The words Hmong and Mong refer to an Asian ethnic group. Their homeland is in China, especially along the Yangtze and Yellow river. In the 18th century, Hmong people started moving to other Southeast Asian countries. Today, they live in all of China, northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. In 1975, communists took over Laos. After they took over, many Hmong people moved to the United States, Australia, France, French Guiana, and Canada. Hmong people divide themselves into the White Hmong, the Green Hmong, and other smaller groups.

History 

Hmong people have been living in southern China for at least 2,000 years.

Miao clans with Han origins 

Some of the origins of the Hmong and Miao clan names are a result of the marriage of Hmong women to Han Chinese men, with distinct Han Chinese-descended clans and lineages practicing Han Chinese burial customs. These clans were called "Han Chinese Hmong" ("Hmong Sua") in Sichuan, and were instructed in military tactics by fugitive Han Chinese rebels. Such Chinese "surname groups" are comparable to the patrilineal Hmong clans and also practice exogamy.

These Miao clans produced by Han Chinese men mating with Miao women introduced Han Confucian influence into Miao people despite culture in Miao society being transmitted maternally.

Han Chinese male soldiers who fought against the Miao rebellions during the Qing and Ming dynasties were known to have married with non-Han women such as the Miao because Han women were less desirable. The Wang clan, founded among the Hmong in Gongxian county of Sichuan's Yibin district, is one such clan and can trace its origins to several such marriages around the time of the Ming dynasty suppression of the Ah rebels. Nicholas Tapp wrote that, according to The Story of the Ha Kings in the village, one such Han ancestor was Wang Wu.  It is also noted that the Wang typically sided with the Chinese, being what Tapp calls "cooked" as opposed to the "raw" peoples who rebelled against the Chinese.

Hmong women who married Han Chinese men founded a new Xem clan among Northern Thailand's Hmong. Fifty years later in Chiangmai two of their Hmong boy descendants were Catholics. A Hmong woman and Han Chinese man married and founded northern Thailand's Lau2, or Lauj, clan, , with another Han Chinese man of the family name Deng founding another Hmong clan. Some scholars believe this lends further credence to the idea that some or all of the present day Hmong clans were formed in this way.

Jiangxi Han Chinese are claimed by some as the forefathers of the southeast Guizhou Miao, and Miao children were born to the many Miao women married Han Chinese soldiers in Taijiang in Guizhou before the second half of the 19th century.

From 1919 to 1921, the Hmong people were involved a war. The French called this war the War of the Insane.

From 1962 to 1975, the Hmong people were involved in the Laotian Civil War, also known as the Secret War.

Geography 

China has the largest population of Hmong people with 3 million Hmong people. Vietnam has 787,600 Hmong people, Laos has 320,000 Hmong people, and Thailand has 150,000 Hmong people. Some Hmong people live in Myanmar.

Outside of Asia, the United States has the most Hmong people; it has 186,310 Hmong people. France has 15,000 Hmong people, Australia has 2,000 Hmong people, and French Guiana has 1,500 Hmong people. Canada and Argentina have a total of 600 Hmong people.

References

Other websites 
Webquest for English Language Learners

Ethnic groups in Asia
Thai people
Laos
Vietnamese people