What is the largest ethnic minority in Ha Giang

Question

Ha Giang is not just about the landscapes and attractions, but also about the people. Prepare to be greeted with genuine smiles and open arms. Experience the warmth of their hospitality, share a cup of rice wine with a local family, and savor the simple pleasures of their way of life. The kindness of the Ha Giang people will leave you feeling like part of the family.

Answer 1

The largest ethnic minority in Ha Giang, Vietnam, is the Hmong people. They make up approximately 56% of the province's population, with a total of around 680,000 individuals.

The Hmong have a rich and vibrant culture, known for their intricate textiles, beautiful embroidery, and unique agricultural practices. They've established strong communities in the stunning mountainous landscapes of Ha Giang, particularly in areas like Quan Ba and Hoang Su Phi.

Historical Origins: About 4-5 thousand years ago, the Hmong and Dao ethnic groups were both pushed out of the Tam Mieu region in China by the Han people. They endured numerous wars and natural disasters spanning thousands of years. By the late 17th to early 18th centuries, they began migrating to Southeast Asia.

Based on the distinctive colors of their clothing and phonetics, the Hmong people in Vietnam are divided into four regional groups: White Hmong (Mông Trắng), Black Hmong (Mông Đen), Green Hmong (Mông Xanh), and Flower Hmong (Mông Hoa).

Population: As of April 1, 2019, the population is 1,393,547 individuals. This includes 711,066 and 682,481 people, according to the 2019 socioeconomic census of 54 ethnic minorities conducted by the Vietnam National Committee for Ethnic Affairs - General Statistics Office.

Language: Belongs to the Hmong-Dao language family.

Geographical Distribution: Primarily located in provinces such as Ha Giang, Son La, Dien Bien, Lao Cai, Lai Chau, Yen Bai, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Dak Lak, Dak Nong, and more. Currently, the Hmong people have migrated to various other places such as Cao Bang, Bac Kan, Lam Dong.

Main characteristics :

Housing: Homes include stilt houses, thatched roof wooden houses, and earthen wall houses. Single-story houses typically consist of three rooms with two roofs, featuring two to three doors. The central room often houses the ancestral altar. In rocky highland areas, each house is surrounded by a stone wall approximately 2 meters high.

Family Structure: Patriarchal system.

Traditional Clothing: The Hmong attire is vibrant and diverse. White Hmong women cultivate flax, weave linen fabric, wear white skirts, breast-split tunics, embroidered floral patterns on sleeves, and a rear apron. They shave their heads, leaving a bun, wear a wide-brimmed headscarf, and adorn themselves with intricate accessories.

Flower Hmong women wear embroidered or wax-printed skirts, sleeveless tunics, and colorful fabric draped over the shoulders and chest. They have long hair, often tied up and decorated.

Black Hmong women wear batik skirts with floral patterns, breast-split tunics.

Green Hmong women wear tube skirts. Married Green Hmong women roll their hair on top of their heads, secured with a horsehair comb, and wear an outer headscarf. Their decorations mainly consist of stitched fabric, embroidery featuring snails, squares, chestnut shapes, and crosses.

Men wear black clothes, short jackets, long pants, and wrap their heads with a cloth.

Cuisine: Typical dishes include cornmeal, various cakes made from corn or rice flour, corn wine, rice wine, and Thang co (a hot pot) containing various meats, bones, heart, liver, lungs of cattle (or goats, horses, etc.) cooked together in a large pot.

Festivals: Traditional New Year celebrations start in early December of the lunar calendar, a month before the Lunar New Year. In some places, the Hmong also celebrate Independence Day on September 2nd every year.

Beliefs: The Hmong worship the Creator. Influenced by Animism, they believe in "everything has a spirit," meaning all things have a soul, and when something dies, the soul transforms into a ghost. When a family member dies, the soul becomes an ancestral ghost and is worshiped by descendants at the family altar.