Categorization
Two different categorization schemes complicate the terms Jingpo and Kachin, which also operate as political geography terms of British origin.
In one form of categorization, a variety of different linguistic groups with overlapping territories and integrated social structures are described as a single people: the Jingpo or Kachin. In another form of categorization, the native speakers of each language in the area are treated as distinct ethnic groups. Both schemes treat the Shan people who live in the same or contiguous areas as ethnically distinct. Jingpo people have frequently defied the Western expectation of lineage-based ethnicity by culturally "becoming Shans" (Leach 1965).
Read more about this topic: Jingpo People