Ancient Hmong Writing System

Hmoob qauv ntaub qauv ntawv, Hmoob nyiam hnav thiab kawm thoob ntuj. Hmoob noob lus, noob ris, noob tsho, noob ntaub, noob ntawv, ntawm poj koob yawm txwv Hmoob.

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.

I would like to take this time to add that this writing is not the one created by Shong Lue Yang, many mistook its identity for the Pahawh Language which can be viewed here at this linguistics website: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/hmong...

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/...

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. =)


TheHmongIdentity
June 18, 2008