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(In Search of the Hmong Homeland) |
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(In Search of the Hmong Homeland) |
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The Hmong are a spiritual people,
located in the mountainous regions of Southern China, Laos,
Thailand, and Vietnam, They remain apart from major civilization,
keeping their roots close to nature. They believe strongly in
concepts of honor, commitment, loyalty, and freedom. Theirs is a
50,000 year old culture. As a people, their life is difficult and
one of unbelievable deprivation. They have been reduced to
illiteracy, not being permitted to have an alphabet or,
consequently, a written language of their own. Over the
centuries, the Chinese have tried to conquer and control them,
but the Hmong people have stubbornly resisted, even to the
present time.
The war in Vietnam and Laos was their most recent persecution,
earning for them the title of an ENDANGERED HMONG CULTURE. Some
have labeled them "primitive." Yet, those who know
them, find their social structure and customs in many ways
sophisticated, upholding values of truth, bravery, loyalty, and a
deep sense of the sacred. It might be truly said of them that as
a people they reflect the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. But
there is no question that of them as a people the Hmong may be
referred to as: "Wronged in War! Wronged in Peace!"
This brief summary of the Hmong is presented as an introduction
to the following account of a recent expedition of discovery and
exploration to bring to light the true homeland and authentic
origin of the Hmong. In this, I,
Dr. Jack LaRocca, was deeply involved. I am a Catholic priest,
living in and ministering to the spiritual needs of the people in
the Diocese of San Jose in California. I have, for many years,
been a champion for the human rights of the Hmong (also known as
Miaozu within Indo-China).
My personal interest in the Hmong, as an oppressed people, dates
back to the years before studying for the priesthood, when I
served for a year in Vietnam as a United States member of the
Medical Corps. Following my discharge, I spent seven years as a
civilian, without companion, in the jungles and mountains of
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, struggling to save these people from
extinction. My interest in them, and my desire to see their human
rights restored has never wavered.
After years studying and preparing for the priesthood, I was
ordained. I engaged in graduate studies, and earned a Doctorate
of Ministry. So it was as Dr. Jack LaRocca, philanthropist and
explorer, that I undertook to lead an expedition to discover the
true homeland of the Hmong. What has impelled me most is the
realization that the historical moment is on our threshold, and
the time was never riper than now! In the summer of 1997, Hong
Kong will receive its independence from Great Britain, and will
become a part of the People's Republic of China. Global attention
will be rivetted upon these two geographic spots. As a
philanthropist, I came to the conclusion "To strike while
the iron is hot," and bring the plight of this oppressed
people into an international focus.
Previous to the actual expedition itself, I spent several years
doing in depth-research, gathering materials and equipment,
securing the technical assistance and government support of
interested persons, giving of my own resources of time, finances,
and energy both intellectual and spiritual. My goal was to
actually discover and explore the geographic location of the
Hmong's origin. I became acquainted with a young man, Chu Wu, a
native Hmong, a historian, who had earned a Master's degree in
Conflict Resolution from Antioch University, at Yellow Springs
Ohio. He was vitally interested in his people's origin, and in
restoring to them their basic human rights. We had both been to
China several times, conducting separate studies in the Hmong
culture and history. Six months before the expedition, took
place, I invited him to team with me on the journey since we
shared the common purpose to locate the actual, geographic place
of this people's origin. The expedition spanned four weeks, from
June 10, 1996 to July 9, 1996, being acclaimed on outstanding
success by various Chinese scholars, historians, researchers, and
anthropologists.
On June 10, 1996, Chu Wu and I set out on this eventful
expedition, searching in the northwest part of the Yunnan
Province of China, for the authentic, historical homeland of the
Hmong people. What proved to be a harsh, difficult, hazardous
journey, finally led us to the territory where we were able to
trace the route to the exact location of the Hmong's beginnings.
Today, the Hmong have only shaman stories to assist them to
understand their 50,000 year old history. Shaman, incidentally,
is a title for their spiritual guide. My previous research
involved networking with the Hmong people through various
universities, especially their anthropology departments, and
museums. Equally important to the mission was winning the full
cooperation of the local Chinese authorities, which allowed us
full permission to enter this remote region, closed to
foreigners.
Both of us flew into Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan, on
separate flights, meeting each other for the first time. Awaiting
my arrival, were the hired local team which consisted of: Yang,
the driver, Guo, the interpreter and navigator, Han, a guide and
a religious specialist, and Ma, a female explorer. The team was
selected through Tan Le Shiu, president of the first private
foundation in China called "Man and Nature." His
support and arrangements facilitated making this journey a smooth
and effective one. I was delighted to establish contact with Tan
who provided the means for governmental support throughout our
journey. The day of our arrival we were met with the worst storm,
typical weather for the monsoon season.
