Hmong << mawng >>, also called Meo or Miao, are a mountain people from southern China and northern areas of Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Hmong communities are also found in other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, and the United States. Worldwide, there are about 5 million Hmong.
Traditionally, the Hmong have farmed for a living. Their language is in the Sino-Tibetan group of Asian languages, which includes Chinese. A shaman (priest) plays a central role in the Hmong religion. Hmong women are famous for their needlework, which they use to decorate such items as skirts and baby carriers.
The Hmong culture probably originated in what is now central China about 4,000 years ago, before China’s first dynasty began. As China’s civilization expanded, it pushed the Hmong into remote mountain regions. Hmong farmers began migrating into Southeast Asia in the 1800’s. Beginning in the 1950’s, Hmong soldiers fought the Communist Pathet Lao movement in Laos, and some Hmong later assisted U.S. forces during the Vietnam War. After the war ended in 1975, the Pathet Lao gained control of Laos and persecuted and imprisoned many of the Hmong allies of the United States. Between 1975 and the early 1990’s, about 100,000 Hmong fled to the United States and Canada. Most of them settled in urban areas.
