The Kachin peoples (Jingpo: Ga Hkyeng, lit. '"red soil"'; Burmese: ကချင်လူမျိုး; MLCTS: ka. hkyang lu myui:, pronounced [kətɕɪ̀ɰ̃ lù mjó]), more precisely the Kachin Wunpong (Jingpo: Jinghpaw Wunpawng, "The Kachin Confederation") or simply Wunpong ("The Confederation"), are a confederation of ethnic groups who inhabit the Kachin Hills in Northern Myanmar's Kachin State and neighbouring Yunnan Province, China, and as well as Arunachal Pradesh, Assam in Northeastern India. About 1.5 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.[1]
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.[2][3] Some definitions distinguish Kachin and Shan (Tai) peoples though some Kachin people have demonstrated the over-simplicity of the concept of lineage-based ethnic identity by culturally "becoming Shans".[4]
- ^ Jingpho - Ethnologue.com (limited access - may require subscription) Retrieved 15 April 2017
- ^ Sadan, M. 2007, TRANSLATING GUMLAU:HISTORY, THE ‘KACHIN’ AND EDMUND LEACH. in Sadan, M and Robinne, F. (eds) 2007. Social Dynamics in the Highlands of Southeast Asia, Reconsidering Political Systems of Highland Burma by E. R. Leach. Brill. Leiden, Boston.
- ^ Kachin National Museum, Myitkyina
- ^ Leach, E. R. (1965) Political Systems of Highland Burma: a study of Kachin social structure. Boston: Beacon Press.