Who are the A-Hmao?

The A-Hmao is one of the hundreds of different ethnic groups in China who are grouped together with others to make a larger minority group. The Miao people, or Hmong as they are known in other parts of Asia, are made up of nearly 100 of these little groups, one of them being the A-Hmao.

The A-Hmao has a population of around 410,000 scattered across northwest Guizhou Province and northeast Yunnan province. There is also a small pocket of A-Hmao who live in the Panzhihua area in southern Sichuan province.

There is much that we don’t know about the A-Hmao. However, we do know that the A-Hmao were essentially slaves to the Nosu Yi who stole their land and imposed outrageous taxes on them before seizing large amounts of A-Hmao as slaves. It has even been recorded that the Nosu Yi would use the backs of A-Hmao as a stepping stool when mounting their horses. Samuel Pollard recorded in his diary that the A-Hmao used to be cannibals; after battle, they would remove the hearts from the fallen and cook them in a fire before consuming them. However, Samuel Pollard was a Christian missionary and it is unclear as to whether he actually made this up since he was highly critical of the A-Hmao, including the women.

Around 70 – 80% of A-Hmao today are Christians, having been converted by Samuel Pollard who visited the region in 1904. Others still practice the religion of their ancestors, believing in a pantheon of spirits known as bidlang.

The different Miao sub-groups all speak a different dialect including the A-Hmao. Each dialect is so different that the A-Hmao, who are also known as Big Flowery Miao, cannot communicate with the Small Flowery Miao who near them in Guizhou province.

The A-Hmao are one of those ethnic groups westerners never hear about due to incorporation into a larger minority group. However, it is important to learn as much as we can about them before their history and culture fades into obscurity.