REFUGEES OF WAR
The Hmong (pronounced hmoNG) are an ethnic people who originally lived in Southeast Asia. Their identity has been molded by persecution and migration. Historically, the Hmong were an ethnic minority in China, where they are known as the Miao. By the 19th century, their way of life was threatened by the dominant Han population. Many Hmong people fled across the Chinese border to present-day Thailand, Southeast Myanmar (Burma), and Laos.
The Hmong chiefly settled in remote mountainous regions. They eked out a living by farming, raising
