By Mai Chao Duddeck
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Hmong Writing Systems Before the 20th Century
Hmong Writing Systems in the 20th Century
Stories give meaning to the human experience and serve as a glue that holds people together. Cultures and nations across the world have shared stories in different ways including Hula dancers who move with Hawaiian-language chants and songs; shadow puppetry that shares moral lessons and folktales; Zajal where classical Arabic poets compete against one another in spoken-word rap battles; and Griots artists from West Africa who preserve their culture through singing. In some societies, people practice “oral culture” when they center storytelling by passing down knowledge through word of mouth. In “written cultures,” they tell stories in writing like the Egyptian hieroglyphs used to capture the ancient Egyptian language. Similarly, the Indus Script consisted of symbols that were created by a civilization found in the Indus Valley in what is today parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The Chinese used logographs where the letter, symbol or sign represented whole words. Meanwhile, one of the oldest found written clay tablets was the Kesh Temple Hymn consisting of 134 lines divided into eight songs. Whether societies are based on oral or written culture, their purpose is to entertain, inform, and preserve cultural values, traditions, and history.
For thousands of years, the Hmong people living in ancient China were believed to have had a written script that recorded their language. The script was lost in chaotic times of war and displacement. Reading and writing in the Hmong language became outlawed, so Hmong women stitched the “secret codes” or “secret language” onto their clothes as they moved from one place to another. Over time, the codes became indecipherable and their meanings lost, but the design motifs remained a symbol of the Hmong people’s identity. The Hmong people preserved their traditions through word of mouth and visual recording in flower cloths or paj ntaub (pa thou). One clear thread holding these expressions together was the desire for Hmong people to preserve their cultural traditions whether through oral or written forms.
Written Systems
There are different oral histories that share how the Hmong script was lost. One legend spoke about Chinese invaders (possibly during the Yellow Emperor Huangdi’s reign, ~2698-2598 BCE) who came to Hmong villages and killed the people, destroyed their homes, and burned their cultural artifacts like books. Additionally, the Imperial Chinese government banned the Hmong written language and made it illegal to read or write it because they wanted the Hmong to assimilate. Violators were killed; thus, fear was instilled. It was the emperor’s way of ending the warring states and “unifying” the people in China as Chinese people. The Hmong people lost their writing system and Hmong elders told various stories of how the ancient written script was lost. Variations of these stories told of the lost script being washed away in a flood, consumed and fed to animals, or hidden away before crossing rivers to escape the military persecution. All of these oral stories point to a theme that some form of Hmong written system existed. Since ancient times, the Hmong people used oral stories to preserve their culture until the mid-20th century.
It wasn’t until in the 1950s that Hmong modern writing systems were developed. Foreigners who wanted to convert the Hmong people to Christianity helped create the Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet so they could read the Bible. The first table below shares writing systems that claimed to belong to the Hmong or Miao people before the 20th century. The second table shares Hmong writing systems in the 20th century.
Hmong Writing Systems Before the 20th Century
| Script Name | Significance |
|---|---|
| Nanman Era | Nanman tribes were ancient indigenous people who may be ancestors of present day Hmong-Mien, Miao, and other groups living in South and Southwest China. The Nanman script was lost during their escape from the Imperial Chinese invasions. There are no examples of this script in existence. |
| Qing Dynasty | Little information is known about the Qing Dynasty script (1644-1912) other than it may have existed and the Hmong people may have lost it during the Han invasion. It is unknown if any of the writing from this era survived. |
| Shaoyang Relics | In Shaoyang, Hunan province, the “Book from Heaven” was found to have been engraved in a Miao language. Scholars from the Hunan Cultural Relic Department investigated whether it may be the Qing Dynasty script or Nanman script. |
| Monumental | The “Old Miao script” was allegedly found on a group of monuments across Southern China. In Leigongshan, Guizhou province, a monument with Chinese-looking characters was found and the inscription said: “This year is also a good year.” |
| Hmong Flower Cloths (Paj Ntaub, Pa Thou) | Hmong Paj ntaub or flower cloths are intricate embroidery that are believed to have preserved the secret language of the Hmong in women’s clothing during the warring and displacement days with the Imperial Chinese government. Oral stories said the three patterns on the Blue/Green Hmong women’s skirt were sewn to represent the three main bodies of water (Yellow River or Dej Dag, Yangtze River, and Dongting Lake or Pas Dej Toob Theeb) the Hmong crossed. A Hmong in China New Year dance also resembled the skirt patterns. Note: Blue/Green Hmong skirt (ArtsMIA, n.d.). |
Writing can hold political, religious, or cultural purposes that build the pillars of a community and form the identity of a people. It was not by accident that the Imperial Chinese government wanted to get rid of the Hmong people and their writing altogether. Written cultures who record, inform, entertain, and preserve cultural values and traditions have historical records to pass down from one generation to another. The table below shares examples of Hmong writing systems created in the 20th century. The most widely used ones are based on Roman letters such as the Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA).
