable) Just why Universal Pictures thought re-releasing Buck Rogers was a good idea is a bit of a mystery. Kids who were 8 or so back in 1939 would be young adults in '53. Perhaps Universal was banking on those young adults would buy tickets for a trip down memory lane.

Plot Synopsis

After a bit of modern ('53) footage about the wonders of modern progress and "flying disks," the old serial begins. Rogers and Buddy crashed in the arctic while on a transpolar flight. They were in suspended animation due to the cold and a vague gas. A patrol finds them in the year 2500 and revives them. In the world of 2500, a despot named Killer Kane is trying to take over the world. The forces of good are holed up in the "hidden city." Buck arranges a decoy maneuver to elude Kane's patrol ships. They fly to the planet Saturn in hopes of finding help. On Saturn, the Council sees Rogers and party as the rebels, and Kane as the rule of law. Rogers et al, escape Saturn, return to earth and seek to disrupt Kane's bamboozling of Prince Tallen, the Saturnian representative. Rogers sneaks into Kane's city, interrupts the treaty signing and convinces Tallen of Kane's evil by revealing Kane's "robot battalion" (slaves wearing mind-control helmets). Rogers and Tallen get to Saturn and the treaty is signed. Rogers escapes Kane's patrols via the Dissolvo Ray which rendered them invisible. Rogers and the war council plan for war. Rogers enlists the Saturnians to help. Meanwhile, Rogers sneaks into Kane's city and de-zombies Minister Krenco to lead an uprising of freed robot-slave-prisoners. Rogers storms Kane's palace and puts one of the robo-slave helmets on Kane. The End

The industrial vision of the future is delightful to watch. The heavily mechanical look of everything is so radically different from the sleek rockets and glowing acrylic audiences were growing accustomed to. The space ships look like they were built at locomotive factories or steamship yards. They spew roman-candle sparks and smoke and buzz as they fly. There are no computers, no radar or electronics. It's a fascinating snapshot of what pre-electronic-age people thought the future would be like.

When originally released in 1939, the Killer Kane character was a thinly disguised allusion to Hitler. In 1953, Kane was intended to represent a communist despot. It wasn't as tidy a fit. The narrator sums it up voicing a hope that scientists will develop the means for men to stand up to today's dictators and make the world safe for democracy. In the early 50s, there's little question of who they meant.

Simple Colors -- One endearing trait of Buck Rogers is the simplicity of the characterizations. The good guys do nothing but good. The bad guys are pure bad. The good guys are crack pilots and sharp shooters and tough as nails. The bad guys do nothing but bad, have trouble hitting a flying barn and are easily knocked out with one punch.

Industrial Baroque -- Somewhat like the baroque era's compulsion to decorate every square inch with swirls and filigree, Industrial Baroque sought to fill every space with heavy-duty hardware. The sets, and especially the rocket interiors are like flying boiler rooms. Valves, pipes, levers, dials, wheels, large flashing light bulbs. To look more "high tech" in the 30s meant cramming in more industrial hardware. Buck Rogers' ships show more affinity for Captain Nemo "steampunk" than the proto-space-age of the 50s.

Family Resemblance -- There is a noticeable similarity in the sets and costumes of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers. Even serials of the early 50s, like Captain Video and the various Rocketman serials, look more like Flash and Buck than George Pal. The industrial baroque look and costuming are distinctive, making them almost a sub-genre of their own. In that regard, Buck has a timelessness.

Another take on the story and additional background info.

A round-the-world dirigible flight commanded by US Air Force officer Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) encounters dangerously stormy weather above the Himalayas; said weather, along with disastrous panic on the part of Rogers’ crewmen, causes the aircraft to crash. The cowardly crewmen ditch the ship and meet quick ends, but Rogers and young Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran), son of the aircraft’s designer, survive the crash. The pair use a cylinder of “Nirvano” gas to place themselves into suspended animation until a rescue party can reach them, but an avalanche buries the ship and all searches prove fruitless; the dirigible and its two dormant inhabitants remain beneath rocks and snow for five hundred years.

Finally, in the year 2440, a spaceship unearths the wreck, and its pilots restore Buck and Buddy to consciousness. The holdovers from the 20th century soon learn that their rescuers are soldiers from the “Hidden City,” a pocket of resistance to the super-criminal who is ruling the 24th-century Earth–one “Killer” Kane (Anthony Warde). Rogers immediately pledges his support to Air Marshal Kragg (William Gould) and Scientist-General Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw), the leaders of the Hidden City exiles, and is soon en route to Saturn, hoping to convince that planet’s rulers to aid the Hidden City in freeing the Earth from Kane’s tyranny. To cement the Saturian alliance, Buck must battle Kane’s legions at every step of the way, with able assistance from Buddy and from Dr. Huer’s trusted aide Lieutenant Wilma Deering (Constance Moore).

 

Ever since its original release, Buck Rogers has stood in the shadow of Universal’s Flash Gordon serials; the studio encouraged such association by casting Flash Gordon star Buster Crabbe as a different sci-fi hero, obviously hoping that the chapterplay would capitalize on the goodwill generated by Flash Gordon and Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars. The serial did succeed in reminding audiences of the Flash outings–but it reminded them of how much they had liked those serials and forced inevitable comparisons that were not in Rogers’ favor. Universal’s plans for a second Buck Rogers serial were quickly scrapped when the first outing failed to please matinee audiences; the intended Buck sequel was then replaced on the studio’s production schedule by–what else?–a third Flash Gordon chapterplay. Even today, Buck is typically dismissed by fans as a pale echo of the great Gordon serials.

It’s easy to see why Buck Rogers came as a disappointment to audiences expecting an outing in the Flash Gordon tradition. Its production design, while futuristic, is less quirky and more uniform than that of the Gordons; there are no monsters and no weird semi-human races besides the rather uninteresting Zuggs; there are also no supporting characters as developed or as interesting as Dr. Zarkov, Ming, King Vultan, the Clay King, Princess Aura, Prince Barin, and other major figures in the Flash Gordon chapterplays. And yet, taken on its own terms, Buck Rogers is far from a failure; it does not approach the Flash Gordon trilogy in quality, but then few serials do.

Buck Rogers’ script, by former Mascot writers Norman Hall and Ray Trampe, is fast-moving and manages to avoid repetition for most of its length. The trip to Saturn, the attempts to convince Saturnian leader Prince Tallen (Philson Ahn) of the justice of the Hidden City’s cause, the subsequent rescue of Tallen from Kane’s city, the second journey to Saturn to cement the alliance, and the attempts of Kane’s henchman Laska (Henry Brandon) to sabotage it–all these incidents keep the narrative flowing very nicely for the serial’s first eight chapters. As in many of Trampe and Hall’s Mascot scripts, however, the writers seem to run out of plot before the serial’s end. While Chapters Nine and Ten remain interesting (with Buck being converted into a hypnotized robot, Buddy’s rescue of the hero, and an infiltration of the Hidden City by one of Kane’s men), the last two chapters have a definite wheel-spinning feel to them, throwing in a redundant third trip to Saturn and an unneeded flashback sequence.

The last-chapter climax is also something of a disappointment, with Kane being overthrown quickly and undramatically instead of being definitively crushed. Here, Trampe and Hall seem to have been leaving room for the sequel that never came and trying to avoid duplicating the dramatic but very final destruction of MIng which closed the first Flash Gordon serial (and which needed to be explained away in the second). The other weak spot of the scripting is Buck and Buddy’s rather calm reaction when they realize that their old world (and everyone in it) is dead–and their extraordinarily quick adjustment to their new one. One wouldn’t have wanted the writers to dwell on our heroes’ plight (which would be absolutely crushing in real life), but I do wish Trampe or Hall could have given Buck and Buddy a few emotional lines about their displacement before getting on to the main action; Hall in his scripts for other serials (Hawk of the Wilderness, Adventures of Red Ryder), showed himself capable of far more dramatic moments.

  

As already mentioned, the serial’s visuals are less varied than those of the Flash Gordon serials, but that’s not to say they aren’t impressive by serial standards. Pains seem to have been taken to avoid duplicating too much of Gordon’s “look;” the spaceship miniatures are completely different than the ships in the Gordon trilogy, while Kane’s stronghold–probably the best miniature in the serial–is not the quasi-Gothic palace of Ming but rather an ominous, futuristic-looking version of New York City, complete with towering skyscrapers. The Hidden City’s great rock gates are also nifty, and the massive Saturnian Forum (a life-size set, not a miniature) is very visually impressive. The barren Red Rock Canyon area works well as the Saturnian landscape, but I think it was a mistake to also use the Canyon as the area between the Hidden City and Kane’s capital; Saturn and Earth shouldn’t look so similar.

