Under Kanaung's guidance, the following reforms were undertaken: centralization of the kingdom's internal administration, introduction of a salary system for the bureaucracy (to dampen the authority and income of bureaucrats), fixed judicial fees, comprehensive penal laws, reorganization of the financial system, removal of trade barriers including custom duties, reform of the thathameda taxes (to increase direct taxation), and modernization of the kingdom's army and introduction of new police forces.

One story relates to his effort in testing depth charges in order to repulse British troops sailing up the Irrawaddy.

Eventually, these testings were thwarted by the head of the Buddhist Sangha who protested against them by asserting their harmful effects on aquatic lives.

He was also known for his waywardness as depicted in a famous love song called Seinchu Kya-nyaung bawlè written by his wife, Princess Hlaing Hteik Khaung Tin.

)[3] His body was buried in the grounds of the Sandamuni Pagoda, built in his memory at the foot of Mandalay Hill by Mindon.

In 1978 Ne Win, dictator of Burma since leading a military coup in 1962, married June Rose Bellamy, aka Yadana Nat-Me (Precious Angel), a great-granddaughter of Ka Naung, daughter of Princess Hteiktin Ma Lat and Herbert Bellamy, an Australian orchid collector long settled in Burma.