The Miao, known as Hmong in the West, is one of the minority groups of China. Originally the Miao came from the North Plain of China, north of the Yellow River. Legend says that after the defeat of Jioli, a tribal group who fought against Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor, the Miao started to migrate south. They crossed the Yellow River to Jiang Wei Jing Zou region. There they established a kingdom called "San Miao" or "Vaj Peb Hmoob" as called by the Miao/Hmong. Now this region consists of Hubei, Hunan and Jiangsu provinces. During the era of Yao, Shun, and Yu, the founder of the Xia Dynasty, the Xia government, known as the Han people and the San Miao fought each other to control the beautiful land of the region. Finally, the San Miao were defeated and migrated westward to what we know today as the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and Guangxi. Later on some of these people also migrated to the Island of Hainan and to Southeast Asia. In Southeast Asia these people are known as "Hmong". Due to wars, econimic problems and the pressure of other larger groups the Miao were forced to live in marginal regions usually mountainous areas where transportation and communication were difficult. Being separate geographically their languages developed into many dialects and subdialects, but today we find that there are three main regional dialects: Eastern, Central and Western. The Eastern dialect is referred to the Hunan Miao located in Hunan and northeastern Guizhou; the Central dialect is known as the Qiandongnan Miao located in southeastern Guizhou; the Western dialect is reconized as the Yunnan Miao and spoken by the Southeast Asian Hmong.
In the Qiandongnan region the Miao built their houses in three stories. The first floor is for keeping animals; the main floor is the second floor which includes the living room, kitchen, guest room and sleeping rooms. The third floor is where the crops are stored. Most of the houses are made of wood and covered with tiles. A half moon symbol is always found at the central of the roof crest. Crops such as soya been, corns and kao-liang are hung inside the house close to the ceiling and on the walls both inside and out. The women like to wear blue or black pants with blouses of blue, black or red that are covered with embroideries. The younger girls like to wear colorful costumes with the great deal of silver decoration, as well as, very ornats silver hats. The men wear casual clothing without any decorations. Living in the remote areas most Qiandongnan Miao rely on the rice, corn, Kao-liang, sweet potatoes, soya bean and vegetables they grow on their land. They also rais some domesticated animals such as chicken and pigs. Fish are raised in an interesting way. After the young rice shoots are planted in the rice paddy and they get larger the paddy is flooded with water. At this time the farmer puts in little fish that are raised for food to be eaten later.
The Qiandongnan Miao are well known for their festivals. The New Year celebration is the most famous and significant. Usually, it is celebrated during month of November, the 10th month of the Lunar Calendar. First of all, the family will kill pigs and pound the traditional rice cakes or "ncuav" as known to the Hmong. Relatives and neighbors are invited to join the New Year. In fact, during this New Year, men will gather in groups to eat and drink rice wine going from one house to another everyday. Boys will blow bamboo pipes and a drum is beated all day long while young girls dressed in their colorful costumes dance and sing. It is a very attractive event both for the Miao and tourists.
In order to know more about the Miao I encourage you to take the China Semester which is sponsored by California State University, Fresno. This is a program that a coordinator will take you on to study in China for three months. When you are there you will have time to learn about both the Han Chinese and Miao Chinese cultures.
