Hmong Culture and History

The Hmong culture is found today in southern China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The original homeland of the Hmongs was in Central Asia, but they eventually moved southward until they settled in the mountains of Southern China. They were driven from their homes by the Chinese and again moved to the south, gradually seeping into their present ethnic enclaves. More than half a million Hmongs have fled from southern China since the beginning of the nineteenth century, though 2.5 million still live in china. Prior to Vietnam in April 1975, there were some 50,000 Hmongs in Thailand, 225,000 in Vietnam, and 350,000 in Laos, while some 50,000 came to America as refugees in the mid-1970s. The Hmongs were uprooted from their homeland by foreign invaders. They fought against the Japanese in World War II, then siding with the Royal Lao in opposition to the Pathet Lao, with fighting between the two sides from 1955 to 1975 (Kim, 1986, 294-295).

One of the most important Hmong populations to the United States has been that of Thailand, for the Hmong of that region fought on the U.S. side in Vietnam and elsewhere in Southeast Asia and subsequently migrated in large numbers to the United States. Northern Thailand is home to a number of different peoples. The lowland areas have for eight centuries been home to the Lanna or Yuan people, also called the Northern Thai, while the mountain slopes are home to a variety of tribal people who converged on the region from all directions and

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ter source, other villages, and perhaps to the nearest road. Certain services must be rendered to such village leaders as the political headman, the ceremonial head, and the village blacksmith. From time to time local Government officials, Border Patrol Police, or army officers also require certain services. At such times each household is expected to provide one or more persons to share in the labor. When a village function is held each household makes a contribution in money or kind. A tribal village is ideally a very close-knit community in which each member is dependent on the others for the safety and well-being of all (Lewis and Lewis, 1984, 12). Swidden agriculture is the primary means of cultivation in the area and is probably the oldest agricultural method in the world. It is a method of cutting down all the trees and underbrush on a wooded hillside, and once it is thoroughly dried, burning it off in preparation for planting. Rice is the main food for all tribal people, and thus finding suitable areas for its cultivation is a priority. The best site would be hillsides clothed with virgin forests, but these have long since disappeared. Secondary or tertiary forest which has had at least a ten-year fallow period

Category: Foreign - H