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Research Notes from the Field:Tracing the Path of the Ancestors – A Visit to the Hmong in China by Kou Yang, EdD, Hmong Studies Journal, 2005, 6: 1-38. When this author visited them again in 1993, the father was able to write and read the Hmong written language known as the Romanized Phonetic Alphabet (RPA), and he used this language to write to the Hmong in the United States. The two children had also learned to speak Miao (Western Branch or Hmong) fairly well, with a Hmong American accent. The girl eventually married a Hmong American and immigrated to the United States. Occasionally, difficulties have surfaced between individual Hmong Americans and their Miao cousins in China. For example, during the 2004 visit to the Miao in Yunnan, many Miao officials expressed their concerns to this author about the problems between the Hmong of the United States and the Miao in China. They listed several cases. One of them involved a Hmong American man who often travels to Yunnan and is very close friends with a married Miao woman. It is said that many started to believe that the two were having an extramarital affair. Her husband and his family were very unhappy about their relationship. Another case involved a Hmong American businessman who operated a business project in Yunnan in the 1990s. This businessman borrowed money from a prominent Miao family in Yunnan with a promise to repay in full. After his business failed, he returned to the United States and disappeared. There have been other cases involving misrepresentations and misunderstandings. A prominent Miao official in Yunnan complained to this author in 1993 that some Hmong Americans who visited him claimed to be leaders or persons that they were not. Overall, many Miao officials in Yunnan agree that a bridge has been built and many Miao in Yunnan do benefit from visits and knowing about the Hmong in the West. One young Miao scholar cited a village in Yunnan as an example of this kind of influence and benefit. In the early 1990s, several Hmong Americans visited a Miao village south of Kunming. The village was very poor, but was located on a main road to the area. Many Hmong Americans suggested that the villagers take advantage of the road to enhance their economic and educational situation. Their suggestion encouraged villagers to market their goods and services to those passing by. These Hmong Americans not only gave advice, but also provided the villagers with a small amount of capital. Many villagers took the advice and have since become self-sufficient. 8
Research Notes from the Field:Tracing the Path of the Ancestors – A Visit to the Hmong in China by Kou Yang, EdD, Hmong Studies Journal, 2005, 6: 1-38. Notes from the 2004 Trip to China The following notes were compiled from the four major components of the one-month educational tour program of the Fulbright-Hay Group Project to China: observations, field visits, classroom lectures, and interaction. Being a Hmong and leader of the group, the author has had the privilege to meet with many Miao and Han Chinese studies groups, scholars, and government officials. These meetings, formal and informal contacts provided the author with many perspectives regarding the history of the Hmong and contemporary issues relating to the Miao in China. These few pages of notes and the inserted photos are put together to give readers a glimpse of how Hmong Americans learn about and re-construct their history and re-connect to their past as well as their contemporary Miao cousins in China. This paper, however represents only one small effort toward documenting the Hmong and Miao’s five thousand year-history and diasporic experience. It is not a complete picture, but an outline of notes and questions to further explore the experience of the Miao. The Fulbright-Hay Group Project to China The group visiting China was composed of thirteen people, including this author. Seven of them were Hmong Americans. Of the seven, four were born in Laos, one in a refugee camp in Thailand, and two in the United States. The four Lao-born Hmong Americans speak, write and read Hmong fluently and two of them can also sing traditional Hmong songs. The two American-born speak Hmong fairly well, but the Thai born speaks Hmong with some difficulty. He, however, understands Hmong fairly well. Of these seven Hmong Americans, one is a university professor, three are k-12 teachers, one a doctoral student, and the other two are beginning their graduate studies. All of them can interact with Miao in China, who speak their language, which is a Western branch of the Miao language family. There are three main languages in the Miao language family: Eastern, Central and Western languages. The majority of the Miao in China speak the Central and Eastern Miao languages, which are different from those of the Western branch. When speaking to Miao of the Eastern or Central languages, members of the group usually speak in Mandarin Chinese or use an interpreter who can speak English. The Geographical Setting The educational tour focused on the Yunnan and Guizhou provinces and their people, using the Miao as a case study. Yunnan is a Chinese province bordering Vietnam and Laos to the South and Thailand and Myanmar (Burma) to the Southwest. The province also borders Guangxi, Guizhou, Tibet, and Sichuan provinces. Yunnan is a mountainous area. The majority of its more than forty million people live in the rural and remote mountain areas. Yunnan, which means “South of the Clouds,” has the most ethnically diverse 9
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