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Hmong Culture & History / The Dong Ethnic Group: Our Ancient Allies and Forgotten Brothers and Sisters
« on: March 15, 2014, 03:36:43 AM »
It is common knowledge among Southeast Asian Hmong people and Mien people that our two groups are companions. Ask any Hmong if they know who the Mien people are, and chances are that they know who they are. Ask any Mien if they know who the Hmong people are, and chances are that they know who we are.
However, ask any Hmong or Mien if they know who the Dong people are and chances are that they do not.
The Dong (Kam) are an ethnic group who live in Southern China (with a few, tiny isolated pockets in Vietnam). The language they speak is classified under the Tai-Kadai Languages Family Tree, and they are genetically and historically ancient cousins of the Thai and Lao people who live further south.
Although very few of us S.E.A. Hmongs are aware of the venerable bond our ancestors shared with these people, the Chinese Hmong (obviously) still do and acknowledge the camaraderie between our two people. For example in China, the Hmong, Mien and the Dong/Kam people generally prefer to live in the same regions and establish villages adjacent to the other ethnic group. While traditional Hmong people have always had very strict views about marrying someone outside of our ethnic group, the Chinese Hmong are more willing to make an exception if their children were to marry a Mien or Dong person.
Like the Mien, the Dong people were also one of our people's closest allies. During the rebellions of the Ming and Qing dynasties, they fought alongside our ancestors against the Chinese, and like us, they too suffered heavy reprisals after our defeat in the wars. When our ancestors and the ancestors of the Southeast Asian Mien people decided to leave China, the Dong people chose to stay and over time us Southeast Asian Hmongs have mostly forgotten about them.
One thing I find very intriguing about the Dong people is how much of an impact OUR culture has had on theirs. For example, there are other Thai/Lao related peoples living in southern China, but the Dong people are the only ones where the women wear Hmong-style pleated skirts and wrap their calves with long black leggings like us.
The one distinct, defining feature of Hmong culture is our unique pleated skirts, and we all know how much money, cloth and hard work it takes to make just ONE, and then to maintain it so that the pleats don't flatten out. The mere fact that the Dong women would willingly adopt our very, labor and maintenance-intensive skirts over the much more easier-to-make-and-maintain sarongs just boggles my mind and fascinates me.
One thing that I absolutely love about the Dong people are their songs and singing culture. Down below are few examples of some of my favorite traditional Dong folk tunes and nursery rhymes.
Two Hearts Beating As One (a love song)
(listen closely and you might be able to catch some Hmong words borrowed into their language)
The Goose is Sighing (?)** (a song about unrequited love)
**Not very sure about the true name of this song as some sources list the name as "Spring Song of the Cicadas" but either way, still a beautiful tune.
http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/16485695-1361838694.html
Two Hearts Beating As One (Version 2)
Here's a more modernized version of the first. It has the same singers from the first video as well as a few more people, and it includes the full, entire folk song.
http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/14955970-1391964413.html
This is from a concert by the famous Chinese composer and songwriter "Tan Dun". (If any of you have seen the movies "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or Jet Li's "Hero" then you should be familiar with his works.)
In 2002, Tan Dun was touring around Southern China looking for inspiration for his music when he videotaped a group of Dong women singing while using the Tounge Trilling Technique. He then wrote an orchestral piece around the song they were singing and presented it in this concert.
However, ask any Hmong or Mien if they know who the Dong people are and chances are that they do not.
The Dong (Kam) are an ethnic group who live in Southern China (with a few, tiny isolated pockets in Vietnam). The language they speak is classified under the Tai-Kadai Languages Family Tree, and they are genetically and historically ancient cousins of the Thai and Lao people who live further south.
Although very few of us S.E.A. Hmongs are aware of the venerable bond our ancestors shared with these people, the Chinese Hmong (obviously) still do and acknowledge the camaraderie between our two people. For example in China, the Hmong, Mien and the Dong/Kam people generally prefer to live in the same regions and establish villages adjacent to the other ethnic group. While traditional Hmong people have always had very strict views about marrying someone outside of our ethnic group, the Chinese Hmong are more willing to make an exception if their children were to marry a Mien or Dong person.
Like the Mien, the Dong people were also one of our people's closest allies. During the rebellions of the Ming and Qing dynasties, they fought alongside our ancestors against the Chinese, and like us, they too suffered heavy reprisals after our defeat in the wars. When our ancestors and the ancestors of the Southeast Asian Mien people decided to leave China, the Dong people chose to stay and over time us Southeast Asian Hmongs have mostly forgotten about them.
One thing I find very intriguing about the Dong people is how much of an impact OUR culture has had on theirs. For example, there are other Thai/Lao related peoples living in southern China, but the Dong people are the only ones where the women wear Hmong-style pleated skirts and wrap their calves with long black leggings like us.
The one distinct, defining feature of Hmong culture is our unique pleated skirts, and we all know how much money, cloth and hard work it takes to make just ONE, and then to maintain it so that the pleats don't flatten out. The mere fact that the Dong women would willingly adopt our very, labor and maintenance-intensive skirts over the much more easier-to-make-and-maintain sarongs just boggles my mind and fascinates me.
One thing that I absolutely love about the Dong people are their songs and singing culture. Down below are few examples of some of my favorite traditional Dong folk tunes and nursery rhymes.
Two Hearts Beating As One (a love song)
(listen closely and you might be able to catch some Hmong words borrowed into their language)
The Goose is Sighing (?)** (a song about unrequited love)
**Not very sure about the true name of this song as some sources list the name as "Spring Song of the Cicadas" but either way, still a beautiful tune.
http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/16485695-1361838694.html
Two Hearts Beating As One (Version 2)
Here's a more modernized version of the first. It has the same singers from the first video as well as a few more people, and it includes the full, entire folk song.
http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/14955970-1391964413.html
This is from a concert by the famous Chinese composer and songwriter "Tan Dun". (If any of you have seen the movies "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or Jet Li's "Hero" then you should be familiar with his works.)
In 2002, Tan Dun was touring around Southern China looking for inspiration for his music when he videotaped a group of Dong women singing while using the Tounge Trilling Technique. He then wrote an orchestral piece around the song they were singing and presented it in this concert.