YangSee in China: Part V: Miao Villages

The Hmong people originated out of China, and were called Miao, a name given to a diverse group of ethnic minorities who resided in the mountains. The Hmong and Miaos fought numerous battles with the Han Chinese and many were driven out of their homes into southern China. While many of the Hmong fled China south into Laos, Vietnam, and eventually into Thailand, a large group of the Hmong remained in China. Today, the majority of Hmong or Miao, still lives in China. In truth, there is no way of telling which Miao group is who, but they are labeled more by their traditional clothing styles, such as Miao Butterfly, or Miao Flower, due to the respective designs on their clothings.

One of our main purpose in going on this China study tour, was to go visit some of the Miao villages, to interact with them, and hopefully learn more about our history and story. We ended up visiting three villages. The first one was a bigger village, coincidentally, the name of the hotel we stayed in was The Hmonger Hotel, and this village was the biggest and most touristy of the three. The next two we visited, were much more remote, smaller, and less touristy.

The first village had a lot of shops and restaurants. There was a small man-made river that runs through the village, splitting it into two, but necessary to irrigate the rice fields. They even held cultural dances and performances in the center of the village. They had long roads filled with souvenir shops on both sides of the streets. This village also had several hotels towards the back of the village. This was where we stayed at The Hmonger Hotel. This Miao village was clearly a tourist village, as evident by the amount of shows, shops, and restaurants they had in the village center.

The second village we visited, was just a brief tour. It was a very small remote village. The village was located on the mountainside, and we had to park at the bottom and climb up to take a quick tour of the village. We saw some men working, in the process of constructing a building. They built and used a bamboo structure to help them climb and transport wood. We saw some kids wondering around, but very few people. There wasn't much to the village, other than houses made of wood and bamboo. There were also small gardens off to the side on the steep slopes of the hill.

The last village we went to was smaller than the first and less touristy, but also much bigger than the second one. They knew we were coming, and had planned a welcoming ceremony for us. Before this, we went and met with the village chief. He had planned on his daughter-in-law taking us out to their nearby farm/garden to pick some fresh vegetables to come back and prepare for that night's dinner. Since they lived out in the countryside, the path from their house to the garden consisted of climbing very steep paths and stairs. When we arrived at their garden, only the garden was flat and we had to be very careful walking on the edge of it, as there was about a ten feet drop off to the garden below it. We picked some fresh cabbages, greens, and another type of flower vegetable that is only used for pig feed. The students also balanced the vegetables out on the basket carrier, which had two baskets at the end of a long wooden pole, and carried it back on their shoulder. Once back at the village chief's house, we helped prepared the vegetables by washing and prepping them for dinner. Then we were on our way to the welcoming ceremony. The welcoming ceremony was very beautiful. The whole village dressed up in their traditional clothing, the men performed their lusen/qeej instrument and welcomed us, and the ladies gave us drinks from the buffalo horns. The ladies also sang a very beautiful song as we all walked by. They also put on a show for us, a re-enactment of the sacrificing of the water buffalos to ward away evil spirits and for good fortune. Then we headed back to the village chief's house for dinner. A couple of villagers were also invited for dinner and they came to join us. It was here where we attempted to try speaking to each other in our Hmong language.

We knew there was a strong possibility we were not going to be able to communicate, and that was the case. Our Hmong language and theirs have adapted so much since we have separated. They mainly speak Mandarin now, even when they speak in their Miao/Hmong language, there is a strong Mandarin influence, very similar to our version of Hmonglish. However, what was interesting was beyond the surface level of greeting and casual conversation, once we got deeper into more about culture and religious practices, there were quite a few words that were either still the same, or very closely resembled each other. For instance, when honoring someone, and asking them to drink, it was still the same, "haus dej" and when talking about shaman practices, many words very closely resembled each other.

Not only that, the sewing on their outfits, were very familiar, in terms of designs, patterns, colors, and pieces of garments. One big difference was the amount of large silver jewelry they wore that we typically do not wear, especially on their headwear. Their skirts are very beautiful and colorful, filled with many different designs and patterns, many of which were the same and very similar to ours.

First village, entrance into the village.

First village, one of the many performances they put on.

First village, in the museum, a was figure of a Miao shaman that is very similar to a Hmong shaman.

First village, in the museum, wax figures of Miao women in their traditional clothing. Their dress and shirts are very similar to Hmong, however their headwear is quite different.

First village, museum, these are the Miao lusen/qeej instrument. The only difference here is that their's are straight, whereas the Hmong qeej is shorter and curved.