 

The only major prop or set reused from the Gordon serials are the “bullet cars” from Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars; they’re just as fun to watch in action here as in the earlier serial. Other incidental props and sets–Kane’s robot room, his mind-control helmets, the various televiewing devices, the anti-gravity belts, Dr. Huer’s invisibility ray, and the Star-Trek-like molecular transportation chamber–add further colorful touches to the serial., and are respectably represented by Universal’s always above-average array of sets and props. The Zuggs, the “primitive race” ruled by the Saturnians, are somewhat disappointing, however; while suitably grotesque-looking, they’re nowhere near as menacing or memorable–in appearance or demeanor–as their obvious inspiration, the Clay People in Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars.

The serial’s action scenes are brisk and energetic, suffering not at all from a general lack of fistfights–thanks to the swift-moving direction of Ford Beebe (a Mascot veteran like writers Trampe and Hall) and his co-director Saul Goodkind (usually an editor). The few hand-to-hand tussles–most of them on the rocky hills of Saturn–are executed routinely but skillfully by Dave Sharpe, Tom Steele, Eddie Parker, and other stuntmen; the best of the bunch is the fight between Buck and a Kane man in the control room of the Hidden City, although this is more exciting for the suspenseful situation (Buck trying to close the gates that the henchman has opened to Kane’s oncoming armada) than for any particular flair in the staging.

Most of the action sequences consist of protracted chases and pursuits (both on foot and in rocketships), with occasional quick combats thrown in. Many of these lengthy chases are very exciting–particularly the long incursion into Kane’s city that occupies most of Chapters Three and Four, a great combination of action and suspense. Buddy’s later stealthy visit into Kane’s fortress to rescue Buck from the robot room, and the following escape, is also good, as are Buck’s skillful and repeated elusions of the rebellious Zuggs in Chapter Eight and the bullet car getaway in Chapter Six.

  

The cliffhanger endings are generally well-staged, with proper build-ups, but too many of them involve spaceship crashes that our heroes rather implausibly live through. The impressive collapsing forum at the end of Chapter Eleven and the bullet car crash at the end of Chapter Six provide nice variety amid the spaceship wrecks, but (alas) are also resolved by mere survival. Still, this is preferable to the blatantly cheating resolution of what is otherwise one the best chapter endings–Killer Kane’s pursuit of Buddy in a darkened council chamber and his apparently lethal zapping of the young hero. At least the resolution features a good stunt bit by Dave Sharpe.

The leading performances in Buck Rogers are all excellent (although most other critics would make a single exception; see below). Buster Crabbe, as always, makes a perfect serial hero–both genially cheerful and grimly serious, unassumingly polite and aggressively tough. As in the Flash Gordon trilogy, his down-to-earth attitude also helps to make the wild sci-fi happenings seem perfectly normal.

Jackie Moran (oddly “reduced” to serial acting only a year after playing Huck Finn in David O. Selznick’s big-budget classic Adventures of Tom Sawyer) does a fine job as Buddy Wade, handling his character’s frequent “golly, gee-whiz” lines in a low-key fashion that keeps Buddy from coming off as too naïve; his chipper but calm demeanor complements Crabbe’s well, and he has no problems carrying an entire chapter and part of another on his own.

Constance Moore, despite being saddled with perhaps the most unflattering costume ever worn by a serial leading lady (basically coveralls and a bathing cap), manages to come off as charming. Her Wilma Deering is self-possessed and capable-seeming but never too coldly efficient; she remains warmly likable even when piloting spaceships or explaining technology to Crabbe.

Henry Brandon is very good as Killer Kane’s chief henchman Captain Laska–suave and sly when acting as Kane’s ambassador to Saturn, haughtily arrogant when threatening people, and nervously jittery in the presence of his overbearing leader. Hard-bitten tough guys Wheeler Oakman and Reed Howes, along with the slicker Carleton Young , form Brandon’s backup squad.

As Killer Kane himself, perennial henchman actor Anthony Warde has been almost universally panned by critics as “miscast.” I have to dissent strongly, however; Warde does a fine job in the part and plays Kane with a memorable combination of viciousness and uncontrollable anger. The character is not a diabolical schemer like Ming, but rather a super-gangster who’s blasted and bullied his way to the top–and Warde’s bad-tempered, aggressive, and thuggish screen personality fits the part perfectly. He veers between intimidating ranting and harshly sinister sarcasm–as when he describes himself as a “kindly ruler” just after wrathfully sending a formerly trusted councilor to the robot room–but is quite menacing in both aspects.

Philson Ahn, brother of frequent serial and feature actor Phillip Ahn, does a good job as Prince Tallen of Saturn; he possesses his sibling’s deep and distinctive voice, which serves him well as a planetary dignitary. His manner also has a slightly tougher edge to it than his refined brother’s, which helps to keep the viewer in uncertainty in the earlier chapters as to whether Tallen will turn out to be friend or foe. Guy Usher plays Aldar, the head of Saturn’s ”Council of the Wise,” and does his best to seem suitably imposing and dignified, despite the almost comical way in which the “Wise” continually change their opinions–backing Kane, opposing him, giving into his demands, defying him, etc. Cyril Delevanti is enjoyable as a grumpy subordinate member of the Council.*

C. Montague Shaw has limited screen time, but is very good as Dr. Huer, balancing statesmanlike dignity with shrewdness and a touch of enjoyable scientific eccentricity (the last is particularly noticeable during his demonstration of his invisibility gas in Chapter Five). Energetic Jack Mulhall is typically affable and enthusiastic as Captain Rankin of the Hidden City, while Kenne Duncan has a rare good guy role as Mulhall’s fellow-officer Lieutenant Lacy. Perennial screen “underworld rat” John Harmon also plays against type as a Hidden City soldier, as does Stanley Price as a Hidden City pilot rescued from existence as a human robot. The dignified but stolid William Gould is good enough as Air Marshal Kragg, but I would have preferred a more dynamic actor in the role–Kragg is, after all, the top military leader of Kane’s enemies. Mulhall could have handled it well, as could Wade Boteler–who does an excellent job as the grim and concerned Professor Morgan in the first chapter, intensely instructing Buddy and Buck in the use of the Nirvano gas.

Lane Chandler also appears in the first chapter, as a military officer who demonstrates the Nirvano gas to a reporter played by another old pro, Kenneth Harlan. An unusually subdued Theodore Lorch is one of Kane’s councilors, while Karl Hackett has a good part as another councilor who gets into an argument with Kane that leads to Hackett’s being converted into a human robot (his terrified pleas as he’s dragged out of the council chamber are quite chilling). Al Bridge has some memorably sinister lines (“when this helmet is in place, you’ll never think or speak again”) in his periodic scenes as the slave-master of Kane’s human robots.

Unusually for Universal, several bit roles are filled by stuntmen; Eddie Parker and Tom Steele pop in as various soldiers and officers, but aren’t as noticeable as Dave Sharpe, who’s given multiple speaking roles as a Kane soldier, a Hidden City soldier, a Saturnian officer, and a Saturnian soldier. His ubiquity can get a little distracting at times, particularly since some of his appearances follow right on the previous one’s heels; he also seems to have a bit of trouble with the formal-sounding Saturnian dialogue, coming off as much more stiff and affected than in his co-starring turn in Daredevils of the Red Circle.

The serial’s music score, like most other Universals of the period, is an eclectic but usually effective array of stock music, some of it cues from the Flash Gordon serials but the majority of it culled from Universal’s horror features, including (most notably) Franz Waxman’s score for Bride of Frankenstein, which furnishes some memorable opening-titles music.

All in all, though Buck Rogers has its share of flaws, it also has more than enough virtues (the acting, the fast pace, the interesting sci-fi trappings) to make it a good chapterplay. Despite its similar themes, it shouldn’t be pitted against the Flash Gordon trilogy–a match it’s bound to lose–but rather judged against the field of competition in general. When judged in this fashion, it’s just as entertaining–and often more entertaining–than many serials with less shabby reputations.

 

*One has to wonder, though, why some Saturnians are Orientals like Ahn and others Occidentals like Usher and Delevanti; my own theory is that men from various countries emigrated from Earth to Saturn sometime before the bulk of the serial took place; this would explain the racial assortment and also explain why the Hidden City chooses Saturn in particular as an ally (as usual, I’m probably putting too much thought into this).

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The base of gun turret no. 3 can be seen from the USS Arizona Memorial. The cement landing to the right was built after the sinking.

 

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

 

USS Arizona Wreck National Register #89001083 (1989)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

The base of gun turret no. 3 can be seen from the USS Arizona Memorial. The cement landing to the right was built after the sinking.

 

The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 by Japanese imperial forces and commemorates the events of that day. The memorial, dedicated on May 30, 1962, and visited by more than one million people annually, is only accessible via U.S. Navy boat boarded from the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, which offers historical information about the attack as well as general visitor services.

