缅甸这个东南亚佛国与当前飞速发展的全球化进程似乎显得格格不入，这里大多数人仍然过着与几十年前一样悠然自得的田园生活。在这片神奇的土地上，有一座存在了近千年的古城——蒲甘，它是缅甸最早的统一王朝蒲甘王朝的京都，其名意为“胜利者的都城”。它是缅族文化与信仰的中心和缅甸最古老的佛教圣地，享有“四百万宝塔之城”和“万塔之乡”的美誉。
1. Pagan：The long history of the 4-million-Pagoda city
The Kingdom of Pagan was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Burma（Myanmar）. Pagan’s 250-year rule over the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture， the spread of Burman ethnicity in Upper Burma， and the growth of Theravada Buddhism in Burma and in mainland Southeast Asia.
蒲甘：四百万宝塔之城的漫漫长史
蒲甘王国是第一个统一后来当代缅甸（缅甸联邦）地区的王国，它在伊洛瓦底江流域及其周边的250年统治，给缅甸语言和文化的提升、缅族群在上缅甸的扩展、以及小乘佛教在缅甸和东南亚大陆的发展奠定了基础。
The Kingdom of Pagan：The spread of Burmeselanguage and Theravada Buddhism
蒲甘王国：缅甸语言的流传，小乘佛教的蔓延
The Kingdom of Pagan grew out of a small 9th century settlement at Pagan by the Burmans， who had recently entered the Irrawaddy valley from the Kingdom of Nanzhao. Over the next two hundred years， the small principality gradually grew to absorb its surrounding regions until the 1050s and 1060s when King Anawrahta founded the Pagan Empire， the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. Anawrahta’s successors by the late 12th century had extended their influence farther south into the upper Malay peninsula， at least to the Salween river in the east， below the current China border in the farther north， and to the west， northern Arakan and the Chin Hills. In the 12th and 13th centuries， Pagan， alongside the Khmer Empire， was one of two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia.
The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley， eclipsing the Pyu， Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century. Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level although Tantric， Mahayana， Brahmanic， and animist practices remained heavily entrenched at all social strata. Pagan’s rulers built over 10，000 Buddhist temples in the Pagan capital zone of which over 2000 remain. The wealthy donated tax-free land to religious authorities.
The kingdom went into decline in the mid-13th century as the continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth by the 1280s had severely affected the crown’s ability to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen. This ushered in a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges by the Arakanese， Mons， Mongols and Shans. Repeated Mongol invasions（1277–1301） toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287. The collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century.
蒲甘王国：缅甸语言的流传，小乘佛教的蔓延
蒲甘王国的前身是一所9世纪的小型住宅区，那是缅甸人在蒲甘的驻扎地，他们在不久前曾经从南昭王国移至伊洛瓦底江流域。在接下来的200年中，这个小公国逐渐合并周边地区，直到11世纪50～60年代，国王阿奴律陀创立蒲干帝国，第一次统一了伊洛瓦底江流域及其周边地区。到12世纪晚期为止，阿奴律陀的继承人们已经将他们的影响力向南扩展到上马来半岛，向东至少扩展到萨尔温江，向北一直蔓延到现代中国边境，向西延伸到北开邦和钦丘陵。在12世纪和13世纪，蒲甘王国位于高棉帝国的旁边，它俩成为东南亚大陆上的两大主要帝国。
缅甸语言和文化逐渐成为上伊洛瓦底江流域的主导文明，到12世纪末，已经将骠人、孟人和巴利人的语言规范全部掩盖了。小乘佛教开始慢慢蔓延到村庄，尽管坦陀罗、大乘佛教、婆罗门和万物有灵论仍然久久盘踞在社会各阶层当中。蒲甘王国的统治者们在首都区域建造了一万多座佛寺，其中2000多座至今尚存。当时，富人们会向宗教当局捐赠免税土地。
蒲甘王国于13世纪中期进入衰退期。那时，因为持续增长的免税宗教财富到13世纪80年代为止已经严重影响到皇室保留忠诚大臣和军队士兵的能力，这样导致了内部混乱和外部挑战的恶性循环，那些外部战乱的挑起者包括阿拉干人、孟人、蒙古人和掸人。1287年，蒙古人的不断入侵（1277～1301年）推翻了这个统治了4个世纪的王国，接下来就是长达250年的政治分裂时期，一直持续到16世纪。
Early Pagan：Anawrahta’s accession and the birth of a small principality
Evidence shows that the actual pace of Burman migration into the Pyu realm was gradual. Indeed， no firm indications have been found at Sri Ksetra or at any other Pyu site to suggest a violent overthrow. Radiocarbon dating shows that human activity existed until c. 870 at Halin， the Pyu city reportedly destroyed by an 832 Nanzhao raid. The region of Pagan received waves of Burman settlements in the mid-to-late 9th century， and perhaps well into the 10th century. Though Hmannan states that Pagan was fortified in 849 AD—or more accurately， 876 AD after the Hmannan dates are adjusted to King Anawrahta’s inionally verified accession date—the chronicle reported date is likely the date of foundation， not fortification. Radiocarbon dating of Pagan’s walls points to c. 980 AD at the earliest. Likewise， inional evidence of the earliest Pagan kings points to 956 CE. The earliest mention of Pagan in external sources occurs in Song Chinese records， which report that envoys from Pagan visited the Song capital Bianjing in 1004. Cham and Mon inions first mentioned Pagan in 1050 and 1093， respectively.
At any rate， by the mid-10th century， Burmans at Pagan had expanded irrigation-based cultivation while borrowing extensively from the Pyus’predominantly Buddhist culture. Pagan’s early iconography， architecture and s suggest little difference between early Burman and Pyu cultural forms. Moreover， no sharp ethnic distinction between Burmans and linguistically linked Pyus seems to have existed. The city was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur. By Anawrahta’s accession in 1044， Pagan had grown into a small principality—about 320 km （200 miles） north to south and about 130 km （80 miles） from east to west， comprising roughly the present districts of Mandalay， Meiktila， Myingyan， Kyaukse， Yamethin， Magwe， Sagaing， and the riverine portions of Minbu and Pakkoku. To the north lay the Nanzhao Kingdom， and to the east still largely uninhibited Shan Hills， to the south and the west Pyus， and farther south still， Mons. The size of the principality is about 6% of that of modern Burma.