MIAO

also called Meo, or Hmong mountain-dwelling peoples of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, speaking Sino-Tibetan dialects. In China the Miao call themselves Hmong, Hmung, or Hmu; there are estimated to be 70 or 80 different groups or varieties of them, distinguished by differences in dialect, dress, and other customs, living in the provinces of Kweichow, Hunan, Szechwan, and Yunnan, and in Kwangsi Chuang Autonomous Region. In the late 1970s the government of China estimated the Miao to number 3,900,000. They are closely related to the Yao. The Miao of Indochina, who also refer to themselves as Meo or Hmong, are concentrated in the northern areas of Vietnam and Laos. Those in Vietnam are sometimes divided into groups distinguished by the costumes of the women (e.g., White Miao, Blue Miao, Black Miao, Red Miao, Flowered Miao). In the early 1980s their numbers were estimated at about 380,000. The Miao of Thailand, who live mainly in the northern provinces, call themselves H'moong. Groups are distinguished according to their dress, the majority being Blue or White. Most Miao live in single-story houses built directly on the ground. Agriculture is the chief means of subsistence for all of the groups, who grow corn (maize) and rice on burned-over forest land in the hills. Opium is an important cash crop, sold in the lowland markets. There is little indigenous political organization above the village level. The highest position is usually that of village chief. In China the Miao are subject to the local Chinese authorities. In Laos and northern Vietnam, where the Miao are relatively dense in certain areas, they have sometimes obtained political positions at a level above that of the village. In religion most Miao venerate spirits, demons, and ancestral ghosts. They have shamans who exorcise malevolent spirits, and often priests who perform ceremonial functions. Animal sacrifice is widespread. Young people are permitted to select their own mates, and there is a good deal of sexual freedom among them, although many Miao in China have adopted the Chinese custom of arranging marriages. One form of institutionalized courtship involves antiphonal singing or the tossing of a ball back and forth between groups of boys and girls from different villages. Polygyny is permitted, but in practice it is limited to the well-to-do. The household is usually made up of several generations, including married sons and their families. When the parents die, the household breaks up into smaller units which then repeat the cycle.