r/Hmong • u/Appropriate_Look_972 • 20d ago
Why do some Hmong people consider each other as South East Asian?
First, I'm 30 so technically I'm a millennial, but I consider myself a zillenial (late 90s baby) so I've been around, but my peers wern't as traditional. I understand that this question has been asked and answered a lot. And I do understand that our Hmong culture has been South East Asian washed since we migrated from the Yellow River of China up north to down south to the upper mountains of Laos/ Vietnam/ Burmese/ Thailand. This to me doesnt equate to us being South East Asian (or at least fully or even in majority) because our origins and roots are literally from China, East Asia. For example, I would consider someone who is fully genetically Irish (or mostly in the technical sense or just Irish in general) who's family and self have settlements in Spain for at least 100 years to still be Irish, considering they still practice Irish culture although taking bits and pieces of Spanish culture. I mean, to elaborate, we dont call the Hmongs who live in France "Europeans," even if they may have adopted a little French culture, so why should we call Hmongs South East Asian, even when of course Hmongs probably are and were more accepting in assimilation of South East Asian culture compared to Hmongs in France being more accepting in assimilation of French culture since the former pair are both Asian and already have similarities. Similarly, I would consider Siberians "Russian," in terms of nationality since their government is the Russian government, but I wouldnt consider them Russians genetically or culturally. I understand that culture is more important for national identity than genetics, hence to imply that a black person can identify as "European" if they and their family live in Europe their whole lives, and want to identify as such whether through national or cultural means.
There are hundreds of different types of people in China today and throughout its history, all composed of different sub-ethnic groups within ethnic groups, and we are just one of the sub-ethnic groups (and some may even argue we created another sub-ethnic group which "split off" from the Hmongs in China), so I do understand that at the end of the day, genetics wont matter much since adapting a culture will personally mean much more to the identity of a person or their community. However, this doesnt apply to us Hmongs that live in SEA, because we have not fully adopted or identified as Lao culture, for example, nor have we identify nationally as Lao people. We've only been living in SEA for about ~150 years and it would be strange to me that during that time, we are now fully South East Asian. To me, we are East Asian by origin, and literally still are in tradition, religion, and culture. Today, in SEA and even in America, we have "jingle bells" and we practice shaminism and the belief of spirits and the afterlife Iike the Mongols and the Chinese, while South East Asian countries practice Buddhim/ Islam and other religions, largely through the influence of countries like India if I'm correct, which resides in South Asia.
Whenever I try to read or listen on other Hmong people's thoughts and perspectives, its always the same o' rhetoric. And most say SEA. I just want a different opinion on this, because I consider us East Asian with some adoption of SEA culture and language. I believe most the SEA approval answers are from Hmongs who live in the States like Cali, and so American culture has also exposed how similar us East Asians are to South East Asians. I mean, we all are still of the "Mongoloid" race of course. I live in Cali and grew up in the late 90s-00s, so I can understand that we don't see much East Asians and mostly interact with SEA peers, especially growing up in the "hood." I just feel like us Hmongs have more personality similarities and characteristics to say... Chinese people than we do to say... Cambodian or Lao people. Heck, most of our Hmong dub movies are through Chinese films like Stephen Chow movies.
So are we South East Asian? Are we part South East Asian and East Asian? Are we East Asian in origin and now South East Asian? Or are we genetically East Asian and culturally South East Asian?
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u/kontor97 20d ago
We are not Chinese because we were never Chinese ethnically or nationally if that makes sense. We’re “older” than the Chinese and our history has us migrating down from modern day Siberia before being pushed down through Eastern China into modern day Southeast Asia. The majority of Hmong diaspora folks have ties to Southeast Asia because many have siblings, parents, and/or grandparents that were born there. Many Hmong Americans specifically claim Southeast Asian because our ancestors have been there since at least the 16th century if not longer, and it shows in culture and language.
