This article on Kachin State was originally printed in the New Light of Myanmar on February 1st, 2005, as part of a series leading up to and immediately following the celebration of Union Day on the 12th of February. The original text along with accompanying pictures and tables can also be found in the archive of the print edition of NLM in the On-line Burma Library at http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs2/NLM2005-02-01.pdf An article summing up recent developments in the whole country with accompanying statistical tables was published in NLM on Union Day, 2005, and is available at http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs2/NLM2005-02-12.pdf.