Hmong people

Miao 苗 (miao2) or Hmong was probably an older race than the Chinese.

Nomenclature -- Miao or Hmong

Two terms, Miao and Hmong, are both currently used to refer to one of the aboriginal peoples of China. They live mainly in southern China, in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi and Hubei. According to the 1989 census, their number in China was estimated to be about 7 million. Outside China they live in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Burma, due to migrations starting in the 18th century, and also in the United States, French Guyana and Australia, as a result of recent migrations in the aftermath of the Indochinese wars. Altogether there are approximately 8 million speakers of the language. This language, which consists of 30-40 mutually unintelligible dialects, belongs, together with the Bunu language, to the Miao branch of the Miao-Yao (Hmong-Mien) language family.

Western researchers do not treat the terminological problems in a uniform way. Early writers used Chinese-based names in various transcriptions: Miao, Miao-tse, Miao-tsze, Meau, Meo, mo, miao-tseu etc., but due to the influence of the Hmong of Laos (a sub-group of the Miao people) some contemporary researchers have adopted another terminology.

The Miao themselves use various self-designations and the Chinese traditionally classified them according to the most characteristic colour of the women's clothes. The list below contains the self-designations, the colour designations and the main regions inhabited by the four major groups of Miao in China:

Ghao Xong, Red Miao west Hunan.  
Hmu, Gha Ne (Ka Nao), Black Miao southeast Guizhou.  
A Hmao, Big Flowery Miao northwest Guizhou and northeast Yunnan.  
Hmong, White Miao, Green (Blue) Miao, Small Flowery Miao south Sichuan, west Guizhou and south Yunnan.  

Thus only one group out of four uses the term Hmong. Furthermore, it is only this group which has speakers living outside China. It is these non-Chinese Hmong who advocate that the term Hmong be used not only for designating their dialect group, but also for the other groups living in China. They generally claim that the word Miao is a derogatory term which should not be used at all. Instead the term Hmong is to be used to designate all groups of the people. However this can also be a result of confusing denotation with connotation. The Chinese expeditioners and invaders gave to the Hmong the appelation "Miao", which later became "Meo" and "Man". Latter term means the southern "barbarian" - an expression formerly used, in Europe, by the Romans to designate other peoples. The word 'miao' has been taken over by other peoples in southeast Asia, Vietnamese, Lao, Thai etc. in the form Meo. Though many of the speakers of those languages (and of Chinese) undoubtedly consider the Miao to be barbarians, this by no means proves that the word itself has that denotation. It is, of course, also possible that the speakers of Lao, Thai and Vietnamese, who have taken over the word 'miao' from Chinese, have lost the original meaning "seedling" and use it only to designate a people whom they consider to be barbarian. If pronounced with the wrong tone in Thai or a high tone in Cantonese the word means "cat". This might explain the strong resentment against the term 'miao' among the Hmong groups in southeast Asia.

In China, however, the situation is different for two main reasons. The Miao groups have different self-designations and only a small proportion use the word Hmong. The rest have no feeling that Hmong is in any way preferable to Miao as a common designator. Since the official classification of the minorities in the 1950s some minority groups have complained about the word used in Chinese to designate them and have asked for the government to change the official usage. The Miao groups of China have, to my knowledge, voiced no such concern. The second reason is purely pragmatic: it is impossible to introduce the word 'hmong' into Chinese as this syllable does not exist in the Chinese language. As a matter of fact, this is also the case for the English language, as few speakers are able to pronounce an unvoiced nasal. However, in English, unlike Chinese, it is at least possible to write the word Hmong.

Many Hmong living in the West believe that every people should have the right to choose their own self-designation in other languages. At first this policy might seem reasonable, but it would result in numerous problems of spelling and pronunciation if implemented universally.

The term Hmong was proposed as the esignation of the Miao groups speaking the Hmong dialect in China and for the Miao outside China. This usage is by now well established in Western literature. However, I think that it is best to use Miao as a general term, especially as this is in accord with tradition and is also practical for making the situation clear to persons not specialising in Miaology. Many persons have already been confused by the present terminological state and see no connection between the Hmong and the Miao. Perhaps not much can be done about this now but hopefully some people will understand the relation between the words Miao and Hmong better, if they are used in a more logical way.

(wikified from a newsletter (Number 17 June 1992) of the Department of Anthropology, Australian National University)

Course in History

According to the Chinese legend, the tribe under Chi you (蚩尤 chi1 you2) was defeated at Zhuolu(涿鹿 zhuo1 lu4 a defunct prefecture on the border of today Hebei and Liaoning province) by Huang Di (黃帝 huang2 di4), leader of the Huaxia (華夏 hua2 xia4) tribe as they struggled for supremacy of the Huang he valley. The compass was believed to be the crucial reason of Huaxia's victory. The battle, believed to taken place in 25th century B.C, was fought in heavy fog as Huaxia was able to match against Miao with the compass. After the loss, the original tribe splitted into two major smaller tribes, the Miao and the Li (黎 li2). Miao continuosly moving southwest and Li southeast as the Huaxia race, now known as Chinese or Han race, expanding southward. During the course of Chinese history, they were regarded as "barbarians" by the increasing technological and cultrural advanced Chinese. They were continuously pushed southward by

The term Miao was first used by the Chinese in pre-Qin times, i.e. before 221 B.C., for designating non-Chinese groups in the south. It was often used in the combinations 'miaomin', 'youmiao' and 'sanmiao'. At that time the people lived in the Yangtze valley, but later they were forced by the Chinese to move further southwards. During the Tang (613-907 A.D.) and Song dynasties (960-1279 A.C.) the term 'nanman' was used for the same peoples. However, the name 'miao' reappeared in Fan Chuo's book on the southern tribes, Manshu (862 A.D.). During the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) 'miao' and 'man' were both used, the second possibly to designate the Yao people.1

They both refer to the same group of people. Four groups of Miao or Hmong each with are residing in China: the Red Ghao Xong, Miao, Since the Miao was the direct Pinyin romanization from the Chinese character. If pronounced with the wrong tone in Thai or high tone in Cantonese the word means 'cat'. Also the original meaning of the word in Chinese is "seedling". It became "Meo" or "Man" as the latter term means the "barbarians" from the south - an expression formerly used, in Europe, by the Romans to designate other peoples. This might explain the strong resentment against the term 'miao' among the Hmong groups in southeast Asia.