Nicholas TAPP

Hmong (Miao) girls in silver headdresses. COURTESY OF PAUL AND BERNICE NOLL.
The Hmong, whose own name for themselves is not officially recognized in China, are a mainly agricultural people living mostly in the southern provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, as well as Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; there is also a considerable diaspora population in Southeast Asia and abroad. Hmong customs show traces of the earliest customs ever recorded in