The Mieu people (aka Na Mieu, Na Mieo) live in the mountains of northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. They are considered by the government of Vietnam to be a subgroup of the

Hmong people The Hmong people ( RPA: ''Hmoob'', Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh Hmong: , ) are a sub-ethnic group of the Miao people who originated from Central China. The modern Hmongs presently reside mainly in Southwest China (Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chon ...

and therefore not one of the 54 recognized ethnicities in Vietnam. However, the Mieu reject this and see themselves as a distinct ethnicity.

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 Liuzhou (; , IPA Pronunciation:) 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 ...

, near

Guilin Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively 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 nort ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

. They rose up in arms to the invasion, oppression, and exploitation they faced from the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

s and

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

. When a large force was sent to destroy this resistance, the Mieu fled to Vietnam.

Language

Like Hmong dialects, the Mieu language is also a member of

Miao languages Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

. 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 The Hmu language (''hveb Hmub''), also known as Qiandong Miao (黔东, Eastern Guizhou Miao), Central Miao, East Hmongic, or (somewhat ambiguously) Black Miao, is a dialect cluster of Hmongic languages of China. The best studied dialect is that ...

(''Qiandong Miao'', ''gheis Hmub - hveb Qeef dongb''), most possibly the Southern Qiandong Miao mslanguage. 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 Tay may refer to: People and languages * Tay (name), including lists of people with the given name, surname and nickname * Tay people, an ethnic group of Vietnam ** Tày language *Atayal language, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan (ISO 639 ...

. When the resources of the central state to reach out to mountainous areas and the ethnic minorities there increased,

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

became more dominant. 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 ea Na Mieu is the sole non-

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ton ...

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

-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.

References

{{Cite book, author=Nguyễn Văn Thắng, title=Ambiguity of Identity: The Mieu in north Vietnam, publisher=Silkworm Books, location=Bangkok, year=2007, isbn=978-974-9511-27-5, url-access=registration, url=https://archive.org/details/ambiguityofident0000nguy Ethnic groups in Vietnam