Other neighbouring residents of Kachin State include the Nagas, Shans (Thai/Lao related), the Lisus, the Rawangs, and the Bamar, the latter forming the largest ethnic group in Burma.

The Kachin are called the Jingpo in China (Chinese: 景颇族; pinyin: Jǐngpō zú) and Singpho in India – the terms are considered synonymous.

In one form of categorisation, a variety of different linguistic groups with overlapping territories and integrated social structures are described as a single people: the Jingpo or Kachin.

Jingpo people have frequently defied the Western expectation of lineage-based ethnicity by culturally "becoming Shans" (Leach 1965).

Despite the fact that all syntax, grammar, phonology, morphology, schools of thought, traditions, and culture are all the same while pronunciation, spellings, and alphabets differ (which is natural for different tribes within the same ethnic group), Kachins are divided and debating the terms Kachin and Jinghpaw Wunpawng.

The standard Jingpo language taught in China is based on the dialect of Enkun (in Yingjiang – west-northwest part of Dehong Prefecture).

There are around 100–200 Jingpo people who live in Taiwan: they can be found in Taipei, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, and other cities.

They are the descendants of 52 tribespeople who were members of the Yunnan People's Anti-Communist Volunteer Army who fled to Taiwan after the defeat of the Kuomintang in Mainland China.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, a written language based on the dialect of the village of Longzhun (in Xishan district in Luxi county) and using the Latin alphabet was created and officially introduced in 1957.

In the text, the polity is said to extend from Nmai River in today's Kachin state, Myanmar, to the east in Lu-shui county in Yunnan.

During the 17th century, the Jinphos were involved in trade exchange between the Ahom kingdom and China in the form of ivory, copper and silver.

The uprisings escalated following the declaration of Buddhism (which is not practised by the Kachin people) as a national religion in 1961.

The KIO formed alliances with other ethnic groups resisting the Burmese occupation, and later despite its non-communist stance along with China informally supported the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), which held strategically sensitive parts of the country vis à vis the Kachin positions.

The KIO continued to fight when Ne Win's dictatorship was succeeded by another incarnation of the military junta in 1988 called the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC).

However, with a gradual withdrawal of Chinese support, in 1989 the Communist Party of Burma soon disintegrated into warlord led groups that negotiated ceasefire deals with the junta.

It was squeezed by redeployed battalions of the rearmed and ever growing Burma Army, and constantly urged to make peace by a civilian population suffering from years of warfare.

With the end of hostilities the Burma Army presence has increased considerably, along with allegations of atrocities against the civilian population, including forced labour and rape.

[8] Increasingly impoverished, some Jingpo women and children are drawn into the sex trade in Thailand, China and Yangon (KWAT 2005).

The civil war between KIA and the Burmese Army caused Kachins to leave their motherland and seek asylum in Thailand and Malaysia.

Comprising a population of at least 7,900 in India, they live in the villages, namely Bordumsa, Miao, Innao, N-hpum, Namgo, Ketetong, Pangna, Phup, N-htem, Mungong, Kumchai, Pangsun, Hasak, Katha, Bisa, Dibong, Duwarmara, Namo and Namsai, etc.

The principal Gams include the Bessa, Duffa, Luttao, Luttora, Tesari, Mirip, Lophae, Lutong and Magrong.

The women dress their hair gathered into a broad knot on the crown of the head, fastening it by silver bodkins, chains and tassels, which is similar to the architecture of the modern skyscrapers.