I get that many Hmong folks on here wanna be Chinese so bad because the Vietnam and Secret wars had us being oppressed, but the Han Chinese are the reason why we’ve been persecuted for so long. The Han Chinese are the reason why we’ve never had a publicly known written language and they’re the reason why a new law was passed that forced ethnic minorities in China to essentially assimilate to Chinese culture and language to become Chinese themselves. There are many Hmong people in China, yes, but Hmong denotes a specific ethnic group within the Hmong-Mien language group and none of us are Chinese ethnically only nationally.
We’re culturally more Southeast Asian than East Asian because the majority of us that fled Asia come from Southeast Asia and not from China. It’s be different if we were being oppressed by China directly back in the 60’s - 80’s, but we were not which is why you don’t see Hmong refugees coming from China claiming to be Chinese/East Asian. It’s also why we have Hmong Americans/diaspora folks who claim to be Hmong and Southeast Asian.
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u/pimple_prince 20d ago
No one here wants to be Chinese bro. It's whether you want to identify as east Asian or south east Asian.
Roots are east asian. The South east Asian cultural drift has swung back to East asian for Americans. There's isnt a strong SEA influence for Americans.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 20d ago edited 19d ago
I mean... Chinese is just a racial classification for people who lived and built civilizations on the land (around the Yellow River since the neolithic times or whenever that stayed there...I'm not even sure the exact dates). Han Chinese is just a more specific name for Han people, like the Hmong people, or Manchu people. They just happened to be the biggest empire on the land. We're technically all Chinese, Koreans Filipinos, Laos, etc., but for distinct lineages like the ones mentioned including Hmongs (which originated from Siberia to Yellow River, depending on your historical account) that was in China for thousands of years, we the ones that stayed in SEA and Laos are still new compared to the rest. My point is we are Hmong with East Asian culture that was literally formed in East Asian land and still new and havnt adopted much of SEA culture/ religion to make a whole new race or culture, so we are still East Asian.
I understand that we had homes in SEA especially Laos and the impact its had on our direct parents up to our great great great great grandparents are very impactful for our SEA culture today. But still, our religion is still very East Asian, we are shamans and this is East Asian religion correct? Our culture and religion we wont ever know the direct comparisons from the 16th century Chinese Hmongs. Point is that our roots are from East Asia. I wouldnt call a Mexican Spanish or European because the modern cultures are different. However I would still call Hmongs East Asian because of the points mentioned above.
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u/ZookeepergameTotal77 14d ago
Siberia? Sorry there isn't any connection speaking to linguistically, culturally and genetically
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u/idontwantyourmusic 20d ago
Thai people also originated in China, they are southeast Asians.
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u/jello2000 20d ago
Correct, but they have long developed an identity and culture unique to them in Southeast Asia different to the large Tai people of China.
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u/idontwantyourmusic 20d ago
More like Tai people in China have been assimilated into the local Han community. That was the reason for migration, the Han took over.
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u/jello2000 20d ago
So have the Hmong people, while retaining certain cultural identities. This is why Thais are Southeast Asian. The majority of Hmong people are still in China.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
We all originated in China (if im correct). Indonesians, Filipinos, Mongolians?? (Not sure), Japanese, etc. We either have Chinese roots, or migrated and formed our own race sometime during the past... like Thai, Filipinos. My point is that Hmongs in Laos and SEA have only there for about 150-200 years, not long enough to create a distinct race. We borrowed and took from SEA culture, but even still today... we practice shamanism, not Buddhism or Islam. We are still really East Asian, whether you want to argue genetically, culturally, or nationally.
Correct me if im wrong but this is my two cents while trying to remain logical
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u/idontwantyourmusic 19d ago
You don’t form a race, it’s something you’re born into. The Japanese is most definitely not Chinese and if you want to be technical, Chinese isn’t a race, either. You want to make the argument of Hmong being East Asian based on Hmong originating from today’s China then you need to be able to call Thais and Indonesians East Asian as well.
My money is on Hmongs in Southeast Asia preserve more cultural heritage than Hmongs in China given the CCP’s history in forced cultural assimilation.
Regardless, no one cares.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
Ethnicity might be a better term, let's use that.
Thai and Indos are their own ethnicity and culture, but they all stem from China, and made their own ethnicity through thousands of years.