Our team departed from Kunming on the second rainy day to Dali,
the homebase of this expedition. Dali is a lovely ancient city
often referred to by tourists as the Switzerland of China, since
it has a snow mountain cap easily seen from the city. Along the
way we witnessed many cars, buses, and trucks that had driven off
the road, crashed into trees, or were involved in a collision.
Once out of Dali, we traveled further northwest, heading toward
the Mekong River to a large village, named Yang Phan. The roads
were extremely muddy, filled with potholes and rough stones,
making the journey seem impossible. The ride was similar to
riding a wild bronco! Many places along the roads were flooded
with mud slides, a routine experience for this area.
In Yang Phan, the mayor provided our team with an official guide
from one of the smaller villages on the itinerary. His services
were requested to help the team climb the enormous mountains on
foot. The climb to the villages required leaving our vehicle in a
newly-established mining camp beside various construction
materials. After lunch, the climb began with backpacks. I said,
"This is extremely demanding. It is so steep and the weather
very hot." Our guide knew how to lead us to the geothermal
spring lake referred to as Li-hu-yen-chi-guen from the few Hmong
shamans who knew of its existence. It is this specific area that
needed to be inspected to establish if this lake met the criteria
from our research of the Hmong's original homeland.
Using a top security government map of Lanping County, scaled at
1:100,000 km, we could pinpoint the lake that constitutes the
Hmong's homeland, established approximately 50,000 years ago. It
is in this homeland that their mythology began, creating a new
minority group. The Hmong separated from the Tibetan stock from
which they originated. They have remained, as they have always
been, a highly shamanic- mountainous-river-lake-people. These
people continue to travel by river and lake routes. Originally,
the Hmong had migrated from the northern part of the Red River
down to the south. They also traveled the tributaries of the Red
River going into Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Our group climbed approximately 4,000 meters to the top of the
mountains, behind one mountain, and around another mountain
before arriving at the geothermal area! The climb took four hours
which included crossing two villages and several rice paddies.
Along the way up these various mountains, we met Bai and Lisu
people. The guide kept the group moving further beyond these
villages to stay the night in his home village. Throughout this
area, there were thirty-six other possible lakes to explore. Each
of these lakes is designated with a dragon name and are scattered
northwest of this geothermal area. The lake we were searching for
has no dragon name attached to it. The name used by the Hmong is
known as "Red River, Red Wind, and Red Spirit."
According to my three years of research, and from Chu's research
with several Hmong shaman spiritual guides, this area matched all
the information we gathered from both within America and in
Indo-China. My research provided the following clues of
information about the homeland: the lake is from an underground
spring which was formed by a crack opening in the earth's crust.
It was to be on top of a mountain in a vicinity surrounded by
dense forest. Nearby, about one hundred feet above the flat land,
is a cave. The lake is isolated from the villages. The people of
that designated area still consider this particular lake as
sacred. However, it was not widely known that this lake is the
actual original homeland of the Hmong. Everything conformed
exactly to our expected research. There were, however, some
modified changes due to the Chinese Cultural Revolution during
1966-1976. At that time, Mao Tse Tung sent all the young people
out of the cities into the countryside to work with the peasants.
These young people eventually destroyed all the forest area for
miles around these mountains. While burning the dense forest, the
lake was discovered and drastically changed.
Since then, this precious lake has been transformed into a dam
and presently made into a reservoir, supplying all the villages
below with a steady stream of water. Early attempts had been made
to plug the spring opening with large tree trunks and boulder
rocks. All these attempts failed to plug the hole. No matter what
was thrown into the opening, it failed to reduce or to stop the
geothermal spring from continuing its flow. All the local village
leaders and local government officials from these villages
confirmed that this is the only geothermal lake with a cave near
by! It is also the only lake close to the designated research
area previously planned to search. All of the other lakes do not
compare to this lake in size and power.
Near this mountain-lake homeland there are still some smaller
Hmong villages located to the south, west, and east. However,
there are no roads to these villages. Hmong people live very high
on top of the mountains, making it a difficult hike to reach
their villages. Local government officials prevented the team
from visiting the Hmong of these mountains. As of today Hmong no
longer live in the original homeland located near the Tibetan
border not far from the Mekong River. They migrated to other
suitable regions. Since ancient times, all thirty-six other lakes
have retained their dragon name, and were eliminated from the
team's search.
After completing a successful research for the Hmong homeland,
Chu and I decided to continue our travels along the full length
of the Red River, beginning south of Dali. In order to retraced
the Hmong's ancient migration route, our team hoped to discover,
whether the Hmong could still be found near the river. We
traveled the full length of the Red River along a dirt road which
paralleled this river on the mountain side and peaks. Our team
landed in Hekou town, a border town between China and North
Vietnam. The people of Vietnam can now cross over the bridge of
the Red River into Hekou to purchase many goods not yet available
to them in Vietnam.
