Hmong/Mien
• Aka Miao, Meo/Yao
– relations with Han Chinese
– persecution, pressures to assimilate
• Migration into Southeast Asia
– S. China, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand
– association with mountains
– Strategy of survival: adaptive
mobility
• Mode of production - mixed
– foraging, swidden agriculture
– trade in forest products, opium
• Issues of self-sufficiency, autonomy,
mobility
• Social organization: family, clan
• Religion: spirits, ancestors, shamans
• http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=rV-VvtILsNE
• http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=K9DU-xmGKdo
Map of LAos
Hmongs from Laos
Hmong Tapestry:
DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE
• Traditional embroidered human
figures, animals and scenery
depicting the Hmong
experience such as New Year
festivals, the escape from Laos,
life in the refugee camps and
life in the United States.
VIETNAM War
l960-75
Fought South Vietnam
revolt & North Vietnam;
• 1-2 million killed in longest
U.S. war
• atomic bomb threats in
l968 and l969.
• Laos: 1971-73
U.S. directs South
Vietnamese invasion;
• "carpet-bombs"
countryside, aids Hmong.