Lost Hebrews

The Hmong are mainly mountain people and were considered "barbarians" by the Chinese. They  prefer to themselves by the name "Hmong," while the Chinese call them "Miao." There is some controversy over whether in fact all of the Miao are truly Hmong, and not all of
the Hmong languages are mutually intelligible. There are about nine million members of the various Hmong groups worldwide, mainly in China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Hmong genealogies recount descent from Noah through his son Japeth, and note that that five branches of their ancestral line became the Miao (Hmong), while six joined with the Chinese. Hmong is generally classified as having its own language family (Hmong-Mien), with 32 languages in the family, and is considered to be separate from the Sino-Tibetan language family.  The distinct nature of the Hmong languages from those of surrounding peoples remains somewhat of a mystery, although many believe that the Hmong languages may have some relationship to the Sino-Tibetan or Tai language families. One site on Hmong history notes:

By correlation archeological and anthropological evidence, oral tradition, and Chinese imperial records, scholars have traced the Hmong to central Asia, possibly as early as 5000 B.C. Hmong folktales describe a place having six months of light and six of dark, where snow lay on mountains and ice covered lakes. Over many centuries, they migrated eastward descending through northeast Tibet into southern China. There, the Chinese referred to them as Miao (Meo in Southeast Asia), sometimes translated as "barbarians", but actually a variation on the word "man". Their name for themselves Hmong, means "free people.”  (credits to “Hmong In America/Journey From A Secret War.” Chippewas Valley Museum Press 1995.)

During this persecution, the Hmongs lost all their written records, and written languages. If was said that the Chinese burned all the records and books. Anyone who had knowledge of writing or reading, was killed. It was believed that the last person to have a record book, swallowed his copy, right before the Imperial Chinese soldier killed him. Hmongs have learned to preserve their writings in the "paj ntaub" or the "Pha Dau". The Pha Dau were symbols and writings which was stitched into embroideries. Today, the Pha Dau's are just a mere design for costumes, and decoration of for the New Year celebrations. The Hmong elders who could actually read the embroideries have all passed away. Many also believe that the Hmong are one of the Lost Hebrew Tribes. (Hmong History” as cited at http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/dojo/3610/hmong_history.htm)

Many Hmong believe that their ancestors came from the north and travelled through Mongolia.  Mongolia was a famous girl’s name among the Hmong, and some have remarked upon the similarity between “Hmong” and Mongolia.  Some other scholars dismiss these Hmong traditions as unfounded and state that the legends of the tribe previously living in the cold north may result from a mistranslation. The origins of the Hmong people remain controversial.

In modern patriarchal blessings, the large majority of Hmongs are members of the tribes of Gad and Asher, with a few being members of the tribe of Ephraim.  However, like many other traces of the “lost tribes,” this appears to be a relatively minor influence in a primarily non-Israelite people group.

Are the Hmongs one of the Lost Tribes of Hebrew?

Many also believe that the Hmong are one of the Lost Hebrew Tribes.  To back this up, a folktale talked about a great flood that happened to the Hmong. Also, Linguistics have compared the Hmong written language to those of ancient Hebrew, and found them to be similar.  Hebrew and Hmong also share similar animal sacrifices in religious beliefs.  Even with the head dress, the Hmong and the Hebrew head dress are similar in a way.  Last but no least, there are Hmongs with blond hair, and blue eyes.  This comes to the conclusion that somewhere along the way, may the Hmongs intermarried with blond haired blue eyes people, or maybe the Hmong may have migrated to Europe for a while before heading towards China.