Hmong in the diaspora is like a branch of a large tree. And that large tree is Miao, and it's roots are in China. Miao doesn't mean cat is Mandarin. The insult came from the southeast Asian languages that didn't translate Miao correctly. We've lost so much of our culture through war and oppression. It's time we start unlearning war propaganda and start accepting all the naunces and generational trauma for a healthy cultural journey back to our ancestors.
Now these are the same Hmong people that live in Southeast Asia and western nations after the Vietnam and Secret War. I've always wanted to go to this festival and I can understand this Hmong language. Thank you for sharing this video.
The hmongs in laos and US only have the men play the bamboo flute. Didnt know it was for woman only for china hmongs. Our cultures are still very similar. The leader carrying the chicken, the hmong folk songs, and many other things are still so similar. Our languages are so different now though, we cant understand chinese hmong and they cant understand us
What you researched is what my great great great grandpa passed down the generation to me. I myself am Black Hmong (Clothing) and speak White Hmong (Dialect). It's so wonderful to see Hmong through the world finally living in peace.
Can you dig deeper into the term, “Miao?” Why the Han Chinese use it to refer to us? And why we Hmong find it so offensive? Should we take offense to that term?
Thank you for covering the Hmong/Miaozu in Yunan. There are more thats scattered all over China, but the majority who still claim to be Hmong/Miaozu live in Guizhou, Hunan, Sichuan, etc. Many have assimilated to Han just like many ethnicities in Zhongguo after the unification. To be Han, many ethnic lost their origins as it is too hard to preserve just like the western or modern style of living. Preserving traditional ritual and practices are too hard for youngers to grasp and continue. But thank you for your brief history knowledge.
The Chinese knew they had to many indigenous groups under their conquest so they group many ethnic groups together and call them Miao. We are Miao to them but we have always been Hmong to ourselves. All true Hmong who haven’t been cross or genetically mixed to much will always carry the blond hair gene. We are the only Asian group who has this gene. Non of the other eastern or southeastern groups has this gene. If you don’t have the gene, you are probably bred out of the true Hmong genes. Those of us that still carry the genes probably need to do a DNA trace because we would be the only ones who can truly trace the DNA route back to our ancestor homes.
She knows very well that Chinese Authorites named many ethnic groups the " Miao " and Hmong is part of this term. China Authorities should say these people can choose to go by their own ethnic names or the Miao, and it's up to them.
thanks so much for the hard work behind the video. I like the historical information you included. It's obvious that those folks spent a LOT of time making their costumes in the Hmong pole/mountain mourning part of the festival.
I'm Hmong and this was the first time I saw the pole ceremony. I believe this isn't done with Hmong Festival in the US. Was this part of our original culture, or was it unique to Hmong in China? It sounds like they're speaking a dialect of Chinese because I can't understand what they're saying.
ask your upper generation if they ever heard of the pole ceremony? if they don't pass down the information, how the heck you pass on the information to your next generation??
@@Constellasian the pole ceremony is still very common practice even in the southeast. Nowadays the Hmong people in the US only do this with their own clan.
It’s pure Hmong, you are just not listening. There are a lot of accents depending on what type of Hmong you are. The mother tongue of the Hmong is more green than of the white accent.
14:58, Lusheng is meant for celebration, while Lu Qeng/Keng is meant for funerals and not to be played for fun. You can die by calling the dead to take you if there is no dead body at the funeral. Ghost will come after you.
Thank you for understanding about our Hmong peoples culture and the real truth of Hmong comings from and who are they Maos peoples no longer Maos peoples we are a Hmong peoples all over the world now, the word Meoas the only the Chinese peoples gave the name for us but we are Hmongs.
The Hmongs are a minority race in China. Amazing cultures, jewellery, costumes, music, food and dances. Some of their forefathers migrated to Laos and Vietnam, others remain in China. Strong family bonds remain, as family members often visit their loved ones across the borders. They still do today. ❤
Hmong means free and we will never accept the name Miao. However, I understand the historical name given to us by the Han Chinese. No respect to the narrator. Great job on your reporting of this and identify the Hmong people in your research. Today, as a Hmong American, I have no quarrels with my Chinese brothers. History is history, we are one people.
Come on we Hmong people if you think we are Miao then you not a group Hmong people ok. We the Hmong or Mong not accept that name Miao remember that the name Miao is a ethnic group in China what the Chinese name us but we Hmong people not accept that name, we are still Hmong or Mong.
The early sino tibetans were more similar to austronesians residing in the northeast china. They probably infused with existing austronesian or tai kra dai people. They wore animal parts and had body ink and worshipped totem poles. Miao language seems ro be a combination of kra dai and sino tibet. Kra dai also has similarity with austronesian and sino tibet. Also, the people of indonesian, lahut, and other south east asian people do bamboo organ flute, Buffalo sacrafice, spiritual altar shrine. It makes sense that early miao were some nanman people similar to austronesian, kra dai or tibeto burman. The head dress miao woman wear is similar to the ones worn by taiwan aboriginals with flower, pheasant feather except the miao turned it into silver while the taiwanese people kept natural parts.
Haha, peb hmoob yeej ib txwm hu ua Miao, tus nplog liab kiag los lawv tseem hu peb hmoob ua Miao. Txij li thaum nais phoos Vaj Pov sawv los ua tus coj hmoob thiaj pauv hu ua hmoob lawm xwb.
