Miao People
The Miao, encompassing various linguistically-related sub-groups, are predominantly situated in Southern China and parts of Southeast Asia. They are acknowledged as one of the 56 official ethnicities by the People’s Republic of China. With a population surpassing 11 million in China, they rank as the fifth largest ethnic group1. Their primary settlements are in the mountainous regions of southern China, spanning provinces such as Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, and Hunan. Notably, the Hmong, a sub-group of the Miao, have ventured beyond China’s borders into Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Northern Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. The late 1970s witnessed a significant migration of Hmong refugees to Western nations, with predominant resettlements in the United States, France, and Australia.
苗族是居住在中国南部和东南亚的一个古老民族。苗族人口在中国境内超过1100万，他们被认定为56个官方民族之一，是中国的第五大民族。苗族主要居住在中国南部的山区，如贵州省、云南省、四川省、湖北省、湖南省等。中国以外的一些苗族分支，例如苗族蒙人（Hmong），已经移居到缅甸、越南北部、老挝和泰国等东南亚地区。20世纪70年代末，一大批苗族难民重新移居安置到美国、法国和澳大利亚为主的几个西方国家。
1 Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China. 2020. China Statistical Yearbook, Beijing: China Statistics Press.
