Who are the Hmong People and Hmong Americans?
Hmong people are a minority group with origins in Central and Southern China. They are one of China’s 56 officially recognized nationalities, mínzú. The Chinese government classifies them under the term “Miao,” which includes four distinct cultural groups: Hmu, Qho Xiong, A-Hmao, and Hmong. While these groups may have similar traditions, they speak different languages. The Hmong dialect is not understandable to Hmu or Qho Xiong speakers, but A-Hmao and Hmong speakers may be able to converse with each other.
Scientists who study genetics and language believe that Hmong people originally lived in the Yangtze River region of China. DNA research links modern Hmong people to the ancient Daxi culture that thrived there from 5000 to 3300 BCE. Studies of ancient words suggest that early speakers of Hmong-Mien languages were farmers who grew a type of rice called japonica. Japonica rice cultivation began 9,000 to 6,000 years ago. This shows that Hmong and Mien have a long history of farming in central China.
Rice remains an important part of Hmong culture today, a staple food for Hmong communities around the world. The Hmong word for “to eat” is “noj mov,” which literally means “to eat rice.”
Hmong and Miao histories in China were marked by conflicts from the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) through Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Chinese expansion into southern frontier regions, where Hmong and Miao lived, increased in the 1400s. By the 1600s, the Chinese government encouraged Han settlers to move into these areas, seize Hmong land, marry Hmong women, and enforce Chinese customs. Military force and strict laws further reduced Hmong autonomy, pressuring people to abandon their traditions. As more Han settlers arrived, Hmong and Miao were gradually pushed out of fertile lowland areas and forced to live in rugged, mountainous regions with poor farmlands.
With mounting pressure, some Hmong people assimilated, adopting Chinese language and way of life. The Chinese called them “cooked Miao.” Others resisted, fighting to preserve their culture and identity. These groups were labeled “raw Miao” because they refused to abandon their cherished traditions and customs. “Cooked Miao” often assisted Chinese military forces in conflicts against “raw Miao” until the early 1900s. Facing ongoing oppression, thousands of Hmong people fled China in search of new homes in the highlands of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
