Re-Thinking Hmong History: Are Hmong and Miao the Same People?
Let me draw a parallel example to make this point. When the Europeans came to the new world, they called everyone they saw an Indian. Does that mean that all the people in the new world were the same people? Obviously not; the people the Europeans called Indians were different people. They were Iroquois, Navajo, Hopi, etc. The same would hold true for the people the Han Chinese called Miao. Within the group of people that the Han Chinese called Miao, obviously there were the Hmong and others.
