The Hmong People

Who are the Hmong? The Hmong are an ethnic group in Asia, numbering several million people. For at least 2,000 years they populated the mountainous regions of southern China, and, since the 18th century, have spread further south into Indo-China: northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Burma.

The initial "H in "Hmong is how the word is pronounced in one dialect. It is spelled without the "H in the other, as in "Mong. The history of the Hmong is filled with persecution, privation and exile. First they suffered at the hands of the Han Chinese, and then became refugees on several occasions as they shuttled from area to area, looking for land to till and a place to settle. Some of the clans fought against the Pathet Lao during the "Secret War waged by the CIA against the Pathet Lao in the early 1970's. When that communist-nationalist faction eventually took control of the government, the Hmong were slaughtered by the thousands. Many fled to Thailand, where even today many thousands still live. The decade of the 1970's saw the Hmong dispersed to Australia, Canada, France, French Guiana and the United States. It took the United States 25 years to admit its involvement in the "Secret War, and even today some of America's former allies among the Hmong are classified as terrorists because of their work in the "armed conflict in Laos. (There is no exception for CIA-sponsored "counter-terrorism in the law.) Thus, they remain unwelcome in the United States.

The "White Hmong, called Hmong Der, and the "Green or "Green/Blue Hmong, (called the Mong Leng) are the two largest subgroups of the Hmong, and their manners of speaking are sufficiently distinct that they are considered separate dialects, though they are intelligible one to the other. The initial "H in "Hmong is how the "White Hmong say it; the lack of the "h is how the "Green Mong say it. A number of smaller ethnic and linguistic variations also exist.

China has classified as "Miao one of the official Chinese minority groups (one of 55), which includes the Hmong and a several related ethnic groups. The Miao live in the south: Yunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan. Extrapolating from census figures, it is estimated that about 3 million people speak Hmong/Mong in China. Historically, "Miao referred to the native peoples of China's southwestern border regions. This Chinese term and words derived from it historically connoted barbarism, and are considered insulting to the Hmong, even though in China the term is regarded as a neutral one.

Today, about 150,000 Hmong live in Thailand, 500,000 in Laos, and almost 1 million in Vietnam. Some also are resident in Myanmar, but no one knows for sure how many they are.

After the diaspora of the Hmong/Mong peoples in 1975, many settled in the United States and Canada, where legislation was adopted for their benefit as victims of ethnic cleansing and as refugees from a violent and cruel war. The trend was to refer to this people as "Hmong, meaning all of that community, both "white and "green. The "Green Mong eventually succeeded in having their spelling used as well, so that in the United States, at least, it is common to see their ethnic group described as "Hmong/Mong.

Evidence continues to come out to indicate that the Hmong continue to be the targets of persecution and ethnic cleansing in Laos and Vietnam. The 2006 film, Hunted Like Animals, documents Laotian extermination policies against those who were repatriated from Thailand under a controversial program of the United Nations. Resettlement is still being discussed between the US, Australia, the EU and Canada on the one hand, and Thailand on the other. Access to the refugees, still in the camps of Thailand has been difficult to arrange through the Thai government.