Mieu people

Last updated
Mieu
Regions with significant populations
Northern Vietnam: Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Bắc Giang Provinces
Languages
Ná-Meo, Tày, Vietnamese
Religion
Animism

The Mieu people (aka Na Mieu, Na Mieo) live in the mountains of northern Vietnam. They are considered by the government of Vietnam to be a subgroup of the Hmong people and therefore not one of the 54 recognized ethnicities in Vietnam. However, the Mieu reject this and see themselves as a distinct ethnicity.

Vietnam Country in Southeast Asia

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula. With an estimated 94.6 million inhabitants as of 2016, it is the 15th most populous country in the world. Vietnam is bordered by China to the north, Laos and Cambodia to the west, part of Thailand to the southwest, and the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia across the South China Sea to the east and southeast. Its capital city has been Hanoi since the reunification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, while its most populous city is Ho Chi Minh City.

Hmong people Ethnic group in East and Southeast Asia.

The Hmong people are an ethnic group in East and Southeast Asia. They are a sub-group of the Miao people, and live mainly in Southern China, Vietnam and Laos. Some Hmong have emigrated to the United States.

Contents

Origin and 'Loss of Country'

According to Mieu folk songs (tu siv) the Mieu people descended from immigrants from southern China. They are said to have had their own kingdom in Liuzhou, near Guilin in Guangxi. They rose up in arms to the invasion, oppression, and exploitation they faced from the Manchus and Han Chinese. When a large force was sent to destroy this resistance, the Mieu fled to Vietnam.

Liuzhou Prefecture-level city in Guangxi, Peoples Republic of China

Liuzhou is a prefecture-level city in north-central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The prefecture's population was 3,758,700 in 2010, including 1,436,599 in the built-up area made of 4 urban districts. Its total area is 18,777 km2 (7,250 sq mi) and 667 km2 (258 sq mi) for built up area.

Guilin Prefecture-level city in Guangxi, Peoples Republic of China

Guilin, formerly romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the north. Its name means "Forest of Sweet Osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant sweet osmanthus trees located in the region. The city has long been renowned for its scenery of karst topography and is one of China's most popular tourist destinations.

Guangxi Autonomous region

Guangxi ( ; formerly romanized as Kwanghsi; Chinese: 广西; Zhuang: Gvangjsih, officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in south China and bordering Vietnam. Formerly a province, Guangxi became an autonomous region in 1958.

Language

Like Hmong dialects, the Mieu language is also a member of Miao languages. It is officially classified as a Hmong dialect by Vietnamese linguists. However, they are neither intelligible with Hmong nor Xong, due to significant difference in vocabulary and accent. Their language might be a member of Hmu (Qiandong Miao, gheis Hmub - hveb Qeef dongb), most possibly the Southern Qiandong Miao [hms] language.

Hmong or Mong, known as First Vernacular Chuanqiandian Miao in China, is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are some 2.7 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan (大南山) dialect forms the basis of the standard language. However, Hmong Daw (White) and Mong Njua (Green) are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong.

Ná-Meo is a language of northern Vietnam, spoken by the Mieu people. Nguyen (2007) believes Na Meo may be a Hmongic language closest to Qiandong Miao.

The Hmu language, also known as Qiandong Miao, Central Miao, East Hmongic, or Black Miao, is a dialect cluster of Hmongic languages of China. The best studied dialect is that of Yǎnghāo (养蒿) village, Taijiang County, Guizhou Province, China.

The Mieu were mainly monolingual until around 1954. During this time they had little contact with other ethnic groups except for some Mieu men who went to markets. Especially since 1968, when many Mieu were resettled to foothills to practice wet rice cultivation, more of them became fluent in Tay. When the resources of the central state to reach out to mountainous areas and the ethnic minorities there increased, Vietnamese became more dominant.

Tay people ethnic group

The Tày people speak a language of the Central Tai language group, and live in northern Vietnam. They are sometimes also called Thô, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di.

