A contribution to the study of Hmong (Miao) migrations and history

Abstract

For centuries the Lolo, or Yi, the Miao and the Chung-chia, or Pu-yi - to name but the most numerous of these groups - criss-crossed the Massif, fleeing from stronger aggressors or simply seeking better opportunities elsewhere; their settlements today are scattered all over these remote mountain ranges. 1 This survey of the history of Hmong migrations is part of a project of research on the ethno-history of the Miao/Hmong in Southeast Asia conducted by the same authors. The result is a detailed and comprehensive survey of most of the reliable early historical sources in these two languages.2 In Laos and in Vietnam, and in a different way in Thailand and China, the relationship between the state and the Hmong minority still is a sensitive issue. In a discussion of the early contacts with westerners - particularly since the 15th century - and the subsequent appearance of various reports and observations on the highland minorities of the region, no definitive con- 214 Christian Culas and Jean Michaud elusions can be drawn about the real identity of the groups referred to as Miao by the earliest western authors (to be able to reach any such conclusions, we would need more linguistic data or, at the very least, reliable descriptions; the work involved would require collaboration between historians, linguists and ethnologists). According to Chinese sources, as well as early western ethnography, this group comprises four linguistically and culturally related sub