I. Language and writing
1. Language
The Miao language belongs to the Miao branch of the Miao-Yao language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. in the early 50's, the Second Task Force of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for the Survey of Ethnic Minority Languages, after a field trip and a scientific study on the characteristics of the Miao language which has more or less the same word formation but different phonetics, divided it into three major dialects, i.e., the western Xiangxi dialect, the eastern Guizhou dialect, the Sichuan-Qianyuan-Dian dialect (also known as the eastern, central and western dialects), and seven sub-dialects and eighteen native languages. Sichuan-Guizhou-Yunnan dialect (also known as the eastern, central and western dialects), and seven sub-dialects and eighteen native languages.
2. Words
Legends say that the Miao once had words in ancient times, which may be of the same origin as Chinese characters, but later on they were lost, and it is difficult to verify these legends nowadays. in the beginning of the 20th century, some intellectuals of the Miao people created some dialectal writings for the purpose of developing the culture and education of the Miao people, for example, the Square Miao Words created by Shibantang in western Hunan Province, the shorthand Miao Words created by Shi Qiqigui, the Miao textbooks compiled by Long Shaohua of Songtao, Guizhou Province, which utilized the International Phonetic Symbol, and so on. Long Shaohua's textbook in Songtao, Guizhou, which utilizes the International Phonetic Alphabet. Some foreign missionaries also created some Hmong texts for missionary purposes. However, due to various constraints, the Miao language has not been implemented among the Miao people.
Religion
The Hmong people have had their own religious beliefs for a long time. After a long period of historical development, the religious beliefs of the Miao people in different areas are different. Some Miao areas are closed to transportation, and the Miao believe in primitive religion; there are also a few Miao areas, such as Weining, Shimenkan and Yuanling in western Hunan, etc. In recent times, due to the influence of foreign missionaries, there are converts to Catholicism and Christianity. But in general, most of the Miao people still believe in the primitive religion that has been formed for a long time, which includes nature worship, totem worship, ghost worship and ancestor worship.
Three, clothing
The Miao dress style, colorful. There are five streams in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Wuxi: the junction of western Hunan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Hubei, which is named after the five streams in the area. Miao people "good five-color clothes" records; the great poet Du Fu in the Tang Dynasty also has "five streams clothes *** cloudy sky" of the famous poem. Miao women's clothing has more than a hundred kinds of styles, which can be called the most ethnic clothing in China. The more representative of the traditional "dress", only inserted in the bun on the headdress there are dozens of kinds.
Miao women generally wear narrow-sleeved, large-necked, lapel short clothes, and pleated skirts underneath. The dresses are either long enough to reach the feet, flowing and graceful, or shorter than the knee, graceful and attractive. Casual wear is more in the head wrapped bandana, upper body lapel short jacket, lower body pants, embroidered lace, tie a picture of embroidered waist, plus a little delicate silver jewelry set off. Miao men's attire is relatively simple, the upper garment is mostly for the lapel short jacket or right-over-oblique long shirt, shoulder draped with geometric patterns of wool felt, head wrapped in green wrapped head, calves wrapped wrapped tied legs .
Four, surnames
The Miao have two kinds of surnames, one is Miao, one is Han. The Hmong surname was originally inherent; the Han surname was imported later. Because in the past, the Miao did not write their own Miao surname, only use Chinese characters to write the Han surname, so that people mistakenly think that only the Han surname, but do not know that there is a Miao surname. Before the use of "Han surname", the Miao people have their own internal distinction between blood relatives and clan "Miao surname". Han literati and other foreigners, often know one without knowing the other, only to the prevailing Han family name in Chinese characters prevail, thus creating illusions and misunderstandings?
Middle East
The distribution of the Miao people is geographically vast, with a wide range of internal dialects and clans. Miao people in various places, dialect areas and clans have had their own surnames in Miao language passed down from generation to generation and still popular in the internal .
Expanded Information
The Hmong culture can be traced back as far as 5,000 or 6,000 years to the time of the Yanhuang legend. According to historical documents and Miao word-of-mouth information, the Miao ancestors first lived in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and then gradually entered the southwestern mountainous areas due to wars and other reasons. The Miao are also a traditional ethnic group with their own language and script.
Miao culture, like other ethnic cultures, contains both material and spiritual cultures. Material culture refers to visible and tangible things such as clothing, food, housing and transportation; spiritual culture refers to folk songs, dances, religious beliefs and handicrafts.
Miao dress heritage and innovation. Miao dress is to identify a national most intuitive signs, a region of colorful ethnic culture, intuitively is also colorful ethnic dress. First, we should dig deep into the basic elements and characteristics of national costume culture; second, we should keep abreast of the times to design festival costumes, stage costumes and daily ordinary costumes; third, we should call on the cadres and masses of all ethnic groups to wear national costumes in their work and daily life, especially in major festivals and activities of the national leading cadres to take the lead and set a good example; fourth, we should form cultural products and tourism commodities, and gradually become a brand industry.
Miao characteristics of cultural resources protection and excavation. First, the protection of mining historical and cultural resources. Effectively do a good job in the collection of ancient books into the museum, carry out cultural relics census declaration work, digging deep into the cultural relics and sites, cultural heritage behind the story, rich in tourism and cultural connotations. The second is to protect the excavation of ethnic and folk cultural resources. Inheritance of farming culture, textile culture, festival culture, and actively protect the folk residence, folk style, folklore, folk songs, folk skills.
Baidu Encyclopedia - Miao Ethnicity