Vietnamese language official and national language of Vietnam

Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language that originated in Vietnam, where it is the national and official language. It is the native language of the Vietnamese (Kinh) people, as well as a first or second language for the many ethnic minorities of Vietnam. As a result of Vietnamese emigration and cultural influence, Vietnamese speakers are found throughout the world, notably in East and Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and Western Europe. Vietnamese has also been officially recognized as a minority language in the Czech Republic.

The Mieu do not have any writing system. The proposed Hmong script was rejected as not suitable for Mieu language. The Chinese Qiandong Miao Latin Alphabet might be suitable to them, which is based on Northern Qiandong Miao [hea].

Na Mieu is the sole non-Hmong Miao-speaking people outside China.

Music

Tu Siv, Mieu folk songs, are used to pass on knowledge of history. The most notable one is Siv Pax Quan (Loss of Country). It is sung during weddings, new year celebrations, when entering a new house, and so on.

Related Research Articles

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Vietnam, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Yao people government classification for various minorities in China

The Yao people is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south. They also form one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognised by Vietnam. In the last census in 2000, they numbered 2,637,421 in China and roughly 470,000 in Vietnam.

Miao people ethnic group in China

The Miao is an ethnic group belonging to South China, and is recognized by the government of China as one of the 55 official minority groups. Miao is a Chinese term and does not reflect the self-designations of the component groups of people, which include Hmong, Hmub, Xong (Qo-Xiong), and A-Hmao.

Hmong–Mien languages language family

The Hmong–Mien languages are a highly tonal language family of southern China and northern Southeast Asia. They are spoken in mountainous areas of southern China, including Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Hubei provinces, where its speakers have been relegated to being "hill people", whereas the neighboring Han Chinese have settled the more fertile river valleys.

Bouyei language language

The Bouyei language is a language spoken by the Bouyei ethnic group of southern Guizhou Province in mainland China. Classified as a member of the Northern Tai group in the Tai languages branch of the Tai–Kadai language family, the language has over 2.5 million native speakers and is also used by the Giay people in some parts of Vietnam. There are native speakers living in France or the United States as well, which emigrated from China or Vietnam. About 98% of the native speakers are in China.

Halang, also known as Salang, is a Bahnaric language of the Mon–Khmer branch of the Austroasiatic language family. It is spoken in the southern Laotian province of Attapu by approximately 4,000 people and in the neighboring Kon Tum Province of Vietnam by approximately 20,000 people. In Vietnam, Halang is spoken in Đắk Na Commune, Đắk Tô District, Kon Tum Province

The Kam language, also known as Gam, or in Chinese, Dong or Tung-Chia, is a Kam–Sui language spoken by the Dong people. Ethnologue distinguishes three Kam varieties as separate but closely related languages.

Ethnic groups in Cambodia

The largest of the ethnic groups in Cambodia are the Khmer, who comprise approximately 90% of the total population and primarily inhabit the lowland Mekong subregion and the central plains. The Khmer historically have lived near the lower Mekong River in a contiguous arc that runs from the southern Khorat Plateau where modern-day Thailand, Laos and Cambodia meet in the northeast, stretching southwest through the lands surrounding Tonle Sap lake to the Cardamom Mountains, then continues back southeast to the mouth of the Mekong River in southeastern Vietnam.

Hmongic languages

The Hmongic also known as Miao languages include the various languages spoken by the Miao people, Pa-Hng, and the "Bunu" languages used by non-Mien-speaking Yao people.

Pa-Hng is a divergent Hmongic (Miao) language spoken in Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan in southern China as well as northern Vietnam.

The West Hmongic languages, also known as Chuanqiandian Miao and Western Miao, is the major branch of the Hmongic languages of China and Southeast Asia.

Guiyang Miao, also known as Guiyang Hmong, is a Miao language of China. It is named after Guiyang County, Guizhou, though not all varieties are spoken there. The endonym is Hmong, a name it shares with the Hmong language.

Vietnamese folk religion

Vietnamese folk religion or Vietnamese indigenous religion, is the ethnic religion of the Vietnamese people. About 45.3% of the population[1] in Vietnam are associated with this religion, making it dominant in Vietnam.

References

Nguyễn Văn Thắng (2007). Ambiguity of Identity: The Mieu in north Vietnam. Bangkok: Silkworm Books. ISBN   978-974-9511-27-5. 

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