The Yao people () or Dao () is a classification for various ethnic minorities in China and Vietnam. Their majority branch is also known as Mien. They originated in the areas around Changsha, which today is the capital of Hunan province. They speak a branch of the Hmong-Mien family of languages that share no similar words and share a strong genetic connection debatably to the Hmong peoples with only one gene called O-M7 while all men also share one called Arguments suggest they can just share the same gene while not deriving from an ancestor as there are no found evidence of any ancestors currently or with any language for them to branch off from. They are believed to have diverged with the Hmong around 5,800 years ago from tribes along the Yangtze River.

They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China and reside in the mountainous southwest and south of the country. They also form one of the 54 ethnic groups officially recognized by Vietnam. They numbered 3,309,341 in the 2020 Chinese census and 891,151 in the 2019 Vietnamese census. An estimated 60,000 Yao of the Iu Mien branch reside in the United States, mostly in the Western coastal states.

History China

Origin myth

The origins of the Yao or Iu-mienh can be traced back two millennia to Hunan around the Dongting Lake region. According to a Yao tale, the Chinese Emperor Gao Xin was saved from an enemy chieftain by his faithful dog, Pan Hu. As a reward, Pan Hu was turned into a man and given the emperor's daughter in marriage. The descendants of the two became the Yao people. This tale was used as a basis for their connection to the Mo Yao, a group of highlanders who were exempt from forced labour during the Tang dynasty (618–907). Between 200 BCE and 900 CE, the Yao migrated into mountainous areas to the south of the Yangtze River.

Historical records

As the Yao lacked their own written language until recently, much of what is known about their ancient history comes from ancient Han Chinese sources. In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty (25–225 AD), they are described as "liking five-colored clothes", "going barefoot" and being "colorfully dressed".

Conquest

The Yao or Iu-mienh were conquered by the Han Chinese between the 10th and 13th centuries. However, they were covered under a loose reign system known as the Jimi system or Tusi. The local chieftains collected tribute and taxes from their own people and paid taxes to the emperor.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, rule over the Yao was tightened. Ming and Qing authorities sent in their own bureaucrats to directly collect taxes, supplanting the role of the Yao chieftains. The Yao and Miao people were among the rebels during the Miao Rebellions against the Ming dynasty during the 1370s and 1449. Conflict drove the Yao further south into the highlands between Hunan and Guizhou to the north and Guangdong and Guangxi to the south, and stretching into Eastern Yunnan. Some left for Southeast Asia.

Around 1890, the Guangdong government started taking action against Yao in Northwestern Guangdong.

After the Mao Zedong's Communist Party won the civil war in the late 1940s, the Yao benefited greatly from the ideology of equality and were able to access education, becoming part of the regional and national elite. They were often recruited as specialists to assist with the ethnic identification program within the framework of a large unified China.

Laotian Civil War During the Laotian Civil War, the Yao tribes of Laos had a good relationship with U.S. forces and were dubbed to be an "efficient friendly force". They fought in favour of the (South Vietnamese) government against the communists. This relationship caused the new communist Laotian government to target Yao tribal groups once the war was over. This triggered further immigration into Thailand, where the tribes would be put into camps along the Thailand-Laos border.

Immigration to the United States After obtaining refugee status from the Thai government, and with the help of the United Nations, many Yao people were able to obtain sponsorship into the United States (although many remain in Thailand). Most of the Yao who have immigrated to the United States have settled along the Western part of the US, mainly in central and northern California such as Visalia, Oakland, Oroville, Redding, Richmond, Sacramento, but also in parts of Oregon like Portland, Salem, and Beaverton as well as the state of Washington in Seattle and Renton. See Mien American for those identified as Mien.

Culture, society, and economy

Yao society is traditionally patrilineal, with sons inheriting from their fathers. The Yao follow patrilocal residence."Yao" in Ethnohistorical Dictionary of China (ed. James Stuart Olson: Greenwood Press, 1998), p. 374. Polygyny was allowed until it was banned in China in the 1950s. Adoption was common among the wealthy.

The Yao people have been farmers for over a thousand years, mostly rice cultivation through plowing, although a few practice slash-and-burn agriculture. Where the Yao live nearby forested regions, they also engage in hunting.

During the Southern Song (1127–1279), an imperial Chinese observer, Zhou Qufei, described the Yao as wearing distinctive fine blue clothing produced using indigo.Sean Marsh, Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours ( eds. Victor H. Mair & Liam Kelley: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2015), p. 96.

The Yao celebrate their Pan Wang (King Pan) festival annually on the sixteenth day of the tenth lunar month. The festival celebrates the mythical original story of the Yao people, and has evolved "into a happy holiday for the Yao to celebrate a good harvest and worship their ancestors."Liming Wei, Chinese Festivals (Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 106–07.