Along the length of the Red River, we met Dai, Hani, Yi, and Yao
minority groups. All of them maintain wearing their traditional
garb, and keep to their customs with great pride. The Dai live at
the foot of the mountains beside the Red River. The Yi live in
the middle level of the mountains, while the Hani and Yao live on
the top.
These people survive mainly through agriculture. The land on the
sides of these mountains are used for planting. The scenery is
beautiful. There was no apparent evidence of Hmong along the Red
River until our team reached the southern part of the river
within the Pingbien County. All the minority groups relate to
each other with mutual respect and cooperation. In Pingbien, the
team hiked to a remote village to observe the appearance of the
village, and to meet the Hmong living there. The remote village
enjoyed electricity only for lights, with no other electrical
appliances or electronics. They appear to live with only basic
essentials. Our team composed chiefly of foreigners was the first
to make contact with these people. There are many Hmong along the
southern tip of the Red River. They still live nearby, but always
at the highest level of mountain peaks in the most remote
locations which require hiking for several hours before reaching
their village. Very few of them live within the Pingbien city.
Many Hmong were seen selling their crops in the Pingbien street
market. After a long day, they always returned to their villages
in the late evening. The Hmong use their horses and their own
backs to bring their produce to the roadside. Then they jointly
rent a vehicle to transport the produce into the city.
We completed our mission of retracing 50,000 years of the Hmong's
migration. Their ancestors had traveled from nearby Tibet,
slightly south of Dali, along the Red River, and have even
crossed the border of China into Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. We
have proven that they still live along the southern end of the
Red River within the Pingbien County just before Hekou. The Red
River is presently the dividing border between China and North
Vietnam.
Once again, this research was conducted at this critical
time-period, prior to the economic explosion within the People's
Republic of China, so that the natural ways of the Hmong could
still be observed. The Hmong have suffered untold losses during
the scourge of the last Indo-China war. The cycle of violence is
broken, and border conflicts now see days of tranquility for the
first time. These people, scattered among the People's Republic
of China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam borders, need freedom from
fear and want. While these other countries are making progress,
the Hmong lack the political resources to meet their needs.
Therefore, they need the support of Great Powers for their
protection.
The research is done. The expedition is concluded, and the origin
of the Hmong has been indisputably authenticated. I, as the
Christian, Catholic priest, and an American by birth, ask the
stirring questions: What now? Where and how to proceed? How to
attract global attention to this people, wronged, deprived, and
persecuted? When will it end?
One answer was to create what I call the Hmong (Miaozu) Charter.
It exists to establish a mandated quadrilateral citizenship to
unite them as a people. It will give the Hmong their rights, as
citizens, to live and move freely in and out of the borders of
the People's Republic of China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. The
Hmong Charter reminds those who hear about it:
NO ONE IS FREE WHEN OTHERS ARE OPPRESSED.
The Hmong is their chosen name which means "free
people." They need the support of the Great Powers for their
protection. Every voice raised in protest will swell the chorus
reaching the ears of the Great Powers. If you feel that you are
only a "voice crying in the wilderness," keep shouting
for peace and justice, and have the promise of Jesus: "Fear
not! I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)
Lest it be thought that we refer only to a people connected by
deprivation and oppression, existing in the Asian part of the
world, nothing is farther from the truth. There are large
populations of Hmong located in the United States, specifically
in Michigan, Denver, Sacramento, and Fresno to name a few. They
are the most recent immigrants and are the poorest! In view of
all of this The Hmong Charter, has a threefold purpose for its
existence:
1. To establish an International Conference to strategize a
consistent policy for them.
2. To establish the right to self-development protecting their
environment.
3. To improve the literacy rate and education of their people.
At the end of this article, there will be found a copy in full of
The Hmong Charter. As I conclude this account of my journey made
on behalf of a wronged people, deprived for centuries of their
basic human rights, there comes to mind the words of our own
Declaration of Independence on which our Founding Fathers, so
long ago, based our Democracy:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness."
ISN'T WHAT IS GOOD FOR US NOT GOOD FOR ALL PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET?
I call upon all of my readers, who have persevered with me this
far, to support The Hmong Charter, written on their behalf.
Please consider earnestly these words from that Charter:
While reaffirming faith in the fundamental dignity and worth of
every human person, we seek to promote the social progress, and a
more adequate standard of life, within a collective freedom for
our people."
Let us, with God's help, work together to prevent any further
discrimination towards the Hmong people, and remove the label
they now bear as being the "Jews of China." May our
American motto ring true among us: "In God is our
trust."
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