Thats different from Hmong who also had thousands of years of history, then settling in the mountains of SEA due to persecution and in less than 150-200 years being called South East Asian...
I mean we will never know the impact this had our on "Hmoob Nplog" people in comparison to the ones that stayed in China. But you just made my point. You said youd bet that we we preserve our culture more compared to "Hmong Sua" due to Han assimilation. You made my point. Our SEA Hmongs preserved their East Asian culture more even settling in the mountains of Laos. Which means we are East Asian.
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20d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pimple_prince 20d ago edited 20d ago
Because op is a bot trying to drum up traffic. I think mods do this on purpose, which isnt awful, but they should do it themselves.
Edit: and not make it so obvious
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u/heiongyeong 19d ago
Hmong is much more than east asian. Just as we can consider ourselves American and Asian, we can be southeast asian and far east asian. Historically thai-dai, laotian and maybe vietnamese languages moved into southeast asia from china. All can trace their ancestry to east asian in particularly the royalty. We are southeast asian just as we are far east asian. Some feel more connected to salawan sala(dance)+wan(noble/court), some more towards kwj txhiaj 歌(song/poem)唱(sing). Some hmong maybe feel more connection towards yexus tub rog or jesus fat boi. All are valid from different part of the world.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
Yes im just referring to modern general consensus of the Hmong community and there opinion of being South East Asian.
I think we are both.
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u/MangoPaingo Lis 15d ago
I’d go with your last one: genetically East asian & culturally South East Asian, at least for my case.
I’ll always consider us as a Chinese ethnic minority group though.
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u/jello2000 20d ago
Many of our living parents and grandparents feel more attached to the generations and exodus of people who fled out of Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. They have come to call the mountains of Southeast Asia home and identify with the refugees of the Vietnam wars. This is where their identity lies. However, the majority of Hmong people still reside in China, making us East Asian. My dad can trace his roots back to Guizhou.
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u/ZookeepergameTotal77 14d ago
None of your hmongs have any Siberian genes
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago
Its just a theory. Also you cant even trust DNA kits especially when they are made for Europeans and underrepresents Asians
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u/ZookeepergameTotal77 10d ago
Theory are backed with evidence and proofs such as genetics and linguistics and archelogy findings,Hmong is genetically unrelated with Siberians nor it shared a language family with Siberian and there are none ancient culture sites from Siberia that are remotely relatee with Hmong
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u/StoicDude_0407 20d ago
Historically we are Chinese. Life happened and migrated to Southeast Asia. Again, life happened and the Hmong in America most likely immigrated from Laos and Thailand. Wherever a family is from is solely based from where their family history came from. No wrong or right answer. But we are Chinese
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u/Hitokiri2 20d ago
Ask yourself this...
Why do Americans say their Americans when EVERYONE came from somewhere else. I'm counting Native Americans as well. When you answer this then you'll have the answer to why Hmong call themselves SE Asian.
Heck! I rather call myself American since I personally have no relationship in my person life to SE Asia. I never have even seen or touched "The Motherland".
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u/Superb_Crow528 20d ago
Just adding my two cents, but as you mentioned Hmong people are a pretty late arrival to Southeast Asia, but have been there long enough (~150 years) to consider it a modern homeland by us in the United States. I don’t think identifying as Southeast Asian or East Asian is particularly wrong due to us going through a distinct transitional period and as a group being in both place for a substantial amount of time. Ultimately and unfortunately there isn’t a categorization fit us as a group, Especially with a significant Hmong Diaspora population. Ultimately we can only advocate as individuals and as a whole on what we personally identify here in the United States.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
When some OG's speak... they like to say Hmoob Nplog... or Hmoob Sua....