Hmong Writing Systems in the 20th Century
| Name | Significance |
|---|---|
| Pollard | Between 1904-1936, the Pollard script or Pollard Miao was created by Sam Pollard (British missionary) with the support of Miao champions like Wang Zhimming. The script showed how to write in the A-Hmao language in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces. Example:  Note: Pollard Hymn book titled Hwa Miao Gospel Songs, published in 1938 (Holloway, 2023). |
| Pa Chay Vue Script or Ntawv Paj Cai | A Hmong prophet and leader who led rebellions against the French colonial rule in Laos during the “War of the Insane” in the early 20th century. Villagers allegedly said they had seen Pa Chay’s script that included laws and writing methods, but no one knows if the script survived after he was assassinated in 1921. Note: Pa Chay in Laos in 1920 (La Bibliothèque Nationale de France, n.d.) |
| Hmong Romanized Popular Alphabet (RPA) or Ntawv Thoob Teb (letter all over the world) | American Christian missionaries, Drs. Linwood Barney and William Smalley and French missionary Father Yves Bertrais along with selected Hmong people created the RPA system in Laos between 1951-1953 as a way for Hmong people to read the Bible. The writing system has the Latin alphabet to represent the tones of sound and pronunciations of words in Hmong. The Royal Lao government prohibited the use of Hmong RPA and tried to force the Hmong to assimilate by having them use the Lao Script. After the Secret War, the RPA became widely used by the Hmong people across the world. Example: Hmoob (Hmong). |
| Pahawh Hmong | “Paj Hauj Hmoob or Pahawh Hmong” is a script that translates to “Alphabet Hmong” and was created by Shong Lue Yang in 1959. He believed the alphabet was given and revealed to him by God. The Alphabet Hmong can be written in both Blue/Green and White Hmong dialect, but not as widely used as the RPA. Example:  |
| Nyiakeng Puachue | Reverend Cher Vang Kong created the Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong alphabet in the 1980s. Used by the United Christians Liberty Evangelical Church, the alphabet can be written in both White and Blue/Green Hmong dialects, but is not widely used like the RPA. Example:  |
Oral Traditions
In China, the Hmong are known to belong to the ethnic minority called the Miao and other groups who fall under Miao are the Hmu, Qo Xiong, A-Hmao, and non-Chinese ethnic minorities. Scholars have lumped the Hmong language into the Miao-Yao or Hmong-Mien language family. The Hmong language has roots in China, Southeast Asia, and across the world. Up until the mid 20th century, the Hmong people passed on their history through folklore, myths, songs, stories, and rituals.
What does it mean to be an oral culture where knowledge, history, stories, and ways of life are passed down through words? In traditional Hmong households, mothers passed down embroidery techniques, skills, and motifs to their daughters, so they would know how to make clothes for themselves and their future husband’s family. Mothers, older sisters, and female relatives may also teach daughters how to be a good “hostess” to their clan members and others who visit the home. Living in a patriarchal family system where men have the most power, mothers teach their daughters how to manage a household in getting chores done properly and maintaining a good reputation in order to find a suitable husband. In contrast, boys follow a different path where they learn ritual songs to guide the deceased loved ones back to the land of ancestors; practice playing instruments like the raj or flute and qeej by repeating melodies after male teachers; or following the in footsteps of their dad, brothers, or male relatives to become future clan leaders. Children gathered around elders to hear stories, so that they would know how to navigate the world from the wisdom shared. It has been language, spoken out loud that brings everything to life.
Language
Hmong is a tonal language. This means each word has a different meaning based on how it is pronounced. There are eight Hmong tones and if written down in the RPA, the tone marker shows at the end of the word. Although the words may sound similar, as the tones change with the pitch, the words have different meanings. Think of this tonal concept like the musical notes of “Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do,” but with Hmong tones. For example, the Hmong word for squirrel is nas, but if the tone is changed to a different pitch like nag, then the new meaning is rain. Change the tone one more time from nag to nab, and now the word means snake. The Hmong language is expressive, creative, and highly sophisticated. There are different types of oral languages used in non-linear ways to communicate. These include everyday language, song poetry (kwv txhiaj), appreciation speech, weddings, funerals, and ritual ceremonies like ua neeb (shamanism).
Words are so important that people greet each other by saying, “koj tuaj los (ko tua law),” which translates to “you have come.” When they leave, the family sends them off with “mus ho tuaj (moo haw tua),” which means “go and come back.” The Hmong language has many dialects based on geographical areas across the world, but the people could generally understand each other to a degree with the exception of different vocabulary. For example, choj in the White Hmong dialect means bridge, but in Blue/Green Hmong, choj means blanket.
In the ever changing world of culture, whether in written or oral forms, the purpose of preserving cultural traditions and values is strong. In states like California, Minnesota, and Wisconsin–the three states where the largest Hmong-American populations live–immersion efforts continue to reinforce the importance of valuing cultural diversity and the fear that languages like Hmong would be lost if not taught.
Some challenges to sustaining Hmong language preservation include limited time to plan and funding availability to support cultural classes for the long term. Thankfully, Hmong Americans and others across the world are finding new ways to share and tell their stories in oral or written expressions. Present and future generations are painting their own creative cultural portraits about who they are in relation to the Hmong diaspora and what they know about the past. Oral and written cultures use language as a vehicle and will continue to entertain, inform, and share cultural values, traditions, and history.
References
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Brookes, T. (2020). Another script author murdered. Endangered Alphabets. https://www.endangeredalphabets.com/2020/06/18/another-script-author-murdered/
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Hmong Museum. (2023). Hmong Chronicles. https://hmongmuseummn.org/collection/hmong-chronicles/#:~:text=Watch%20%C2%BB-,Oral%20Traditions,share%20folklore%20or%20life%20experiences.
Hmoob Vaj Loog Vooj Vuab. (2017). Pahawh Plateform. https://pahawh.com/
Holloway, S. (2023). Miao Pollard (Pollard Hymn book). ScriptSource. https://scriptsource.org/cms/scripts/page.php?item_id=script_detail_use&key=Plrd
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La Bibliotheque Nationale de France. (n.d.). La révolte des Méos [Tonkin et Laos ] : [chef Hmong [Batchai (Pa Chay Vue)] : [photographie de presse] / Agence Meurisse. Gallica. http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9033855s.r=
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Contributing Editor: Yia Vue
Illustrator: Alex Yang