 

The memorial was designed by architect Alfred Preis, who had been detained at Sand Island at the start of the war as an enemy of the country because of his Austrian birth. The 184-foot-long floating memorial spans the mid-portion of the sunken battleship. It has two peaks at each end, connected by a sag in the center--representing the height of American pride before the war, the depth the nation fell to after the attack, and then the ultimate victory. The central room features seven large open windows on either wall and ceiling, to commemorate the day of the attack. The total number of windows is 21, which, although not confirmed by the architect, some believe represents a 21-gun salute. An opening in the center of the floor overlooks the sunken decks of the Arizona. A shrine at the far end consists of a marble wall that bears the names of all entombed on the USS Arizona. Sometimes referred to as "black tears of the Arizona", oil can still be spotted seeping from the wreckage.

 

The surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy,designed by admiral Isoroku Yamamamoto, was a culmination of a decade of deteriorating relationships. The pre-emptive measure intended to prevent the U.S. Pacific Fleet from interfering in Japan's grand strategy of conquest in the Western Pacific. Instead, it provoked the previously isolationist United States into full participation in World War II. The base was attacked in two waves by 353 Japanese aircraft, launched from six aircraft carriers. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk, and another four were damaged. The Japanese also sank or damaged three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one minelayer, and 188 U.S. aircraft. In total, 2,402 personnel were killed and 1,282 were wounded. Japanese loses were light with 29 aircraft and five midget submarines lost, and 65 servicemen killed or wounded.

 

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a United States national monument spanning 9 sites in 3 states, honors several aspects of the American engagement in World War II. Six of the sites are located in Hawaii--the USS Arizona Memorial and Visitors Center, the USS Utah Memorial, the USS Oklahoma Memorial, Six Chief Petty Officer Bungalows on Ford Island, and the Mooring Quays F6, F7, and F8, which formed part of Battleship Row. The monument was created on December 5, 2008, through an executive order issued by President George W. Bush under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906.

USS Arizona Memorial National Register #66000944 (1966)

USS Arizona Wreck National Register #89001083 (1989)

Pearl Harbor, U.S. Naval Base National Historic District National Register #66000940 (1966)

Commerce Department employee charged with passing secrets to the Soviet Union William W. Remington (left) confers with his accuser, Elizabeth Bentley, during a Senate committee hearing August 2, 1948.

 

The two were in the audience while Louis Budenz, the anti-communist former editor of the Daily Worker, was testifying.

 

Bentley was part of a group that passed classified information to the Soviet Union during World War II but turned herself in and began testifying against others. The Soviet Union was an ally of the U.S. at the time.

 

Remington faced charges in 1948 in the U.S. Senate and by the government loyalty board that he also passed valuable wartime secrets to the Soviet Union.

 

He denied the allegations at that time and stated he had never been a member of the Communist Party or the Young Communist League..

 

However he was suspended from duty but cleared of the charges and reinstated to his job. However, in 1950 he was brought up on criminal charges for perjury, convicted and ,after two trials, sent to prison where he was murdered for his alleged communist sympathies.

 

Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period. He was investigated numerous times for alleged communist ties, tried twice for perjury and sent to jail where he was murdered.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he “moved left quite rapidly”; and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or “extreme liberals.”; He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him “a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents.”

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was “the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination,”; and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution. When he was killed in prison he was a pitiful figure who had no friends on the left after his betrayal of them and no sympathy on the right for what was regarded as his criminal actions.

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.

 

George McCoy Jr., one of three men charged with murdering William Remington in the Lewisburg Prison November 24, 1954 for communist affiliations, is shown in a mugshot from an earlier arrest.

 

Carl Parker, 21, from Washington, D.C.; McCoy, 34, from Grundy, Va. and Lewis Cagle Jr., 17, from Chattanooga, Tn. were all charged with murdering the former Commerce Department employee in the Lewisburg, Pa.. penitentiary. All three had been imprisoned for other crimes.

 

After numerous investigations and two trials, Remington was convicted of perjury when he denied knowledge of a communist group on his university campus in his second trial.

 

He had earlier been tried for perjury for denying he was a member of any communist groups, but federal officials pressed ahead because they believed Remington had passed classified information to the Soviet Union through confessed American born Soviet spy Elizabeth Bentley..

 

His high profile conviction led McCoy to plan the murder with the other two. Cagle beat Remington to death while he was asleep in his cell with piece of brick inside a sock.

 

The three would all plead guilty. McCoy and Cagle received life sentences while Parker received 20 years.

 

William Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he "moved left quite rapidly" and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or "extreme liberals." He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him "a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents."

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was "the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination," and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution.

 

--Remington timeline is partially excerpted from Wikipedia

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an FBI mugshot photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star collection.

 

This collection is an embodiment of the current political climate in the US and a documentation of the rise and fall of my confidence in the American government. As someone deeply committed to civics and building community, I am horrified that our country is growing increasingly nationalistic, isolationist and divisive. Featuring corset boning as a restrictive force acting upon the wearer, each of my looks addresses a pressing concern about the current administration.

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

For a certain slant of light challenge: my least favorite feature.

When we were dating, my lover, in a moment of awe and admiration, referred to my hips as “Thunderous”. Apparently he was unaware of the negative connotation of “Thunder Thighs.”

HAHAHAHAHA!

When it comes to my least favorite features, I really think more about all the faults and flaws of personality and emotional that I am riddled with… but the most easily photographed; my thighs. Short stubby legs and meaty thighs.

But you know… I am okay with them. So I guess they don’t really fit the requirements of the challenge of ‘my least favorite feature’. My hands (also pictured) are also lacking in grace: wide with stubby fingers and I don’t take care of my nails. But I like what my hands do for me. Honestly, my least favorite features about myself are my emotional instability and my isolationist personality. But I was too lazy to try to figure out how to put that in a photo. So here you go. My thunder thighs.

And for your entertainment, Lucille Clifton’s brilliant Homage to My Hips:

 

these hips are big hips.

they need space to

move around in.

they don't fit into little

petty places. these hips

are free hips.

they don't like to be held back.

these hips have never been enslaved,

they go where they want to go

they do what they want to do.

these hips are mighty hips.

these hips are magic hips.

i have known them

to put a spell on a man and

spin him like a top

 

-Lucille Clifton

 

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

This abridgement of Universal's 12-episode serial Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe as Dick Calkins' famed comic-strip space adventurer. Buck and Buddy (Jackie Moran) and are recruited to battle against modernistic gangster Killer Kane (Anthony Warde), by Wilma Deering (Constance Moore) and Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw). The duo travels to Saturn to get help in their mission, and after Buck and Buddy quell the internal struggles of the Saturnians, Buck triumphs over Killer Kane and his cosmic thugs.

Planet Outlaws Feature link: youtu.be/UD3xKy42KUY

 

Link to all 12 Serial Episodes:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTtc-u3zFGk&feature=share&amp...

 

Starring Buster Crabbe, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran, Jack Mulhall, Anthony Warde, C. Montague Shaw, Guy Usher, William Gould, Philson Ahn. Directed by Ford Beebe, Saul A. Goodkind.

Buck Rogers and Buddy Wade are in the middle of a trans-polar dirigible flight when they are caught in a blizzard and crash. Buddy then releases a special gas to keep them in suspended animation until a rescue party can arrive. However, an avalanche covers the craft and the two are in suspended animation for 500 years. When they are found, they awake to find out that the world has been taken over by the outlaw army of Killer Kane. Along with Lieutenant Wilma Deering, Buck and Buddy join in the fight to overthrow Kane and with the help of Prince Tallen of Saturn and his forces, they eventually do and Earth is free of Kane's grip.

 

This is actually a pretty enjoyable serial, but it seems doomed to be forever overshadowed by the much superior Flash Gordon trilogy. Universal brought BUCK ROGERS out in 1939, in between their own chapterplays FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS and FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE; it also starred Buster Crabbe (but with his natural dark hair instead of Flash's golden curls) and although it is filled with space ships and weird gadgets, BUCK ROGERS lacks most of the elements that gave the Flash serials their intense emotional draw.

 

For one thing, there is none of the strong sexual charge that the Flash series had. Instead of nubile Dale Arden and sultry Princess Aura both competing for the hero's attention while the villain openly lusted for the heroine, Buck's epic featured Constance Moore as Col. Wilma Deering. Now, Moore is perfectly fine in her role, but she is after all a soldier in the resistance army and not a fair damsel in distress. She has a nice moment when she wrests a ray gun away from a guard and blasts her way out of her cell, but she and Buck seem to be merely chums on the same side.

 

Also, although BUCK ROGERS has plenty of futuristic gadgets (rayguns and buzzing spaceships which shoot sparks from their backs, teleportation tubes and invisibility rays), there are no grotesque monsters or nonhuman alien races on view. Prisoners have remarkably goofy metal helmets strapped on which turn them into docile zombies, and there are these homely goons called Zuggs moping around, but that's hardly as fascinating as Lion Men and Clay People and horned apes (that Orangapoid critter).