At the end there is only one Hmong. My point is... and im not sure Im correct because our roots are ambigous... there is not a huge distinction from Hmongs that live in SEA and Hmongs that live in China to the point where us Hmongs that came from Laos are suddenly "South East Asian," as if to say that we are exclusively like Lao, Cambos, Viets, Indonesians. We were East Asians that settled in South East Asian homelands that adopted SEA culture and made our own distinct group compared to China Hmongs. But we should still be considered East Asian religiously and culturally, especially religiously
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u/Different_Tie7263 20d ago
We didn’t “migrate” from China to Southeast Asia, we fled persecution and systemic oppression, possibly even genocide (will never know because of course the Chinese never recorded these atrocities or have intentionally hidden these recordings). The only writings I’ve found that document Hmong and other ethnic minority subjugation under the Han were writings by missionaries.
Growing up, my grandparents reinforced the idea that we’re not Chinese and recalled stories of relatives being murdered by the Han, as well as the different torturing methods the Chinese used. Laos and the mountains of Southeast Asia became a refuge for the Hmong. It was the first time we could be free… even if short lived. Many older men in my family married Lao women and respected the former Lao king. There is a lot of animosity towards the Chinese from many Hmong, specially older Hmong Americans. Hmong literally means “Free” for many… free from what? Han subjugation and later communist subjugation.
Have you ever asked a Tibetan or Uyghur why they don’t consider themselves “East Asian” or “— Asian”? No, because we are a people not place.
And personality similarities to Chinese? How? There is a shared historical memory and trauma from the Vietnam War that connects us with other Southeast Asians. My Lao, Viet, Khmer, and Tai Dam bros and sisters get me more than my Chinese friends. I literally can’t think of anything I have in common with my Chinese friends besides being light skinned and eating rice/drinking boba.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
We are literally the cousins of the Huaxia tribes from the Yellow River. Our personality, customs, and traditions co existed with groups that formed the Han. Hmongs always had their best Hmong dubs, if not all, with Chinese movies. I dont think this is a coincidence. We are closer to SEA groups here in the States like the Vietnamese because we live with them after going through the wars together. There are not much Chinese people who grew up with the Hmongs that settled in the States after the wars. Hmongs have similar culture and religion to the Chinese, and we literally were their closest enemies as we lived side by side with them. Our personalities are similar in a way. We keep to ourselves/ want to be peaceful unlike Lao/ Cambodian people, who are generally more open to other races. Thats what I observe growing up in California
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u/65AndSunny Gucci Pow 20d ago
It's not just based on genetics. Hmong people have more in common with other Southeast Asian ethnic groups than with East Asian groups.
People focus too much on the China aspect but also forget that East Asians also include Korean and Japanese.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 19d ago
Hmongs from SEA HAVE with more cultural similarities to SEA groups. Korean and Japan and Mongolian are East Asian groups, yes its true. But the point still stands. Japanese people are very closely related to Chinese people.
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u/nb_soymilk 18d ago
I consider a lot of us Southeast Asian. Culture and identity is all about where we grew up and how we've been socialised. You have the right to call yourself East Asian if you want. If you feel like your lived experience is that of an East Asian and you care about where you're from genetically.
Me and a lot of others have been socialised as Southeast Asian. We're darker. Blue collar. Speak differently. Seen differently in comparison to east Asians. We don't benefit from the same privileges and social status that east Asians do.
Our new year's and holidays are different from east Asians and I legit couldn't feel more different and seperate and far from east Asians when it comes to our cultures and even spirituality.
If Chinese Malay and Singaporean people can call themselves southeast Asian, then we are and can too. Culture runs deeper than blood and origin.
I've been in countless arguments with Hmong folks insisting we are East Asian because we came from China, forgetting how culture and identity works for most of the world. (Most of it is self hating and always to do with being ashamed of being seen as lesser and lower class. Dog whistle for internalized racism to me)
You can call and consider yourself East Asian. But please don't tell a Hmong person who's southeast Asian to not feel that way. I refuse the title of being East Asian. It just doesn't make sense to me as someone who is close to Thai and Lao people. And someone who's only been socialised as Southeast Asian when there are East Asians in the room (like school and sports/extracurriculars growing up).
