Presenting the Jingpo

The Jingpo support one of the most complex social organizations in the Asian Southeast. At present, most of the students they are sure that, both Jingpo and Kachin (name as they are known in Burma) name a complex political organization that implies several peoples, with cultures and different languages. A complex system which keys were already outlined by the anthropologist Edward Leach in his well-known work "Political systems of the high Burma". Also there are some of them living in the India, in the province of Assam, where they are named Xinfu.

The population Jingpo in China belongs to approximately 120.000 persons, in Burma, it is difficult to find a trustworthy number on the population of the Kachim, since given the state of ethnic rebellion that has prevailed in the area until a few years ago, the numbers of the government tend to minimize the population Kachim, while those of the government insurgent to maximize them

The Jingpo-Kachin live in the frontier region between China and Burma, sometimes the proper border divides villages Jingpo. Generally in the areas of high mountain, beyond 1500 m of altitude.

The peoples that compose the complex social Jingpo are fundamentally:

The Jingpo or Dashan
The Zaiwa or Xiaoshan
The Leqi or Chashan
The Langshu or Lilang.
As well as other peoples of scarce population like the Balou, the Kaku and the Gaori.

Inside this complex coexistence system each one supports his identity and in fact:
The Jingpo call the Zaiwa, Ji, or Green pepper; to the Langwo, Maru, to the Leqi, Leshi.
The Zaiwa call the Jingpo, Shedong, the Langwo, Lelang, and Leqi to the Leqi.
The Langwo call the Jingpo as Paowo, the Zaiwa like Zhawa, and Leqi to the Leqi.
The Leqi call Jingpo Shidong, Zhawo to the Zaiwa and Langwo to the Langwo.

Formerly they are they were calling them Shantou (Chiefs of the mountain, or heads of the mountain), already splitting them in 4 differentiated ethnic entities: Dashan (Big Mountain), Xiaoshan (Small Mountain), Langshu and Chashan (Mountain of tea).

In China they live fundamentally in the Autonomous Prefecture of Dehong, of which it constitutes 20 % of the population. They are distributed especially in the district of Luxi, (counties of Dongshan and Xishan).

In China the Zaiwa there are the majority, constituting 70-75 % of the population Jingpo. In Burma on the other hand, Jingpo is the majority. Although all of them live mixed in certain way.
The Jingpo live principally in the counties of Yinjiang and Lianghe, between them there are some Zaiwa.

The Zaiwa live in Luxi county principally, with some Jingpo between them.
In the districts of Longchuan and Ruili Zaiwa and Jingpo live mixed.
Between them, throughout, there are some villages of Langwo and Leqi.

The Langwo or Langshu are approximately 3500. They live in Dehong (Luxi, Yinjiang, Longchuan, Ruili and Lianghe) and also in the north of Burma. Possibly the Langwo are those that the traditions of the ancient Jingpo have preserved better, so much in marriages, funerals, holidays and fun see the lines of the ancient culture Jingpo
His language looks alike to the Zaiwa, to the Burmese or to the Achang. With the Zaiwa it is mutually intelligible, and some of them say that it is a dialect of that one. His center is Luxi.

The Jingpo have two principal languages, the Jingpo and the Zaiwa unintelligible between themselves, who even belong to different branches of the family tibetobirmana, and other less important two: the Langwo and the Leqi, with certain resemblances with the Zaiwa, some of them consider them to be mere dialects of this one.

The Jingpo in turn has two local speech: the Nkum and the Shatan, the first one more widespread than the second one. And some dispersed families speak the Gaori, which really still does not know if there are another people of the complex Jingpo, or a section of the Jingpo that speaks a different dialect.

As we were announcing at the beginning of this introduction, the complex world of the Jingpo is still a world almost not known for the students. Numerous peoples with different languages and culture share a social structure and a territory.

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