 

What's ironic about all this is that the comic strip BUCK ROGERS by Philip Nolan and Richard Calkins started in 1929, was immensely popular for many years and it success inspired the creation of Flash. Yet the Flash strip benefitted from the genius of Alex Raymond, one of the all-time great cartoon artists, and it produced stunning visual images (from the samples of Buck's strip I've seen, it was imaginative enough but pretty crude and drab). This contrast carried over to the serials.

 

Buck Rogers and his sidekick Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran) are pilots who crash in the Arctic in1938 and survive for 500 years because the 'Nirvano' gas they were carrying put them in a state of suspended animation. They both seem to adapt to waking up in the year 2424 pretty well, where I would think most people would be so traumatized it would take a while to adjust. In this dystopic future, the Earth is ruled by a mega-gangster called Killer Kane (another setback; Anthony Warde would be okay as a crimelord but he just doesn't have the imposing presence to convince me this guy can dominate an entire planet).

 

Luckily, Buck and Buddy have been found by the small resistance movement hopelessly trying to overthrow Kane from their hidden city. Here is Dr Huer (C. Montague Shaw, who I just saw in the UNDERSEA KINGDOM doing the same gig with his wild inventions) and Wilma Deering leading the good fight. For some reason I missed, everyone immediately puts all their trust in Buck and he pretty much takes over. (Maybe he's just one of those charismatic alpha males or something.) Most of the serial involves desperate trips back and forth to Saturn to enlist the aid of the isolationist Saturnians, and this means running the blockade of Kane's ships. The usual fistfights and explosions and captures and escapes normal for this sort of situation ensue. It's a lot of fun if you take it on its own terms, with a strong linear plot and likeable heroes, but it really never kicks into high gear and seems a bit drab.

 

It's interesting that some (but not all) of the Saturnians are played by Asian actors. Prince Tallen, who gets caught up in most of the fun, was portrayed by a very young Philson Ahn, and I thought for years this was the same guy who in 1972 impressed us as the head of the Shaolin Temple in TV's KUNG FU (he taught all the styles, really amazing if you think about it). Turns out that was Phiip Ahn, Philson's brother.

 

Dir: Ford Beebe and Saul A. Goodkind - 12 Chapters

 

BUCK ROGERS (1939): Director Ford Beebe, who also worked on Flash Gordon (1938), came straight from The Phantom Creeps (1939) and then went back to finish Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940). Buck Rogers stars Buster Crabbe or, as his family knew him, Lawrence. Now, Lawrence ‘Larry’ ‘Buster’ Crabbe had previously starred in two Flash Gordon serials, a couple of Tarzan movies and a long string of westerns, so it was only natural for Universal to decide he was perfect as the heroic Buck Rogers, aka that blonde guy who saves the universe but isn’t Flash Gordon. Actually, Buster Crabbe wasn’t the first actor to play Buck Rogers in-the-flesh, so to speak.

That honour goes to an unknown man who played Buck in a Virginia department store, instead of their regular Santa Claus. Santa was off conquering Martians at the time, I think it was an exchange program of sorts. It strikes me that Buck Rogers is not unlike a male fantasy come to life. Just think of it – Buck gets to take a nice five-hundred-year-long sleep-in. With my busy schedule, I’m ecstatic if I can get twenty minutes nap on the weekend. Then, when he wakes up, Buck is the smartest, most dynamic guy around. In reality he’d be treated like something that’s escaped from the zoo. And finally, everyone needs Buck to go on exciting missions, fight the bad guys, test exotic equipment and crash rocket ships – out of the half-dozen flights Buck makes, he only lands successfully once. It’s easy to see the bullet cars used in the movie are the same ones from Flash Gordon’s Trip To Mars (1938), and even the script is rather suspect.

Planet Outlaws

This film is actually a compilation of the Buck Rogers serials that ran originally in 1939. The cliffhanger endings and recap beginnings have been edited out to make it flow better -- with partial success. Some new footage was shot for the introduction and summary. At the opening, there are some newspaper headlines about jets chasing flying discs, and the obligatory checkered V2 launch, etc. to add a modern segue. After that, it's pure 1939.

Sci-fi movie technology had come a long way in the 14 years since Buck's debut. Audiences had grown accustomed to sleek and pointy rockets, flying saucers, strange aliens, etc. The Buck Rogers style world-of-the-future must have looked oddly quaint. (if not laughable) Just why Universal Pictures thought re-releasing Buck Rogers was a good idea is a bit of a mystery. Kids who were 8 or so back in 1939 would be young adults in '53. Perhaps Universal was banking on those young adults would buy tickets for a trip down memory lane.

Plot Synopsis

After a bit of modern ('53) footage about the wonders of modern progress and "flying disks," the old serial begins. Rogers and Buddy crashed in the arctic while on a transpolar flight. They were in suspended animation due to the cold and a vague gas. A patrol finds them in the year 2500 and revives them. In the world of 2500, a despot named Killer Kane is trying to take over the world. The forces of good are holed up in the "hidden city." Buck arranges a decoy maneuver to elude Kane's patrol ships. They fly to the planet Saturn in hopes of finding help. On Saturn, the Council sees Rogers and party as the rebels, and Kane as the rule of law. Rogers et al, escape Saturn, return to earth and seek to disrupt Kane's bamboozling of Prince Tallen, the Saturnian representative. Rogers sneaks into Kane's city, interrupts the treaty signing and convinces Tallen of Kane's evil by revealing Kane's "robot battalion" (slaves wearing mind-control helmets). Rogers and Tallen get to Saturn and the treaty is signed. Rogers escapes Kane's patrols via the Dissolvo Ray which rendered them invisible. Rogers and the war council plan for war. Rogers enlists the Saturnians to help. Meanwhile, Rogers sneaks into Kane's city and de-zombies Minister Krenco to lead an uprising of freed robot-slave-prisoners. Rogers storms Kane's palace and puts one of the robo-slave helmets on Kane. The End

The industrial vision of the future is delightful to watch. The heavily mechanical look of everything is so radically different from the sleek rockets and glowing acrylic audiences were growing accustomed to. The space ships look like they were built at locomotive factories or steamship yards. They spew roman-candle sparks and smoke and buzz as they fly. There are no computers, no radar or electronics. It's a fascinating snapshot of what pre-electronic-age people thought the future would be like.

When originally released in 1939, the Killer Kane character was a thinly disguised allusion to Hitler. In 1953, Kane was intended to represent a communist despot. It wasn't as tidy a fit. The narrator sums it up voicing a hope that scientists will develop the means for men to stand up to today's dictators and make the world safe for democracy. In the early 50s, there's little question of who they meant.

Simple Colors -- One endearing trait of Buck Rogers is the simplicity of the characterizations. The good guys do nothing but good. The bad guys are pure bad. The good guys are crack pilots and sharp shooters and tough as nails. The bad guys do nothing but bad, have trouble hitting a flying barn and are easily knocked out with one punch.

Industrial Baroque -- Somewhat like the baroque era's compulsion to decorate every square inch with swirls and filigree, Industrial Baroque sought to fill every space with heavy-duty hardware. The sets, and especially the rocket interiors are like flying boiler rooms. Valves, pipes, levers, dials, wheels, large flashing light bulbs. To look more "high tech" in the 30s meant cramming in more industrial hardware. Buck Rogers' ships show more affinity for Captain Nemo "steampunk" than the proto-space-age of the 50s.

Family Resemblance -- There is a noticeable similarity in the sets and costumes of Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers. Even serials of the early 50s, like Captain Video and the various Rocketman serials, look more like Flash and Buck than George Pal. The industrial baroque look and costuming are distinctive, making them almost a sub-genre of their own. In that regard, Buck has a timelessness.

Another take on the story and additional background info.

A round-the-world dirigible flight commanded by US Air Force officer Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) encounters dangerously stormy weather above the Himalayas; said weather, along with disastrous panic on the part of Rogers’ crewmen, causes the aircraft to crash. The cowardly crewmen ditch the ship and meet quick ends, but Rogers and young Buddy Wade (Jackie Moran), son of the aircraft’s designer, survive the crash. The pair use a cylinder of “Nirvano” gas to place themselves into suspended animation until a rescue party can reach them, but an avalanche buries the ship and all searches prove fruitless; the dirigible and its two dormant inhabitants remain beneath rocks and snow for five hundred years.

Finally, in the year 2440, a spaceship unearths the wreck, and its pilots restore Buck and Buddy to consciousness. The holdovers from the 20th century soon learn that their rescuers are soldiers from the “Hidden City,” a pocket of resistance to the super-criminal who is ruling the 24th-century Earth–one “Killer” Kane (Anthony Warde). Rogers immediately pledges his support to Air Marshal Kragg (William Gould) and Scientist-General Dr. Huer (C. Montague Shaw), the leaders of the Hidden City exiles, and is soon en route to Saturn, hoping to convince that planet’s rulers to aid the Hidden City in freeing the Earth from Kane’s tyranny. To cement the Saturian alliance, Buck must battle Kane’s legions at every step of the way, with able assistance from Buddy and from Dr. Huer’s trusted aide Lieutenant Wilma Deering (Constance Moore).

