The peoples of Kachin, more precisely known as Jingpho Wunpong or simply Wunpong, are a confederation of ethnic groups who inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Myanmar's Kachin State and neighbouring Yunnan Province, China, and Arunachal Pradesh, Assam in Northeastern India. About one million Kachin peoples live in the region. The term Kachin people is often used interchangeably with the main subset, called the Jingpo people in China. The Jingpho language common to many of the Kachin has a variety of dialects and is written with a Latin-based script created in the late nineteenth century. A Burmese script version was subsequently developed. The Singhpo dialect is spoken in Northeast India and Jingpho in Southwest China. Kachin is an ethnicity that comprises various linguistic groups with overlapping territories and integrated social structures. Contemporary usage of Kachin relates to a grouping of six ethnicities: Rawang, the Lisu, the Jingpo, the Zaiwa, the Lashi/Lachik and the Lawngwaw/Maru. Some definitions distinguish Kachin and Shan peoples though some Kachin people have demonstrated the over-simplicity of the concept of lineage-based ethnic identity by culturally "becoming Shans". There are many theories of how Kachin people got their name. One of them comes from American baptistmissionary Dr. Eugenio Kincaid. When he arrived to the northern part of Myanmar, firstly he met with the Gahkyeng people. When he asked them who they were, they replied that they were the villagers from Gahkyeng. Therefore, he wrote "Ga hkyeng" in his notes. European writers called the Kachins "Kakhyens" until 1899. The book "The Great Queen is Coming 1890" described Major Ecy Brong was the first person who started using "Kachin" in Roman script.
Categorisation
In Yunnan, a different categorization is applied and peoples grouped as Wunpong are grouped into four nations. The Chinese definition of Jingpo is broader than that in Kachin Hills and is somewhat comparable to Wunpong in Kachin Hills. Lisu, Anung and Derung peoples in Yunnan are not subordinated to ethnic Jingpo thus are classified outside the Jingpo nation:
The Kachin people are traditionally known for their disciplined fighting skills, complex clan inter-relations, craftsmanship, herbal healing and jungle survival skills. In recent decades, animist and Buddhist beliefs have been supplanted in some areas by Christianity. According to one source, approximately two-thirds of the Kachin people identify themselves as Christians. Many religious rituals and symbols, such as the annual Manau festival in Myitkyina, are celebrated as folkloric traditions.
