The Jingpo are an ethnic group who inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State and neighboring areas of China and India. In the 2000 Chinese census they numbered 132,000 .
They are known for their fierce independence, disciplined fighting skills, complex clan inter-relations, embrace of Christianity, craftsmanship, herbal healing and jungle survival skills.
Different categorization schemes complicat the terms Jingpo and Kachin, which also operate as political geography terms of British origin. In one form, a variety of different linguistic groups with overlapping territories and integraed social structures are described as a single people: the Jingpo or Kachin. In another form, the native pseakjers of each language in the area are treated as distinct ethnic groups. Rather confusing! In British colonial Burma, Kachin people were categorized by the Census as separate different "races" or "tribes"according to languages. Other officials, missionaries, and the local administration recognized them as a single ethnic group.
The people cassified as the Jingpo speak at least five different languages, Jingpo proper, Zaiwa, Maru, Lashi, and Azi
Half ot the Jingpo declare themselves as Christians. There are also significant groups of Buddhists and Animists. Before the American missionaries came to the area comprising the modern Karin state, the majority of the kachin were Animists. Jingpo Animists believe that spirits reside everywhere, from the sun to the animals, and that these spirits bring good or bad luck. They believe all living creatures have souls. Rituals are carried out for protection in almost all daily activities, from planting of crops to warfare.
The houses of wood and bamboo are of oval form. the women often dress iin black jackets with silver decorations. They also wear woold skirts made in bright colors. The men often wear black and wide pants, covering their heads with turbans: the youth with white turbans and the adults with black turbans.
Their ancestors lived on the Tibetan plateau and migrated gradually towards the south. When they arrived in Yunnan, the Jingpo were referred to as Xunchuanman. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Jingpo continued migrating to their present territory. Kachin people, provided assistance to British, Chinese, and American units fighting the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II.
Following the end of World War II and Burma's independence from Britain, long standing ethnic conflicts between frontier peoples such as the Kachin and the burman-dominated central government resurfaced. Uprisings escalated following the declaration of Buddhism as a national religion in 1961.
The Kachin Independence Organization, after years of fighting the dictatorships of Burma, finally chose to enter into a ceasefire with the junta. This delivered neither security nor prosperity to the Kachin.
It will be fascinating to see how closely related the Jingpo are connected to their Chinese Kachin brothers and sisters and to learn more about the Chinese experience of the Jingpo.
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