 

Ever since its original release, Buck Rogers has stood in the shadow of Universal’s Flash Gordon serials; the studio encouraged such association by casting Flash Gordon star Buster Crabbe as a different sci-fi hero, obviously hoping that the chapterplay would capitalize on the goodwill generated by Flash Gordon and Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars. The serial did succeed in reminding audiences of the Flash outings–but it reminded them of how much they had liked those serials and forced inevitable comparisons that were not in Rogers’ favor. Universal’s plans for a second Buck Rogers serial were quickly scrapped when the first outing failed to please matinee audiences; the intended Buck sequel was then replaced on the studio’s production schedule by–what else?–a third Flash Gordon chapterplay. Even today, Buck is typically dismissed by fans as a pale echo of the great Gordon serials.

It’s easy to see why Buck Rogers came as a disappointment to audiences expecting an outing in the Flash Gordon tradition. Its production design, while futuristic, is less quirky and more uniform than that of the Gordons; there are no monsters and no weird semi-human races besides the rather uninteresting Zuggs; there are also no supporting characters as developed or as interesting as Dr. Zarkov, Ming, King Vultan, the Clay King, Princess Aura, Prince Barin, and other major figures in the Flash Gordon chapterplays. And yet, taken on its own terms, Buck Rogers is far from a failure; it does not approach the Flash Gordon trilogy in quality, but then few serials do.

Buck Rogers’ script, by former Mascot writers Norman Hall and Ray Trampe, is fast-moving and manages to avoid repetition for most of its length. The trip to Saturn, the attempts to convince Saturnian leader Prince Tallen (Philson Ahn) of the justice of the Hidden City’s cause, the subsequent rescue of Tallen from Kane’s city, the second journey to Saturn to cement the alliance, and the attempts of Kane’s henchman Laska (Henry Brandon) to sabotage it–all these incidents keep the narrative flowing very nicely for the serial’s first eight chapters. As in many of Trampe and Hall’s Mascot scripts, however, the writers seem to run out of plot before the serial’s end. While Chapters Nine and Ten remain interesting (with Buck being converted into a hypnotized robot, Buddy’s rescue of the hero, and an infiltration of the Hidden City by one of Kane’s men), the last two chapters have a definite wheel-spinning feel to them, throwing in a redundant third trip to Saturn and an unneeded flashback sequence.

The last-chapter climax is also something of a disappointment, with Kane being overthrown quickly and undramatically instead of being definitively crushed. Here, Trampe and Hall seem to have been leaving room for the sequel that never came and trying to avoid duplicating the dramatic but very final destruction of MIng which closed the first Flash Gordon serial (and which needed to be explained away in the second). The other weak spot of the scripting is Buck and Buddy’s rather calm reaction when they realize that their old world (and everyone in it) is dead–and their extraordinarily quick adjustment to their new one. One wouldn’t have wanted the writers to dwell on our heroes’ plight (which would be absolutely crushing in real life), but I do wish Trampe or Hall could have given Buck and Buddy a few emotional lines about their displacement before getting on to the main action; Hall in his scripts for other serials (Hawk of the Wilderness, Adventures of Red Ryder), showed himself capable of far more dramatic moments.

  

As already mentioned, the serial’s visuals are less varied than those of the Flash Gordon serials, but that’s not to say they aren’t impressive by serial standards. Pains seem to have been taken to avoid duplicating too much of Gordon’s “look;” the spaceship miniatures are completely different than the ships in the Gordon trilogy, while Kane’s stronghold–probably the best miniature in the serial–is not the quasi-Gothic palace of Ming but rather an ominous, futuristic-looking version of New York City, complete with towering skyscrapers. The Hidden City’s great rock gates are also nifty, and the massive Saturnian Forum (a life-size set, not a miniature) is very visually impressive. The barren Red Rock Canyon area works well as the Saturnian landscape, but I think it was a mistake to also use the Canyon as the area between the Hidden City and Kane’s capital; Saturn and Earth shouldn’t look so similar.

 

The only major prop or set reused from the Gordon serials are the “bullet cars” from Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars; they’re just as fun to watch in action here as in the earlier serial. Other incidental props and sets–Kane’s robot room, his mind-control helmets, the various televiewing devices, the anti-gravity belts, Dr. Huer’s invisibility ray, and the Star-Trek-like molecular transportation chamber–add further colorful touches to the serial., and are respectably represented by Universal’s always above-average array of sets and props. The Zuggs, the “primitive race” ruled by the Saturnians, are somewhat disappointing, however; while suitably grotesque-looking, they’re nowhere near as menacing or memorable–in appearance or demeanor–as their obvious inspiration, the Clay People in Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars.

The serial’s action scenes are brisk and energetic, suffering not at all from a general lack of fistfights–thanks to the swift-moving direction of Ford Beebe (a Mascot veteran like writers Trampe and Hall) and his co-director Saul Goodkind (usually an editor). The few hand-to-hand tussles–most of them on the rocky hills of Saturn–are executed routinely but skillfully by Dave Sharpe, Tom Steele, Eddie Parker, and other stuntmen; the best of the bunch is the fight between Buck and a Kane man in the control room of the Hidden City, although this is more exciting for the suspenseful situation (Buck trying to close the gates that the henchman has opened to Kane’s oncoming armada) than for any particular flair in the staging.

Most of the action sequences consist of protracted chases and pursuits (both on foot and in rocketships), with occasional quick combats thrown in. Many of these lengthy chases are very exciting–particularly the long incursion into Kane’s city that occupies most of Chapters Three and Four, a great combination of action and suspense. Buddy’s later stealthy visit into Kane’s fortress to rescue Buck from the robot room, and the following escape, is also good, as are Buck’s skillful and repeated elusions of the rebellious Zuggs in Chapter Eight and the bullet car getaway in Chapter Six.

  

The cliffhanger endings are generally well-staged, with proper build-ups, but too many of them involve spaceship crashes that our heroes rather implausibly live through. The impressive collapsing forum at the end of Chapter Eleven and the bullet car crash at the end of Chapter Six provide nice variety amid the spaceship wrecks, but (alas) are also resolved by mere survival. Still, this is preferable to the blatantly cheating resolution of what is otherwise one the best chapter endings–Killer Kane’s pursuit of Buddy in a darkened council chamber and his apparently lethal zapping of the young hero. At least the resolution features a good stunt bit by Dave Sharpe.

The leading performances in Buck Rogers are all excellent (although most other critics would make a single exception; see below). Buster Crabbe, as always, makes a perfect serial hero–both genially cheerful and grimly serious, unassumingly polite and aggressively tough. As in the Flash Gordon trilogy, his down-to-earth attitude also helps to make the wild sci-fi happenings seem perfectly normal.

Jackie Moran (oddly “reduced” to serial acting only a year after playing Huck Finn in David O. Selznick’s big-budget classic Adventures of Tom Sawyer) does a fine job as Buddy Wade, handling his character’s frequent “golly, gee-whiz” lines in a low-key fashion that keeps Buddy from coming off as too naïve; his chipper but calm demeanor complements Crabbe’s well, and he has no problems carrying an entire chapter and part of another on his own.

Constance Moore, despite being saddled with perhaps the most unflattering costume ever worn by a serial leading lady (basically coveralls and a bathing cap), manages to come off as charming. Her Wilma Deering is self-possessed and capable-seeming but never too coldly efficient; she remains warmly likable even when piloting spaceships or explaining technology to Crabbe.

Henry Brandon is very good as Killer Kane’s chief henchman Captain Laska–suave and sly when acting as Kane’s ambassador to Saturn, haughtily arrogant when threatening people, and nervously jittery in the presence of his overbearing leader. Hard-bitten tough guys Wheeler Oakman and Reed Howes, along with the slicker Carleton Young , form Brandon’s backup squad.

As Killer Kane himself, perennial henchman actor Anthony Warde has been almost universally panned by critics as “miscast.” I have to dissent strongly, however; Warde does a fine job in the part and plays Kane with a memorable combination of viciousness and uncontrollable anger. The character is not a diabolical schemer like Ming, but rather a super-gangster who’s blasted and bullied his way to the top–and Warde’s bad-tempered, aggressive, and thuggish screen personality fits the part perfectly. He veers between intimidating ranting and harshly sinister sarcasm–as when he describes himself as a “kindly ruler” just after wrathfully sending a formerly trusted councilor to the robot room–but is quite menacing in both aspects.