Hmong is a modern term given to the migrant who left China to Laos during vang pao came to lead them. There are many reasons why. Hmong is pronounced like miao in china because the h nasal sound can't be said by everyone. Dialect change has lead to different pronunciation. Each miao group Call themselves something different. Hmao, Hmu etc. There are multiple groups not just one. Hmong is just another sub group like how all dogs come from wolves. Imagine if a person with speech problem tries to pronounce hmong. It would sound like Miao. The original meaning for the word Miao means sprouting plant. The original character for the chinese symbol of the miao people is a crop. This is because when the hans arrived, they spotted the miao people as great cultivators of rice. After war broke out between the 2 groups, the word became negative because the hans could never extinguish miao so they began to refer to miao as a weed plant that was like a pest or annoyance. Learn your history first before you accuse researchers. Chinese miao people don't call themselves hmong and they know that they are the older culture and they only refer to themselves as miao or the sub group names. Hmong are only the ones who migrated and left to south east asia. 3000 years ago hmong didn't exist. Miao came from other tribal chinese people and split Into miao, mien, lahut, jingpo, etc. Their dna and cultures are similar. These older group of people were likely the nanman people who were early hunter gathers and cultivated wild millets and wore body inks, worshipped totems and wore animal parts.
@@Dnwudc8I would say that the majority of us Hmong people in Laos,Thailand, and western countries are very ignorant of our history. I don’t have an issue with the term Miao. It’s the name they chose when the CCP asked what they would like to be called. The term Meo is a bit different. I’ll fight anyone that calls me that.
"our country, USA" lol. USA is not your country and your Hmong Americans only make up a small percentage of the total Hmong population across the planet. Just because your history of Hmong is that of the minority that migrated to Laos and then to the US, it doesn't mean that your history overwrites that of the majority that stayed in China or migrated to Vietnam.
Tos hmoob tsis muaj kev vam meej los cas tsis ua yam tshiab qhov tshiab uas yog kev vam meej hos tseem rov qab mus ua thiab khav txog tej qub2 uas yog lub neej poob2 qab yav tas los xwb. Thov thiab os hmoob aw..
If Hmong people were forcefully relocated to Gansu in the past that could possibly explain the blond hair that sometimes pops up. Maybe the Hmong people who claim we are Siberian took those stories of coming from a cold place and reached a little too far up north. The Siberian theory is a stupid one though.
But we are still Miao people at the end of the day. That’s where we came from and we still have people there who speak hmong but it’s broken and some speak really good hmong
Not true. When they speak in their native tongue they acknowledge each other as Hmong. Only when they speak in Mandarin, they'll refer to themselves as Miao.
@@Emyrtemoc i think they still could understand the original miao language. unfortunately, the current miao people are han-nibalized like Manchurian in the northeast china. however these miao people are still very alive with their language and culture. when the miao people start speaking mandarin, that when the hmong gets lost.
We are the same group. Miao is hmong. Thats how the chinese call hmong in china. In america we just call us hmong. All hmong in china are miao and they just speak different dialect depending on the region. Culture and tradition will also change depending on the group of hmong. Just look at hmong us and hmong viet and hmong laos. Were all hmong but majority of our tradition and culture is the same. Something will be change as a way to make things easier.
@@mickeyher8709 No no, Hmong and Miao are not the same group. The Chinese combined the Hmong and other small groups into with the Miao group. That's why in China, they called the Hmong, Miao. Hmong-American, Hmong-Lao, Hmong-Vietnam, Hmong-Thai, Hmong-Chinese.....We all are the same Hmong. However, Hmong and Miao are NOT the same.
You're not quite right. Miao is a big umbrella term just like the Han. Hmong is one of them. Languages are different, but it's only because we don't understand each other. Linguists have carefully analyzed the different languages of Miao and saw that they were indeed related and can be traced back to Proto-Hmongic, a language spoken around 2,000 years ago. As for cultures, they are indeed very similar and mostly the same but have different variations because of natural isolation from each other (due to living in hilly and mountainous areas) and sometimes it could be from war or suppression or different influences in their surrounding area. This is true for languages as well. Let's take a simple example; White Hmong and Green Hmong. Both of their dialects have already diverged before migrating to Vietnam and Laos about 200 years ago. Even their customs and rituals have gone in a different direction due to the same reason as I previously mentioned. Their folk songs went through different variations. Even their traditional clothing is different from village to village. What I'm saying is that we as humans in this world are always changing. It's slow and not really visible but it is changing like how we are aging. That goes for languages and cultures. It's always changing. The biggest similarities between all Miao groups are the qeej, the drum, the embroidery (especially the patterns and symbols), the usage of silver, the basic traditional outfit (not including their own variations), and customs. Fun fact: Pov pob was not originally a Hmong courting game. It came from the Zhuang people (who are related to the Thais and Laos) whom Hmong people have lived near back in China. You can search for it.
@@kmv40815 you're right,it's just like "kiv thev" those small white cotton bracelet we do during ceremonies,that's a Lao/thai theravada buddhist thing, same with all those so called "traditional dances" we do in the west, it's also from laos/thailand and it's not really part of our "hmong traditional culture" ...we adopted lot of customs from Laos and because our elders never questioned themselves if it was ours or not,we automatically thought it was a hmong thing
Hmong and Miao are exactly the same people: Miao is the Chinese Pinyin of the Chinese character “苗”, and Hmong is the English name of this ethnic group. You don't seem to know anything about Hmong.
They raise the Totem in Honor Of Kublai Khan. Hmong people had only migrated south for 600 yearss. Hmong people had only reached south asia during the take over of Song dynasty and kingdom of nanzhao that also was call Da meng guo (Great Mong Country) now named as Southern Zhao.