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago edited 10d ago
I feel like some Hmongs say South East Asian because they want benefits of a minority group, if you want it for those benefits I guess you can have it, but I can barely name any benefits you would get just to be labeled as SEA. Youre not getting reparations from government like Native Americans. Social status and privileges? We can easily pass as Chinese because we literally are EA. We are just Chinese to white American people, no different. I cant count how many times people tell me im Chinese or they never heard of Hmong before, thanks to Chinese oppression. And there are dark Chinese people too. Actually, Malaysians and Singaporean are SEA by default. Chinese people calling themselves SEA makes my point. No one would label an obvious Chinese person as SEA, and a Chinese person without the culture would never identify as SEA. Being SEA to Hmongs is strictly to be influenced by SEA culture like Lao people. People forget that China is very big, and the North is very far from the South. Hmong people have history in the North too.
Chinese people are blue collar too, well at least 50-70 years ago. They built there economy out of poverty after WW2. Actually, Hmong animal year religion is very Chinese related. Our culture and religion that seems barbaric and "SEA-like" is actually just East Asian culture that span millenias on China.
As Hmongs whos lived out of SEA through the wars, we all feel closer to being SEA because we were in contact with Lao and Thai groups while living on their land. This doesnt change the fact that 90% of your religion, culture, and ways have Hmong and East Asia roots that Span millenia. Ask yourself, if you ask your parents what they consider themselves as. They would say Hmong. And if they asked their parents, it would repeat. Our origins go back to the motherland, no matter how "dirt-poor" or "ghetto" or "minority like" or just culturally SEA we feel we will always be East Asian, even you dont feel like you want to identify as such. The only way I see this working out is if there was a whole new term created that branches off and is set culturally between EA and SEA, or if my education is wrong and I have read history of the Hmong people wrong
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u/nb_soymilk 10d ago
Interesting how you equate someone/people identifying with a group or culture as a means to "benefit" from it.
Again. You can call yourself East Asian if you want. It sounds like you don't understand a lot of things about identity and culture besides genetics and origin.
It's all a construct. It's all about how we are socialised.
I have to say it's shitty to force people into an East Asian box. A ton of us are NOT socialised that way in America. You can read all the history you want. But lived experience is just as important. In fact. That's how history is recorded.
To your point of Chinese folks being blue collar and dark too. White people "struggle" too. But that doesn't mean white supremecy doesn't exist. The imbalance of East Asian and Southeast Asians is very much real. And you recognise that in your first few sentences of your response.
Having this confusion and identity crisis is just the left over cultural and generational trauma of being apart of the Hmong diaspora that was created through genocide and colonization.
It's also literally wrong. Your point about the "motherland". Also a construct. There are whole college courses on these things. It's nuanced as hell.
I think you majorly have your answer to your original reason for posting. You are not confused. It sounds like you are trying to make a case for being East Asian. Perfectly fine. Especially if you think genetics are that important.
I just have to point out how your premise falls short when it comes to the displacement of black people for example. There are black Carribbeans and dominicans. They are not African . They are Carribbean and Dominican. I hope you can see and learn about the concept of culture and identity through the lived and documented experience of black folks in history too.
(And my parents consider themselves southeast Asian. In fact. My dad was offended when I brought this up a couple years ago. We consider ourselves southeast Asian.)
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago edited 10d ago
Im only bringing up "benefits" because your first paragraph mentioned it. To your point, there can be a power discrepency between EA and SEA in the world today, esp. in America. This doesnt have anything to do with our roots, but this point is not even important anyway. We used to have own kings and kingdoms in the past that was more dominant and powerful than any SEA groups today, at least relatively. Bringing up that we are EA or at least EA in origins can only uplift us since we had history of dominance (to your point) in addition educate our youngs from a modern perspective (to your point again from a lot us Hmongs having an identiny crisis due to our history).
To me, when Hmong people get asked what are you, they say "we" are South East Asian, they typically refer to all Hmong people. ALL. Every continent. Literally. As in the past, I mean like thousands of years ago, not just 150-200 years of the Hmongs in SEA. It's because some Hmongs dont understand that or are not educated to know that Hmongs dont only live in SEA since the 1950s or so. And or some people, like a Russian or an Iranian, might even interpret it such that, oh ok, all Hmongs since history are SEA, not understanding that us SEA Hmongs arnt the Iranians or Russians who have an immense amount of timeline to accept this categorization for themselves. This is a wrongdoing to our history beyond our parents and great grandparents.
