This book is about changes and adaptation to the new social environment of the Kachin or Jingpo in the sourthwestern part of Yunnan province along the Chinese-Burmese boder. The authors noted that the Jingpo society had been changing since their migration into China and contacts with the Tai and the Chinese Han. The changes were divided into two phases. The first phase was before 1949, which was the beginning of the 17^th century. The second phase started in the mid-19^th century. During the two phases, the most important major change was the acceptance of the wet-rice cultivation culture. Important transitions in the 19^th century included wet-rice cultivation, a chage of relationships between chiefs and commoners, and a change of the relationship between Jingpo society and external societies.