Philson Ahn, brother of frequent serial and feature actor Phillip Ahn, does a good job as Prince Tallen of Saturn; he possesses his sibling’s deep and distinctive voice, which serves him well as a planetary dignitary. His manner also has a slightly tougher edge to it than his refined brother’s, which helps to keep the viewer in uncertainty in the earlier chapters as to whether Tallen will turn out to be friend or foe. Guy Usher plays Aldar, the head of Saturn’s ”Council of the Wise,” and does his best to seem suitably imposing and dignified, despite the almost comical way in which the “Wise” continually change their opinions–backing Kane, opposing him, giving into his demands, defying him, etc. Cyril Delevanti is enjoyable as a grumpy subordinate member of the Council.*

C. Montague Shaw has limited screen time, but is very good as Dr. Huer, balancing statesmanlike dignity with shrewdness and a touch of enjoyable scientific eccentricity (the last is particularly noticeable during his demonstration of his invisibility gas in Chapter Five). Energetic Jack Mulhall is typically affable and enthusiastic as Captain Rankin of the Hidden City, while Kenne Duncan has a rare good guy role as Mulhall’s fellow-officer Lieutenant Lacy. Perennial screen “underworld rat” John Harmon also plays against type as a Hidden City soldier, as does Stanley Price as a Hidden City pilot rescued from existence as a human robot. The dignified but stolid William Gould is good enough as Air Marshal Kragg, but I would have preferred a more dynamic actor in the role–Kragg is, after all, the top military leader of Kane’s enemies. Mulhall could have handled it well, as could Wade Boteler–who does an excellent job as the grim and concerned Professor Morgan in the first chapter, intensely instructing Buddy and Buck in the use of the Nirvano gas.

Lane Chandler also appears in the first chapter, as a military officer who demonstrates the Nirvano gas to a reporter played by another old pro, Kenneth Harlan. An unusually subdued Theodore Lorch is one of Kane’s councilors, while Karl Hackett has a good part as another councilor who gets into an argument with Kane that leads to Hackett’s being converted into a human robot (his terrified pleas as he’s dragged out of the council chamber are quite chilling). Al Bridge has some memorably sinister lines (“when this helmet is in place, you’ll never think or speak again”) in his periodic scenes as the slave-master of Kane’s human robots.

Unusually for Universal, several bit roles are filled by stuntmen; Eddie Parker and Tom Steele pop in as various soldiers and officers, but aren’t as noticeable as Dave Sharpe, who’s given multiple speaking roles as a Kane soldier, a Hidden City soldier, a Saturnian officer, and a Saturnian soldier. His ubiquity can get a little distracting at times, particularly since some of his appearances follow right on the previous one’s heels; he also seems to have a bit of trouble with the formal-sounding Saturnian dialogue, coming off as much more stiff and affected than in his co-starring turn in Daredevils of the Red Circle.

The serial’s music score, like most other Universals of the period, is an eclectic but usually effective array of stock music, some of it cues from the Flash Gordon serials but the majority of it culled from Universal’s horror features, including (most notably) Franz Waxman’s score for Bride of Frankenstein, which furnishes some memorable opening-titles music.

All in all, though Buck Rogers has its share of flaws, it also has more than enough virtues (the acting, the fast pace, the interesting sci-fi trappings) to make it a good chapterplay. Despite its similar themes, it shouldn’t be pitted against the Flash Gordon trilogy–a match it’s bound to lose–but rather judged against the field of competition in general. When judged in this fashion, it’s just as entertaining–and often more entertaining–than many serials with less shabby reputations.

 

*One has to wonder, though, why some Saturnians are Orientals like Ahn and others Occidentals like Usher and Delevanti; my own theory is that men from various countries emigrated from Earth to Saturn sometime before the bulk of the serial took place; this would explain the racial assortment and also explain why the Hidden City chooses Saturn in particular as an ally (as usual, I’m probably putting too much thought into this).

 

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

 

Trump received a Bachelor of Science in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, and his father named him president of his real estate business in 1971. Trump renamed it the Trump Organization and reoriented the company toward building and renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. After a series of business failures in the late twentieth century, he successfully launched side ventures that required little capital, mostly by licensing the Trump name. From 2004 to 2015, he co-produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice. He and his businesses have been plaintiff or defendant in more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six business bankruptcies.

 

Trump won the 2016 presidential election as the Republican Party nominee against Democratic Party nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote.[a] During the campaign, his political positions were described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and nationalist. His election and policies sparked numerous protests. He was the first U.S. president with no prior military or government experience. A special counsel investigation established that Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to favor Trump's campaign. Trump promoted conspiracy theories and made many false and misleading statements during his campaigns and presidency, to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged or racist and many as misogynistic.

 

As president, Trump ordered a travel ban on citizens from several Muslim-majority countries, diverted military funding toward building a wall on the U.S.–Mexico border, and implemented a policy of family separations for migrants detained at the U.S. border. He weakened environmental protections, rolling back more than 100 environmental policies and regulations. He signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which cut taxes for individuals and businesses and rescinded the individual health insurance mandate penalty of the Affordable Care Act. He appointed Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. He reacted slowly to the COVID-19 pandemic, ignored or contradicted many recommendations from health officials, used political pressure to interfere with testing efforts, and spread misinformation about unproven treatments. Trump initiated a trade war with China and withdrew the U.S. from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the Iran nuclear deal. He met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times but made no progress on denuclearization.

 

Trump refused to concede after losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, falsely claiming widespread electoral fraud, and attempted to overturn the results by pressuring government officials, mounting scores of unsuccessful legal challenges, and obstructing the presidential transition. On January 6, 2021, he urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol, which many of them then attacked, resulting in multiple deaths and interrupting the electoral vote count.

 

Trump is the only American president to have been impeached twice. After he tried to pressure Ukraine in 2019 to investigate Biden, he was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress; he was acquitted by the Senate in February 2020. The House impeached him again in January 2021, for incitement of insurrection, and the Senate acquitted him in February. Scholars and historians rank Trump as one of the worst presidents in American history.

 

Since leaving office, Trump has continued to dominate the Republican Party and is a candidate in the 2024 Republican presidential primaries. In 2023, a civil trial jury found that Trump sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. He was also indicted in New York on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, in Florida on 40 felony counts related to his mishandling of classified documents, in Washington, D.C., on four felony counts of conspiracy and obstruction for efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and in Georgia on 13 charges of racketeering and other alleged felonies committed in an effort to overturn the state's 2020 election results. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges.

 

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

Machine : Q.BaLL the forty ith

Type : Old skool revamped

Function : restore justice in colonised sectors

Industry : JFO

Year : 2020

 

Other stuff : Our industry continues to fascinate potential buyers as they dream of reverse engineering our frozen rythms ...

 

90s in the flesh

SCR

LSF

 

JFO's industrial lane :

 

-stay true to the master builders and keep on the tradition ! obviously

-provide mechanised technology to combat unindentified (unreadable) flying (flowing) objects (pieces) of an alien nature. Earth machines are clearly visible (readable) and in line with tradition (old skool) whereas alien machines are abstract forms and seek to invade through artifice.

-not all aliens are bad ... sure. Our engineers sojourned in alien worlds many years away from our roots now we're back on Earth. We understand thus their weak spots and their teachings are irrelevant in our current context.

-develop cost effective strategies for manufacture while not compromising on skeletal quality of the-said build

-provide machines that are robust, fail-safe, long range and autonomous far away from repair bases (no parts are of an insignificant nature)

-provide speed and power to destroy other so called machines

-sell some machines but not a lot in order to maintain a niche market

-avoid building loud (flamboyant) machines, focus budget on machinery and functionality rather than decorative chassis, as this means nothing in battle (to escape with no scratches is a dream).

-isolationist philosophy like the wood elves. nothing comes out or in without full knowledge of the president. a great evil is coming. no exchange of technology with other industries to avoid sabotage and theft. a Real 2020 plague.

-do opposite of what industries do which is 95% manufacture and 5% conceptualisation. Low manual labour force, highly skilled. Most employees engineers. President master of both fields. Dissimenates knowledge when pupils ready. If president resigns our industry is doomed.

-names are machine series. Qbal40 is the most active series. Current series in operation : Linux591. Dispel9. Nowadays563. Acadia1604.

Discontinued series : Study4. Karma7-7amraK

Contact us for re-edits.

JFO industries 2020.

Superior Machines.

