During the main event on Friday morning at the Christian Centre located in Myitkyina's Manau Park, about 500 participants, mostly students from Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships heard speeches from invited guests regarding the formation of Kachin state. There was a prayer service according to Nhkum Tang Gun, a youth director from the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC), who took part in the celebrations. The event was organized by Kachin civil society organizations that work independently of the government.

Many of the participants expressed concern about the upcoming national census slated from March 30 to April 10. “All participants rejected the framework of the new census because it could lead to eliminating the name “Kachin state” in the near future,” explained Nhkum Tang Gun.

Many Kachin are upset because the census is designed in a way that forces Kachin to indicate what Kachin sub-group they are from as there is no Kachin box on the census. They worry this will result in a distortion of the data by reducing their numbers in state.

Kachin state was formed six days after Burma received independence from Britain on Jan.  4 1948. It was established in line with Panglong agreement signed in February, 1947 between General Aung San and representatives of the Kachin, Shan and Chin ethnic groups.

The Kachin state public celebrations were officially banned following Gen. Ne Win's takeover of the country in 1962. This ban was in force until the KIO's 1994 ceasefire with the central government, after which unofficial annual public celebrations were allowed to take place.

Seven decades after its creation Kachin state continues to be an area rife with armed conflict. Since the 17 year ceasefire between the KIO and the central government ended in June 2011 more than 100,000 people have been displaced in Kachin and parts of neighboring northwestern Shan state.