The Jingpo people are one of main ethnic groups in Ruili. They are mainly distributed in the mountainous areas from Dengga Village which faces Myanmar across a river in the west to Zhefang Town in Luxi and Mengli Village which is connected with Luanchuan County in the east. Judging from the distribution of each branch, the Jingpo branch mainly inhabits in Dengga Village, Leinong Village, and Hulan Village; the Long'e branch mainly inhabits in Mengxiu Village and Nanjingli Villag; the Leiqi branch inhabits in Mengli Village and Nanjingli Village; the Zaiwa Branch has a larger population, and it is distributed in Huyu Village, Banling Village, Nongxian Village, Dengzha Village, Mengdian Village, Huwa Village, among other places.

Originated from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Jingpo people are descendants of the ancient Di and Qiang peoples. There is a popular legend among the Jingpo people that their ancestors originated from the “Mushibishoulabeng Mountain” (the northeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau). It says that they came from a far-fetched place north of the source of the Malikha River and Nmaihka River, where it was very cold and often snowed; as crops found it difficult live in this place, they moved south. About a thousand years ago, they migrated south along the Jinsha River, Nujiang River and N'Mai River, and gradually settled in the mountainous areas of today's Dehong Autonomous Prefecture in the 17th century, which was more than 300 years from today.