The ancestry of the Hmong people dates back to 3000 BC, near the Yellow River Valley; believed to be an essential place in the early days of Chinese civilization. At the turn of the 18th century, the Hmong p...
The ancestry of the Hmong people dates back to 3000 BC, near the Yellow River Valley; believed to be an essential place in the early days of Chinese civilization. At the turn of the 18th century, the Hmong people started a migration south, primarily into Vietnam and Laos.
Today, there are two major dialects of Hmong language, Hmoob Dawb and Hmoob Ntsuab. The most significant form of language, however, is not a spoken one, but a stitched one. Banned from using their native language in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Hmong weavers found a secret way to keep their alphabet alive. They created the Paj Ntaub, or flower cloth, as a way to hide their visual language in the folds of their clothes. Their textiles have evolved into a beautiful means of preserving their language, stories and history.
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