THE GUIDE - The Rough Guide to Myanmar - page 95

Mon riverside settlement was razed and a grandiose new urban design laid out, based on the
gridiron plan created by army engineer Alexander Fraser.
YANGON FESTIVALS
Aswell asall theusual national events ,Yangonhostsanumberofitsownannual festivals.
YangonPhotoFestival InstitutFrançais,340PyayRd 01536900, yangonphoto.com .
Exhibitions and talks by leading international photographers. Jan-Feb.
Shwedagon Pagoda Festival Myanmar's largest pagoda festival, banned by the military
between 1988 and 2012, during which pilgrims descend on the great pagoda from all over
the country to make offerings, accompanied by pwe dancing and theatre, weaving compet-
itions and more. Two weeks in Feb/March.
Murugu Festival Colourful Hindu festival featuring processions and acts of ritual self-
mortification in honour of the God Murugan, centred on downtown's Sri Kali and Sri Devi
temples. March/April.
Shwesandaw Pagoda Festival Annual pagoda festival at the main temple in Twante, co-
inciding with Burmese New Year. April.
Tazaungdaing (Robe-Weaving) Festival Shwedagon, Botataung and other pagodas host
robe-weaving contexts, during which young ladies attempt to weave a perfect Buddha's
robe in the course of a single night. One night in November.
British rule
Following the conquest of Upper Burma in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885, colonial
Rangoon (as it was known by the British) became the undisputed economic and commercial
heart of Burma. Grandiose new buildings were raised in the fashionable Neoclassical and
Indo-Saracenic styles, new hospitals, schools and colleges established, parks laid out, a rail-
way constructed and Inle and Kandawgyi lakes created to provide water for the new city.
TherewasalsosubstantialimmigrationtothenewcityfromotherpartsoftheBritishEmpire,
notably India, giving the city a pronounced subcontinental flavour which endures (in places)
to this day.
Following World War I, Rangoon became the heart of the Burmese independence move-
ment , led by students from the British-created Rangoon University and culminating in a
series of national strikes (in 1920, 1936 and 1938). The British were finally ousted during
World War II , during which the city fell under Japanese occupation (from 1942 to 1945),
before being retaken by the Allies in 1945, after suffering heavy damage.
Independence
Rangoon became the capital of the new Union of Burma upon independence in 1948. The
city continued to expand exponentially outwards, with new suburbs mushrooming to the