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Kachin people


The peoples of Kachin (Jingpo: Ga Hkyeng red soil; Burmese: ကခ်င္လူမ်ိဳး; MLCTS: ka. hkyang lu. myui:, pronounced: [kətɕɪ̀ɴ lù mjó]), more properly known as Jingpho Wunpong (Jingpo: Jinghpaw Wunpawng the Confederation of Jingpo) or simply Wunpong (the Confederation), are a group of ethnic groups who largely inhabit the Kachin Hills in northern Burma's Kachin State and neighbouring areas of China and India. More than ninety-nine percent of the Kachin people identify themselves as Christians, while less than one percent follows Buddhism and some also adhere to animism. Kachin people name themselves as "Jinghpaw Wunpawng". Jinghpaw people are living in India, China and Burma. the language Singhpo (Jinghpaw) is spoken in Northeast India and Jingpo in Southwest China. Kachin state is also known as the land of jades and gold.

The term Kachin includes a variety of different linguistic groups with overlapping territories and integrated social structures. These are notably the Rawang, the Lisu, the Zaiwa, the Lashi/Lachik and the Lawngwaw and Jinghpaw. Such definitions carefully distinguish Kachin and Shan (Tai) peoples though some Kachin people have defied the Western expectation of lineage-based ethnicity by culturally "becoming Shans".


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