Achang people have their own spoken language, which belongs to Tibetan-Burmese Austroasian of the Sino-Tibetan Phylum. Most Achangs can speak Chinese and Dai language. Some live in Husa can also speak Burmese and Jingpo language. The Achang ethnic group has no written script and Chinese is widely used.

Achang people live on agriculture, in particular on rice planting. Situated on the southern tip of the Gaoligong Mountain, the area peopled by Achangs has a warm climate, vast fertile land and innumerable watercourses, which all give rise to the prosperity of agriculture. Major agricultural products are rice, corn, and beans.

The Achang are found in western edge of Yunnan Province along the Burma border. The Achang like to wear black clothes. The women wear tight-fitting and long-sleeved jackets with buttons down the front, and sarongs. They also wear head wrappings and putees. The boys wear white head wrappings while the married men wear dark blue. The young men usually wear a "Husa Knife," a long-famed handicraft of the Achang. It is sometimes inlaid with silver. It is both a tool and a necessary ornament. The women are in the habit of chewing tobacco and reed seeds and deem black teeth beautiful. The Achang are mountain farmers. Some groups believe in primitive spirits and practice ancestor worship, while others believe in Hinayana Buddhism.