Ancient Hmong Writing System (Part 4 of 7)

I am not the speaker, the narrator is an elder I work with to help preserve the Hmong culture and history. The elder also helps explain the history of the ancient Hmong written language in parts 4 and onward.

It is the wish of all elder Hmong that we teach anyone and everyone who wishes to learn about the Hmong, their culture, and history.

This video is meant to help Hmong speaking individuals understand the ancient Hmong writing system and its history. The consonants, vowels, tone indicators, and numerals will be discussed over the course of these 7 video clips. I will help make an informative documentary for our English speaking viewers at a later date.

The first two consonants on Part 1 of 7 are the Hmong RPA equivalents of "Hm" and "M". Information from this link will help show more Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) equivalents:
http://hmoobvwj.com/qauv/ntawv/hmoob/1_Qauvntaubqaubntawv/index.php

It has been said many times that the Hmong have never had a written language until recently; however, this is not true. This writing system is believed to be ancient because oral history records it has been in use ever since if not before the Peb Hmoob Kingdom (San Miao 2200 BC). It is true the Hmong have a rich history of oral culture but there's a good reason why.

After the fall of the Hmong kingdom, the Hmong had no choice but to flee their homeland to avoid being sinicized or persecuted. Naturally, higher ground gives one a military advantage, so their ancestors from long ago migrated into the mountains of China to keep their freedom although they would lose their chance at rebuilding their former strength, their former kingdom.

They built small villages to avoid being detected by Chinese soldiers. During which dynasty this occurred, we do not yet know for sure but evidence suggests it occurred some time during the Qin Dynasty (221BC - 206BC). It was then that Qin soldiers (pronounced 'Chin') were given orders to burn the documents of all the kingdoms they conquered.

The use of a "foreign" written language was banned, this is the reason why the Hmong culture became well established in its oral traditions because that was the only form of communication they were allowed.

Therefore to preserve the Hmong written language, Hmong women sowed the characters onto their own clothing as a form of art later known as the Flower Cloth (paj ntaub). This form of art helped keep it alive, that was how the written language of the Hmong was preserved for centuries. Oral traditions became more dominant and the written language became obscured for security reasons.

The Hmong who never surrendered continued to rebel against various dynasties of China for centuries, eventually migrating into the mountains of Southeast Asia after the major loss of life during the Miao Rebellion where hundreds of thousands of Hmong fought against the Qing Dynasty (Manchu Dynasty) in the 19th century.

During the Vietnam War, the Hmong who kept the old code of honor sided with American forces against the rise of communism. After the US withdrew from Southeast Asia, Hmong soldiers did their best to hold their ground. Realizing it would be suicide to stay in Laos; survivors started fleeing in 1975 to Thailand for asylum. Thousands of elders, women, and children lost their lives to either communist troops or trying to cross the Mekong River. Eventually many free nations from around the world accepted the refugees with the largest concentration in the United States.

Hmong historians, traditionally old men or women who kept the oral tradition alive, often encouraged the Hmong youth to "kawm ntaub kawm ntawv" which literally translated into English as "learn the cloth learn the writing." This meaning was never fully understood as many Hmong including myself thought these words simply meant "get an education." But the true meaning was that if you learn how to sow the cloth you'll eventually learn how to use the Hmong writing system.

It takes a great level of patience alone to sow each character from the flower cloth, when a student has proven that they have the patience to learn, they are eventually taught what sound each character makes and there onto how to read and write the ancient Hmong writing system.

If you have any questions please feel free to leave a comment or message me. Thank you for stopping by.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Hmong
• Mong
• Miao
• Languages
• Hmoob
• Moob
• Asian
• People
• Peoples
• Manuscript
• East
• Eastern
• Language
• Keeb
• Kwm
• Ancient
• Writing
• History

[myAsoulsMheartY]

so since it is called the flower cloth does it mean that originally the cloth was made from a type of flower plant??? how was the cloth made and what was used for the ink and threads??? :D

[TheHmongIdentity]

The elders say our ancestors call it the Flower Cloth because the embroidery patterns resemble how the petals of a flower stem out evenly from its center.

I don't know how the cloth was made, I'll have to get back to you on that one. I would assume they used natural cotton? Ink was never used on cloth, it was only used on bamboo scripts and the earliest forms of paper.

[paexou]

How can u pull out Hmong language too late?

Well, now Latin language is more popular

for Hmong and easiest language.

[TheHmongIdentity]

Our goal is to preserve it as a part of our history, the way the Egyptian Hieroglyphics was preserved as a part of theirs. In the end, it is the people who choose which language they wish to use, should it be the RPA or at a much later date, this, so be it.

[hmoob1234]

i'm intrique but is it scientifically proven that these are the symbols for each letter? and what are his qualifications? I REALLY DO HOPE THAT ALL THESE SYMBOLS ARE TRUE AND THAT IT IS OUR WRITTEN SYSTEM!!!! GO HMONG!!!

[TheHmongIdentity]

I'm hoping for the scientific proof as well. What are his qualifications? Isn't that like asking a Hmong Mej Koob to provide us his degree if he wants to teach us about Hmong marriage celebrations?

[13MintKeys]

One day,I hope one Hmong person who knows the writing would show how and what the writings mean. ): Now we just qrite in American letters but speak in our own way.

[khunlo]

you can't learn hmong writing anymore because it is useless now..it should've been taught long time ago but the hmong refused to give up their clan names and unite so it is too long..the heaven have already taken back all their promises because hmong couldn't do what was told to them by the heaven.blame the vang clan who refused to give up their pride and unite the hmong people. too bad it will never be what could've been vang pao refused to do heavens work when he was given a second chance

[killerboibitch]

how can i get in contact with someone who have knowledge of this writing system?

[zuttodaisukidayo]

i am very excited to hear that Hmong writing still exists, and I want to learn the orginal characters and writing. The only doubt I have is that if all documents and evidence of writing was destroyed, how was the writing discovered this recently? I love learning about Hmong culture, don't get me wrong, just don't want to get my hopes up. but, WOW, I never even imagined paj ntaub being a form of writing and the phrase "kawm ntaub kawm ntawv". This amazes me!

[Thisbeme1986]

all these are true the hmong writing system was hiding in ours embroidery (paj ntaub) my mom and grand mother told her generation after generation..Our ancient hmong wrting system had existed for 2 to 3000bc comparing to latin hmong writing they r just full of crap.too straight forward and simple to learn what u know and that's it.. latin hmong language it aint gonna take you to the next level..

[canthandlethis69]

wow this is a really good video!

[goldomyk]

Hi, good video ! I wrote a song for hmong people. Click on my name and choose the song " YOU RAISE ME UP HMONG " please ;)

[xion225]

wow this song really fits this clip

[nowingedangel]

A while back, I read about this on a webpage but did not feel that it was credible.

In high school, friends asked me if I could write and read in Hmong. I demonstrated what I could with romanized English letters, and I always felt uneasy to inform them that we had an amazing oral tradition but did not have an existing traditional writing system.

Well, I guess I was wrong!

This is so cool! I'd just love to learn more about the Hmong culture in all aspects. :)