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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Zaiwa of China

The Zaiwa of China, numbering approximately 143,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as a Miri-Kachin-speaking ethnolinguistic group indigenous to parts of southwest China and eastern Myanmar They are an Indigenous people, with Zaiwa as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Miri-Kachin people cluster of the Himalayan Peoples. Their primary religion is Chinese Folk Religion. They primarily speak Zaiwa.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Zaiwa

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Himalayan Peoples
Country: China
People Cluster: Miri-Kachin
Primary Language(s): Zaiwa (atb)
Primary Religion(s): Chinese Folk Religion
Population: 143,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007451
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Pray for the Zaiwa of China

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Chinese Folk Religion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

95%
%
Chinese Folk Religion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Zaiwa
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Zaiwa Speakers

Media Resources in Zaiwa:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Zaiwa:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Zaiwa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Marginally Reached People Group, (LPI: 4), 3% to 6% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical (GSEC: 4), this people group is greater than or equal to 2% evangelical

Next steps for the Zaiwa:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Zaiwa are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Zaiwa:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Zaiwa are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Zaiwa:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Zaiwa of China

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that those who are lost in darkness and confusion will come to understand God's ways, submit to His righteous rule, and experience the joy of His salvation.

Then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
readGenesis 2:7

Pray that Christians will be able to share the hope of Christ with suffering people and that He will breathe new life into their souls.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
readEphesians 5:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grasp the profound mystery of Christ's love for the Church, reflecting this love in their marriages.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sends me, even so I am sending you."
readJohn 20:21

Ask God to raise up and send out believers cross-culturally who will go out in His authority and be sustained by His peace as they share the gospel with the lost.

Zaiwa Across Countries (ROP3 - 110204) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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