Olympic Gymnast and Hmong History

Congratulations to American artistic gymnast Sunisa Lee from Minnesota who won gold to become USA's fifth straight all-around champion in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She already made history earlier this year as the first ever Hmong American Olympic gymnast. Many have wondered about the Hmong community. Some may have read about the Hmong connection with Vietnam war but few likely aware that the long journey for the Hmong community started about five thousand years ago in northern China.

According to Chinese written literature and oral history, there were three ancient tribes in China around five thousand years ago: Yandi (炎帝), Huangdi (黄帝), and Chiyou (蚩尤). Today, it is still fairly common to refer Chinese as the decedents of Yan and Huang. Although there is no archeological evidence, it is believed that war between Huangdi and Chiyou tribes was the earliest recorded war in China. Huangdi unified the various tribes in the Yellow River basin and laid the foundation of the Chinese civilization. Chiyou died in battle, and the remnants of the people fled south and settled in what is now Guizhou Province in today’s southwest China. They are said to be the ancestors of the Miao (苗) people. In addition to the large settlement in southern China, Miao group also spread further to South Asia including Lao and Myanmar, Thailand throughout the history, especially in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty. Miao is a Chinese phonetic system while Hmong is commonly used in South Asia.

Fast forward to 1960’s the Vietnam war era, CIA recruited, trained and lead the indigenous Hmong people in Laos, who are much more adaptive to the mountainous conditions, to fight against northern Vietnamese army. This "Secret Army" was organized into various mobile regiments and divisions, including various guerrilla units. Though their role was kept secret in the early stages of the conflict, they made great sacrifices to help the US. After the war ended in 1975, many of the Hmong became refuges and in particular those community in Laos that fought along the side of US.?As result of refuge movements, the largest Hmong community to settle outside Asia went to the United States where approximately 100,000 individuals had already arrived by 1990.?Both parents of Sunisa Lee immigrated to the U.S. from Laos.?

In 2019, I had the opportunity to visit some remote villages in Guizhou which is home to dozens of ethnic minority groups including the Miao group. About half of China's Miao population of 3.6 millions live in Guizhou. Traditions and customs were passed on by singing and dancing. Living mainly in mountainous regions, the Miao people live off farming and animal husbandry. They are famous for their hospitality, and community spirit. Families work on each other's farms during harvesting or planting seasons, and during construction projects, half of the village would show up to help on the project.The Miao group, especial women, has distinctive and beautiful clothing. Included in the end of the article are some of the photos I took during the trip at the Miao villages.

Coming back to Sunisa’s gold medal from the Olympic, congratulations and we should all be proud of her achievement!

Hand Made Bird Dress

Girls Getting Ready for Holiday

Harvest Season

Sharing A Casual Meal

A Ninety-Two Year Young Miao Lady

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