  

Sighted flying over then Nagasaki Dejima Wharf is a Black Kite (Milvus migrans), a medium-sized bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors. It is thought to be the world's most abundant species of Accipitridae. A Sub-Species, (M. m. lineatus) known as the black-eared kite, breeds over a wide area from western Siberia to China and Japan. / A sunrise approach from Nagasaki Bay into Nagasaki Port, a natural harbor that is surrounded by mountains on three sides. Since 1571 it developed through trading with foreign countries; the impact of foreign trade is very evident in their culture. The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637 convinced many policy-makers that foreign influences were more trouble than they were worth, leading to Sakoku (鎖国, "closed country") the isolationist foreign policy of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate (a/k/a Bakufu) under which relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, nearly all foreign nationals were barred from entering Japan and common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country for a period of over 220 years. The policy was enacted by the Tokugawa shogunate under Tokugawa Iemitsu through a number of edicts and policies from 1633 to 1639, and ended after 1853 when the American Black Ships commanded by Matthew Perry forced the opening of Japan to American (and, by extension, Western) trade through a series of unequal treaties.. The Portuguese, who had been previously living on a specially constructed island-prison in Nagasaki harbor called Dejima, were expelled from the archipelago altogether, and the Dutch were moved from their base at Hirado into the trading island. With the Meiji Restoration, Japan opened its doors once again to foreign trade and diplomatic relations. Nagasaki became a treaty port in 1859 and modernization began in earnest in 1868. Nagasaki was officially proclaimed a city on April 1, 1889. With Christianity legalized and the Kakure Kirishitan coming out of hiding, Nagasaki regained its earlier role as a center for Roman Catholicism in Japan. Nagasaki remains primarily a port city, supporting a rich shipbuilding industry, setting a strong example of perseverance and peace. Today, ships entering Nagasaki pass under Megami Ohashi Bridge, a cable-stayed bridge opened in 2005 that crosses at the entrance to the Port (Nagasaki-kō) and head to the terminals and piers in the center of the city. Le Soléal is headed for a tie up at Nagasaki Seaside Park [contiguous to Nagasaki Dejima Wharf] at 6:45 a.m. with an expected departure from Nagasaki heading towards Kagoshima around 7:00 p.m.

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

William W. Remington (left) leaves federal court in New York June 13, 1950 with his attorney Joseph Rauh after being indicted for perjury for denying membership and knowledge of communist organizations.

 

He faced charges in 1948 in the U.S. Senate and by the government loyalty board that he passed valuable wartime secrets to the Soviet Union.

 

He denied the allegations at that time and stated he had never been a member of the Communist Party or the Young Communist League..

 

However he was suspended from duty but cleared of the charges and reinstated to his job. However, in 1950 he was brought up on criminal charges for perjury, convicted and ,after two trials, sent to prison where he was murdered for his alleged communist sympathies.

 

Remington was as an economist at the U.S. Commerce Department and other federal agencies over a 15 year period. He was investigated numerous times for alleged communist ties, tried twice for perjury and sent to jail where he was murdered.

 

In college, he became active with members of the Young Communist League, and later the Communist Party of the United States. In testimony, Remington stated that while he was a Republican when he entered college, he “moved left quite rapidly”; and became a radical but was never a Communist Party or Young Communist League member at Dartmouth.

 

Whether or not he ever officially joined the party later became a point of contention in his legal battles.

 

He was first investigated in 1941 where he admitted having been active in Communist-allied groups such as the American Peace Mobilization, but denied any sympathy with communism and swore under oath that he was not and had never been a member of the Communist Party. His security clearance was granted.

 

In March 1942 and continuing for two years, Remington had occasional meetings with Elizabeth Bentley at which he passed her information. Bentley was a spy for the Soviet Union.

 

This material included data on airplane production and other matters concerning the aircraft industry, as well as some information on an experimental process for manufacturing synthetic rubber. Remington later claimed that he was unaware that Bentley was connected with the Communist Party, that he believed she was a journalist and researcher, and that the information he gave her was not secret.

 

Fearing the FBI was closing in on her, Bentley became an informant for the government in 1945 and named Remington as one of her sources of information.

 

In 1947, Remington was interviewed by the FBI and also questioned before a federal grand jury in New York City about the information he had given to Elizabeth Bentley. He testified that no secret information was involved, and the issue seemed to end there.

 

In an apparent attempt to bolster belief in his innocence, Remington became an anti-communist informer from this time and for the following year. He sent the FBI information on over fifty people, only four of whom were connected with his own case.

 

Most of those he named he had never met. He accused them of being Communists, isolationists, Negro nationalists, or “extreme liberals.”; He also verbally attacked his wife Ann, from whom he was now estranged, and his mother-in-law Elizabeth Moos, both avowed Communists.

 

Another loyalty investigation of Remington was opened early in 1948, and in June, he was relieved of his duties pending the findings of that investigation. In July of that year, the New York World-Telegram published a series of articles about Elizabeth Bentley, and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations opened hearings to investigate her charges.

 

At these hearings, Bentley made her accusations against Remington public and Remington in turn denied them. The Washington Post called him “a boob...who was duped by clever Communist agents.”

 

At his loyalty review hearings, Remington downplayed his earlier connections with Communist and leftist organizations and claimed that his wife's adherence to Communist doctrine was the reason for the end of their marriage.

 

While testifying before the Senate, Bentley was protected from libel suits. When she repeated her charge that Remington was a Communist on NBC Radio's Meet the Press, he sued her and NBC for libel.

 

The Loyalty Review Board noted that the only serious evidence against Remington was “the uncorroborated statement of a woman who refuses to submit herself to cross-examination,”; and cleared Remington to return to his government post (photo above). The libel suit was settled out of court shortly thereafter, with NBC paying Remington $10,000.

 

In 1950, the FBI and the federal grand jury in New York City reopened their investigations of Remington and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) opened a third.

 

Ann Remington, now divorced from him, was subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. Initially reluctant, she testified that her husband had been a dues-paying member of the Communist Party, and that he had given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley while knowing that Bentley was a Communist.

 

The grand jury decided to indict Remington for committing perjury when he denied ever being a member of the Communist Party.

 

Remington was convicted at trial, but it was revealed that the jury foreman had a personal relationship with Elizabeth Bentley and had agreed to co-author a book with her.

 

He was found guilty of perjury and sentenced to five years in prison. His conviction was overturned on appeal for “judicial improprieties” and unclear instructions from the judge as to what constituted membership in the Communist Party.

 

The second Remington trial began in January 1953 and he was quickly convicted of two counts of perjury—specifically for lying when he said he had not given secret information to Elizabeth Bentley and that he did not know of the existence of the Young Communist League, which had a chapter at Dartmouth while Remington was a student there.

 

He was sentenced to three years in prison. On the morning of Nov. 22, 1954 he was murdered in Lewisburg Penitentiary for his communist association by three inmates—a career criminal named George McCoy, a juvenile offender named Lewis Cagle Jr. and a third man—D.C. resident Carl Parker.

 

Cagle used a piece of brick in a sock as a weapon, striking Remington four times on the head. Despite McCoy’s repeated remarks about Remington’s communism, the FBI said that robbery was the motive.

 

When Cagle confessed, the FBI instructed him to describe the crime as if he and McCoy had been trying to rob Remington. When McCoy confessed four days later, he said he hated Remington for being a Communist and denied any robbery motive.

 

Both men pled guilty and were sentenced to life in prison. Parker received a 20-year term. All three had been in prison for transporting stolen cars across state lines.

 

Remington’s legacy is that of the third person to die as a result of the Second Red Scare following Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s execution. When he was killed in prison he was a pitiful figure who had no friends on the left after his betrayal of them and no sympathy on the right for what was regarded as his criminal actions.

 

For more information and related images, see flic.kr/s/aHsmCQG6iJ

 

The photographer is unknown. The image is an Associated Press photograph housed in the D.C. Library Washington Star Collection.

 

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located 716 km north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census).

 

Mandalay is the economic hub of Upper Burma and considered the centre of Burmese culture. A continuing influx of Chinese immigrants, mostly from Yunnan, in the past twenty years, has reshaped the city's ethnic makeup and increased commerce with China. Despite Naypyidaw's recent rise, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

ETYMOLOGY

The city gets its name from the nearby Mandalay Hill. The name is probably a derivative of a Pali word, although the exact word of origin remains unclear. The root word has been speculated to be mandala, referring to circular plains or Mandara, a mountain from Hindu mythology.

 

When it was founded in 1857, the royal city was officially named Yadanabon (ရတနာပုံ, [jədənàbòʊɴ]), a loan of the Pali name Ratanapūra (ရတနပူရ) "City of Gems."[9][10] It was also called Lay Kyun Aung Myei (လေးကျွန်းအောင်မြေ, [lé dʑʊ́ɴ àʊɴ mjè], "Victorious Land over the Four Islands") and Mandalay Palace (မြနန်းစံကျော်, [mja̰ náɴ sàɴ tɕɔ̀], "Famed Royal Emerald Palace").

 

HISTORY

EARLY HISTORY

Like most former (and present) capitals of Burma, Mandalay was founded on the wishes of the ruler of the day. On 13 February 1857, King Mindon founded a new royal capital at the foot of Mandalay Hill, ostensibly to fulfill a prophecy on the founding of a metropolis of Buddhism in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.The new capital city site was 66 km2 in area, surrounded by four rivers. The plan called for a 144-square block grid patterned citadel, anchored by a 16 square block royal palace compound at the center by Mandalay Hill. The 413-hectare citadel was surrounded by four 2,032 m long walls and a moat 64 m wide, 4.6 m deep. At intervals of 169 m along the wall, were turrets with gold-tipped spires for watchmen. The walls had three gates on each side, and five bridges to cross the moat. In addition, the king also commissioned the Kuthodaw Pagoda, the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein upasampada hall, the Thudamma"Good Dharma" zayats (IPA: [zəjaʔ]) or public houses for preaching Buddhism and a library for the Pāli Canon.