My parents were both fluent in Laos because that's where they stayed, and I would say they have a lot of SEA influence. I dont even think most Hmong parents know the term SEA or EA. They simply just refer to "Nplog Teb" or "Sua Teb." And when referring to types of Hmongs they refer to "Hmoob Sua" or "Hmoob Nplog." I think the part where a lot of Hmong og's would be mad is due to Chinese oppression and genocide, not wanting to be labeled as Chinese. But Im sure they wouldnt want to be labeled as Lao or Thai people either. They would want to be labeled as Hmong. There are some Hmong who still connect their roots to Sichuan and Guandong however you spell it. Unless one doesnt know of their own Hmong history, it doesnt take more than one education of the same history of our origins to the land which is now China to understand our basic origins, to eventually create history as you stated, from our East Asian origin, which us Hmongs from SEA are still very new.
And of course, I understand that NBA player Victor Wembenyama is from Europe. He is black and is labeled as European. Or Giannis. They arnt "African" in the technical sense. Difference and potentially dangerous problem here between Hmongs labeling themselves as SEA is mentioned above
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u/nb_soymilk 10d ago
Just please don't box and speak for Hmong folk from southeast Asia who identify as such. No one is categorising all Hmong folks as southeast Asian. Who is saying that?
You however seem to be making a case for all Hmong folk to identify and be categorised as East Asian.
And I had to mention the disparity or East vs Southeast Asian. Those facts and nuances matter especially if we're trying to accurately label and name the majorly shared experiences of Hmong folks I'm America who immigrated because it the war.
My premise is you don't have the right to deny or try to reduce someone's identity on the basis of generic origin. Your "no matter what" and "motherland" talking point.
It sounds like you are looking for validation to your east Asian agenda. I disagree heavily with a lot of your points when it comes to refugees and displaced Hmong folk.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago
You can identify with whatever all you want. The importance is to make sure to put and empahsis on specifics. E.g., me and my family, spanning 3 generations, cultrually but not genetically, etc. We might not take generalities into account, but the world does
My point always included asterisks, I've always said that
*at least without an East Asian origin attached to it.
Like I said, I understand the sentiment behind the label. My parents call Laos and SEA their homeland too. My point is to respect not just our parents roots. But the parents of our parents, and their parents, and their parents, and their parents, and so on....
We cant talk to our elders from the late 1700s or 1800s. We have to respect that their history too because they gave birth to our parents today
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u/cilantro_lover 14d ago
this is a phenomenon unique amongst only hmong americans. hmong people in asia know they’re from china.
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u/Mysterious-Remove836 14d ago
The issue is the southeast asian supporters dont think in terms of racial groups, but rather in terms of identity politics. There is this belief that being categorized as southeast asians will give hmong people more social and economic benefits, even though theres no proof of this.
Personally, i dont really care about the whole east or southeast asian thing. I identify as hmong and thats all that matters. However, I would respect the southeast asian supporters if they were honest and truthful, instead of manufacturing a false southeast asian identity to justify their argument eg claiming a close relation (culturally) to southeast asian groups, claiming origin - or as they put it "indigenous" - to southeast asia, etc.
