The Jingpo People

At present, the Jingpo live in the Dehong Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, established in 1953, which is near the De'Ang, Lisu, Achang, and Han peoples. Many years ago, they lived in southern Tibet, but then moved to northwest Yunnan. From there, after the 16th century, they migrated in large numbers to the Dehong area, a dense forest area with a mild climate. Some also live in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, which has rare woods and medicinal herbs.

Jingpo grow vegetables, beans, potatoes, and yams; gather wild herbs and fruit and use a diet of rice and maize. They build their homes of bamboo and hide them in the dense forests and bamboo groves. The lower floor is used for keeping animals; the upper floor is the living quarters for the family. A tribal chief used to be head of their villages while the husband was the head of the family. The basic unit within Jingpo society is the husband and wife; however, in the past, some of the richer Jingpo and the shanguans practiced polygamy. Any inheritance would go to the youngest son who supported his mother and father. In former times, women had a low status within society.

Wine is important to the Jingpo; it is served to guests and shared by friends and acquaintances. The wine is carried in a bamboo wine tube that should never be totally emptied for it symbolizes that the wine will never be exhausted.

Jingpo sing and dance in groups and play wooden "elephant leg" drums, gongs, cymbals and bamboo flutes. Their dances reflect their life, work, war and sacrificial rites. One particular custom is to use objects to convey messages, particularly love messages. Young people have an elaborate system of communicating their love for one another through the use of tree leaves, hot peppers and other natural objects that symbolize their love-or lack of it. In the past, parents arranged marriages.

Jingpo are superstitious, practice sacrificial rites, and hold animistic beliefs. They bury their dead but cremate those who die an unnatural death.

The Jingpo language belongs to the Tibetan-Burmese language family. Though they have had a written language of their own for one hundred years, few people use it. Even so, thanks to liberation, the Jingpo have published newspapers, periodicals and books in their own language and are more literate today than in former times. Before they received a written language, they kept records by notching wood or tying knots.

Materially, life has improved for the Jingpo. They have worked to transform forest areas into tea plantations and orchards and have reclaimed mountain slopes for use as fields. Grain production has increased and industry has developed. Highways have been built on Jingpo Mountain. Life has also improved socially. In the early 1990s, two Jingpo writers won prizes for short works they had written. In additon, Pa Mo, a Jingpo woman, was awarded a prize at the Chinese Nationalities' Excellent Literary Works for her novel, the first written in the Jingpo language. The Jingpo also have deputies in the Provincial People's Congress and the National People's Congress.