 

In June 1857, the former royal palace of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill, although construction of the palace compound was officially completed only two years later, on Monday, 23 May 1859.

 

For the next 26 years, Mandalay was to be the last royal capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, the last independent Burmese kingdom before its final annexation by the British Empire. Mandalay ceased to be the capital on 28 November 1885 when the conquering British sent Thibaw Min and his queen Supayalat into exile, ending the Third Anglo-Burmese War.

 

COLONOAL MANDALAY (1885–1948)

While Mandalay would continue to be the chief city of Upper Burma during the British colonial rule, the commercial and political importance had irreversibly shifted to Yangon. The British view on the development of Mandalay (and Burma) was mainly with commercial intentions. While rail transport reached Mandalay in 1889, less than four years after the annexation, the first college in Mandalay, Mandalay College, was not established until 40 years later, in 1925. The British looted the palace, with some of the treasures still on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, also renaming the palace compound Fort Dufferin and used it to billet troops.

 

Throughout the colonial years, Mandalay was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning, and as the last royal capital, was regarded by the Burmese as a primary symbol of sovereignty and identity. Between the two World Wars, the city was Upper Burma's focal point in a series of nationwide protests against the British rule. The British rule brought in many immigrants from India to the city. In 1904–05, a plague caused about one-third of the population to flee the city.

 

During World War II, Mandalay suffered the most devastating air raids of the war. On April 3, 1942, during the Japanese conquest of Burma, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service carried out an extensive assault on the city. As the city was defenseless and its firefighting were weak that had been lost in the earlier bombing and that they met no opposition from the British RAF as all its aircraft had by now been withdrawn to India, three-fifths of the houses were destroyed and 2,000 civilians were killed. Many again fled the city when the city was under Japanese occupation from May 1942 to March 1945. The palace citadel, turned into a supply depot by the Japanese, was burnt to the ground by Allied bombing; only the royal mint and the watch tower survived. (A faithful replica of the palace was rebuilt in the 1990s.)

 

CONTEMPORARY MANDALAY (1948–present)

After the country gained independence from Britain in 1948, Mandalay continued to be the main cultural, educational and economic hub of Upper Burma. Until the early 1990s, most students from Upper Burma went to Mandalay for university education. Until 1991, Mandalay University, the University of Medicine, Mandalay and the Defence Services Academy were the only three universities in Upper Burma. Only a few other cities had "Degree Colleges" affiliated with Mandalay University that offered a limited number of subjects. Today, the city attracts a fraction of students as the military government requires students to attend their local universities in order to reduce concentration of students in one place.

 

In November 1959, Mandalay celebrated its centennial with a festival at the foot of Mandalay Hill. Special commemorative stamps were issued.

 

During Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–1988), the city's infrastructure deteriorated. By the early 1980s, the second largest city of Burma resembled a town with low-rise buildings and dusty streets filled mostly with bicycles. In the 1980s, the city was hit by two major fires. In May 1981, a fire razed more than 6,000 houses and public buildings, leaving more than 36,000 homeless. On 24 March 1984, another fire destroyed 2,700 buildings and made 23,000 people homeless.

 

Fires continue to plague the city. A major fire destroyed Mandalay's second largest market, Yadanabon Market, in February 2008, and another major fire in February 2009 destroyed 320 homes and left over 1600 people homeless.

 

The 1980s fires augured a significant change in the city's physical character and ethnic makeup. Huge swaths of land left vacant by the fires were later purchased, mostly by the ethnic Chinese, many of whom were recent immigrants from Yunnan. The Chinese influx accelerated after the current State Peace and Development Council came to power in 1988. With the Burmese government turning a blind eye, many Chinese immigrants from Yunnan (and also from Sichuan) poured into Upper Burma in the 1990s and many openly ended up in Mandalay. In the 1990s alone, about 250,000 to 300,000 Yunnanese are estimated to have migrated to Mandalay. Today, ethnic Chinese people are believed to make up about 30%–40% of the city's population, and are a major factor in the city's doubling of population from about 500,000 in 1980 to one million in 2008. Chinese festivals are now firmly embedded in the city's cultural calendar. It is a common Burmese complaint that Mandalay is becoming little more than a satellite of China and that the romance of old Mandalay is long gone

 

The Chinese are largely responsible for the economic revitalization of the city centre, now rebuilt with apartment blocks, hotels and shopping centres, and returning the city to its role as the trading hub connecting Lower Burma, Upper Burma, China and India. The Chinese dominance in the city center has pushed out the rest to the suburbs. The urban sprawl now encompasses Amarapura, the very city King Mindon left some 150 years ago. Mandalay celebrated its 150th birthday on 15 May 2009, at precisely 4:31:36 am.

 

Despite the rise of Naypyidaw, the country's capital since 2006, Mandalay remains Upper Burma's main commercial, educational and health center.

 

AROUND THE CITY

Atumashi Monastery: The "Atumashi kyaung", which literally means "inimitable vihara", is also one of the well known sights. The original structure was destroyed by a fire in 1890 though the masonry plinth survived. It was indeed an inimitable one in its heyday. The reconstruction project was started by the government on 2 May 1995 and completed in June 1996.

Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda: One of the Buddha's Sacred Replica Tooth Relics was enshrined in the Mandalay Swedaw Pagoda on Maha Dhammayanthi Hill in Amarapura Township. The pagoda was built with cash donations contributed by the peoples of Burma and Buddhist donors from around the world under the supervision of the State Peace and Development Council. The authorities and donors hoisted Buddha's Replica Tooth Relic Pagoda Mandalay's Shwe Htidaw (sacred golden umbrella), Hngetmyatnadaw (sacred bird perch vane) and Seinhpudaw (sacred diamond bud) on 13 December 1996.

Kuthodaw Pagoda (The World's Biggest Book): Built by King Mindon in 1857, this pagoda modeled on the Shwezigon Pagoda at Nyaung-U, is surrounded by 729 upright stone slabs on which are inscribed the entire Tipiṭaka as edited and approved by the Fifth Buddhist council. It is popularly known as "World's largest book" for its stone scriptures.

Kyauktawgyi Pagoda: Near the southern approach to Mandalay Hill stands the Kyauktawgyi Buddha image built by King Mindon in 1853–78. The Image was carved out of a huge single block of marble. Statues of 80 arahants are assembled around the Image, twenty on each side. The carving was completed in 1865.

Mahamuni Buddha Temple: The image of Gautama Buddha at Mahamuni Buddha Temple is said to have been cast in the life-time of the Gautama Buddha and that the Buddha embraced it seven times, thereby bringing it to life. Consequently, devout Buddhists hold it to be alive and refer to it as the Mahamuni Sacred Living Image. Revered as the holiest pagoda in Mandalay, It was built by King Bodawpaya in 1784. The image in a sitting posture is 3.8 m high. As the image was brought from Rakhine State, it was also called the Great Rakhine Buddha. The early morning ritual of washing the Face of Buddha Image draws a large crowd of devotees everyday. The Great Image is also considered as the greatest in Burma next to Shwedagon Pagoda. A visit to Mandalay is incomplete without a visit to Mahamuni Pagoda.

Mandalay Hill: The hill has for long been a holy mount. Legend has it that the Buddha, on his visit, had prophesied that a great city would be founded at its foot. Mandalay Hill, 230 metres in elevation, commands a magnificent view of the city and surrounding countryside. The construction of a motor road to reach the hill-top has already been finished.

Mandalay Palace: The whole magnificent palace complex was destroyed by a fire during World War II. However, the finely built palace walls, the city gates with their crowning wooden pavilions and the surrounding moat still represent an impressive scene of the Mandalay Palace, "Mya-nan-san-kyaw Shwenandaw", which has been rebuilt using forced labor. A model of the Mandalay Palace, Nanmyint-saung and Mandalay Cultural Museum are located inside the Palace grounds.

Shwenandaw Monastery: Famous for its intricate wood carvings, this monastery is a fragile reminder of the old Mandalay Palace. Actually, it was a part of the old palace later moved to its current site by King Thibaw in 1880.

The Chinese Temple of Mandalay: The Chinese Temple, well known for its old artistic architectures and cultural artifacts, reflects Mandalay's old history.

Yadanabon Zoological Gardens: A small zoo between the Mandalay Palace and Mandalay Hill. It has over 300 species and is notably the only zoo to have Burmese roofed turtles.

 

WIKIPEDIA