Myitkyina

Myitkyina (Burmese: မိုက်ကီနီးယား) is a city in northern Myanmar. It is the capital of the Kachin State of Myanmar. Myitkyina for Burmese is near the big river.

Myitkyina မိုက်ကီနီးယား
Country	Myanmar

History

In ancient times, Myitkyina was an important trading city between China and Myanmar. George J. Geis, an American Baptist missionary includinh his wife arrived in Myitkyina in late 1890. In 1900, they requesyed permission to build a mansion in Myitkyina. It is named Geis Memorial Church. Japanese soldiers and military army invaded Myitkyina during World War II in 1942. In August 1944, the city was recaptured by the World War II Allies under Joseph Stilwell, after a heavy fughtine between Nationalist Chinese divisions, the Chindits, and Merrill's Marauders of the Northern Combat Area Command, and the elements of the 33rd Imperial Japanese Army under General Masaki Honda.

Geography

Myitkyina lies in the northern Kachin State of Myanmar. The town is in the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River. It is 1,480 kilometers north of Yangon, 785 kilometers from Mandalay, and 818 kilometers from Naypyidaw.

Population

As of 2020, Myitkyina has over 92,543 people, making it the largest city in the northern Kachin State of the country.

Religion

Theravada Buddhism is the dominant religion in Myitkyina and all the rest of Myanmar, making it the 2nd largest country where the dominant religion is Buddhism, after Mongolia (because Chinese folk religion is the dominant religion in China, Shintoism in Japan, Hinduism in India and Nepal, and there is no religion in South Korea and North Korea).