Burmese scholars have been sent to France,…

Burmese scholars have been sent to France, Italy, the United States, and Great Britain during Mindon's reign in order to learn about the tremendous progress achieved by the Industrial Revolution.

Mindon had created the world's largest book in 1868, the Tipitaka, 729 pages of the Buddhist Pali Canon inscribed in marble and each stone slab housed in a small stupa at the Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of Mandalay Hill.

Mindon introduces the first machine-struck coins to Burma, and in 1871 also holds the Fifth Buddhist council in Mandalay.

In 1871 also, Mindon donates a new hti ('umbrella' or crown gilded and encrusted with precious diamonds and other gems) to the one hundred and five-meter- (three hundred and forty-four foot-) tall Shwedagon Pagoda, the most famous and venerated of the Burmese pagodas, although he is not allowed to visit, as it is located in British held-Yangon.