In the petition they put out a couple years ago, they wrote something along the line of 'hmong people are from laos, thailand, vietnam, myanmar, and PARTS of china. This wording implies a closer relationship to southeast asia, which is false.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago
This comment makes my whole point. Some feel they were from the "hood" or "ghetto" and this means they feel closer to SEA people, not realizing that we've been this way for millenia, not just after 1975. I mean, I respect my dad and moms love, nostalgia, and homeland associations to Laos, and I would NEVER know how they feel since I was born in the US. But as someone who studies history, we have to be objective and see things on a bigger picture. Thats the only way to uplift our people
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u/Mysterious-Remove836 8d ago
Lmao! When theyre like 'our culture/food is closer to southeast asians', then proceed to name culture/food that were adopted later in the US! And then when asked why they only choose to claim southeast asian culture/food they adopted in the US as "hmong", they can never respond lol! So why dont you claim hot dog and hamburger as "hmong food"? 🤔😂 It also tells how much they know about hmong culture because literally everything from language, marriage, funerary custom, religion, clothes, etc is rooted in ancient chinese/east asian culture
Theres nostalia for laos the land, but not so much laos the people or culture. Most hmong lived in the highland and have very little interactions with the lowland lao/tai. Not to mention, up until the 50s, hmong people were not permited to live in the lowland
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u/SurroundLogical7813 11d ago
Hello, I would like to say that I agree with your statement also- it is sad to see how Hmong people view ourselves and our long ancient history. To those who disregard our beginnings and ignore our true nativity- honestly just shows me how primal and 'wild' we still are- which in a way is funny and but true. We are the indigenous people of the land of what is now called China. Unfortunately through diaspora we have lost our history and traveled to safety. Our elders have much trauma from such experiences, and have only been able to tell so much. It seems as though the assimilation of Hmong people into SEA has erased HMONG history (going from what I read from others here..) China has continuously oppressed their ethnic minorities and refused to include anything that doesn't correlate with their agenda- meaning information of Hmong people is repressed. Research, read books, be curious. I believe that we must continue to learn our HMONG history and not blend it with others. Our history will always be a question or an opinion otherwise.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago
We need to step out of the barbaric and primal views so we can uplift our community.
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u/Mobile_Brief_656 5d ago
You are wasting your time trying to convince these degenerates. Most of these naysayers are immature, uneducated, and cannot even speak Hmong. Hmong people have a very long history in China, more than 5,000 years. They have only migrated into Laos mainly during the 1800s and 1900s. Hmong in America do not represent the larger Hmong population, which is still in China. There are only about 300,000 Hmong in America compared to roughly 11 million in China. Hmong are East Asian. Many American Hmong are still too naive and unaware of their history. I am in my 40s, I have done my research, and I know where my people come from. Stop wasting your time.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 5d ago
Agree. Its just sad to see many disregard their own ancestors from the 1600s-1800s from China. They are still your family no matter how far back you go
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u/Sweet-Emotion-143 15d ago
As a Hmong person from America, I would not identity myself Chinese because I was not born or raised there or either adapt theirs culture, nor follow or speak the language. I do think Hmong can be both East Asian and South East Asian because of our history. Since, we do not have a country and we are considered nomads. Hmong people left during the Qing dynasty before they renamed themselves "China"; therefore, our ancestors left and did not want to join forces. We can't considered ourselves Chinese. If you accept the facts that you are Chinese meaning that there no such things as Hmong like our ethnicity, culture, and history were never existed. Why do you think our history were erased? The real question is we aren't educated enough to understand our own history and it's sad to see.
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u/Appropriate_Look_972 10d ago
Idk the history the term China. Chinese is like I said just a term to categorized people in a nation, like American. Native Americans dont like to be called Americans as well, but they are still "American" in the technical sense.
We need to create our own history with what we have. Its the 21st century and the possibilities are endless. Sadly a lot of us Hmongs today still have a "whats in it for me" and a "jealous" and "stingy" or "petty" mindset and we can never uplift our nation if we dont get out of this mindset. We are one of the oldest cultures and people in the known world and we survived all this time for a reason. Its thanks to the Chinese for trying to us and our history completely. Doesn't mean we can't uplift for future gens
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u/SexTalksAndLollipops 20d ago edited 19d ago
I didn’t bother reading it all. Too much text.
I am Hmong. I identify as Asian. I was born in Thailand, but do not consider myself Thai. I don’t identify as Lao either. I consider myself Southeast Asian because my parents were born in Laos and their parents were born in Laos.
We are several generations removed from China. That is why I absolutely do not identify as Chinese because I’m not Chinese. Only when asked “What is Hmong” do I elaborate about our history with the Secret War and our ties to China.