The women of the Red Yao group of Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County are well-known for keeping their hair extremely long, only cutting it at three and eighteen years of age. Their tradition of keeping and dancing with long hair has turned the village of Huangluo into a tourist destination.

Religion

The description of Yao religion is similar to the definition of Chinese folk religion as described by Arthur Wolf and Steve Sangren. Like the Han, the Yao engage in patrilineal ancestor worship, celebrate lunar new year, and recognize a set a 18 gods and goddesses, mostly of Han Chinese origin. The Yao had shaman priests as part of their community who engaged in activities such as exorcism, spiritual communication, and divination using chicken bones or bamboo sticks.

Taoism has historically been important to the Yao.Deborah A. Sommer, "Taoism and the Arts" in The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts (ed. Frank Burch Brown: Oxford University Press, 2014), p. 384. Jinag Yingliang, in a 1948 study, argued that Yao religion was characterized by (1) a process of Han Chinese-influenced Daoisation (); (2) the endurance of pre-Daoist folk religion; and (3) some Buddhist beliefs.

Scholar Zhang Youjun takes issue with claims of "strong Buddhist influence" on the Yao, arguing that "although Yao ritual texts contain Buddhist expression, the Yao do not believe in Buddhism at all. They are resolutely Taoist."

Groups and languages

There are several distinct groups within the Yao nationality, and they speak several different languages, The Iu Mien comprise 70% of the Yao population. Hmong–Mien languages The Mien speak Mienic languages (), including: Mian–Jin languages Iu Mien, 2,172,000 speakers (1,699,750 in China, 350,000 in Vietnam, 40,000 in Thailand, 20,250 in Laos, 60,000 in the United States, 2,000 in France) Kim Mun (also known as Lanten), more than 300,000 Yao people Biao Mon, 20,000 speakers Dzao Min, 60,000 speakers Biao Min, 43,000 speakers Hmongic languages Bunu languages Pa-Hng Younuo Kiong Nai Lakkja language (a Tai–Kadai language) Chinese about 500,000 Yao speak Chinese dialects

In addition to China, Yao also live in northern Vietnam (where they are called Dao), northern Laos, and Myanmar. There are around 60,000 Yao in northern Thailand, where they are one of the six main hill tribes. The lowland-living Lanten of Laos, who speak Kim Mun, and the highland-living Iu Mien of Laos are two different Yao groups. There are also many Iu Mien Americans, mainly refugees from the highlands of Laos. The Iu Mien do not call themselves "Yao". Not all "Yao" are Iu Mien. A group of 61,000 people on Hainan speak the Yao language Kim Mun; 139,000 speakers of Kim Mun live in other parts of China (Yunnan and Guangxi), and 174,500 live in Laos and Vietnam.

The Bunu people call themselves Nuox , Buod nuox , Dungb nuox , or their official name Yaof zuf . Only 258,000 of the 439,000 people categorised as Bunu in the 1982 census speak Bunu; 100,000 speak the Tai–Kadai Zhuang languages, and 181,000 speak Chinese and the Tai–Kadai Bouyei language.

Mao (2004) Mao Zongwu (2004:7–8)毛宗武 / Mao Zongwu. 2004. 瑤族勉语方言研究 / Yao zu Mian yu fang yan yan jiu [A Study of Mien Dialects]. Beijing: Publishing House of Minority Nationalities. gives a detailed list of various Yao endonyms (i.e., self-designated names) and the Chinese names of various groups and clans associated with them. Endonyms are written in the International Phonetic Alphabet with numerical Chao tones.

Autonym 勉 or 优勉: Pangu Yao 盘古瑶, Pan Yao 盘瑶, Panhu Yao 盘瓠瑶, Trans-Mountain / Guoshan Yao 过山瑶, Large-Board / Daban Yao 大板瑶, Small-Board / Xiaoban Yao 小板瑶, Board / Ban Yao 板瑶, Top-Board / Dingban Yao 顶板瑶, Sharp-Headed / Jiantou Yao 尖头瑶, Level-Headed / Pingtou Yao 平头瑶, Red-Head / Hongtou Yao 红头瑶, Arrow-Pole / Jian'gan Yao 箭杆瑶, Cattle-Horn Yao / Niujiao 牛角瑶, Tu Yao 土瑶 (in Hezhou, Guangxi), Native / Bendi Yao 本地瑶, Flowery / Hua Yao 花瑶 (in Yangshuo County, Guangxi), Ao Yao 坳瑶, Zheng Yao 正瑶, Liang Yao 粮瑶 Autonym 金门 or 甘迪门: Blue-Indigo / Landian Yao 蓝靛瑶, Shanzi Yao 山子瑶, Flowery-Headed / Huatou Yao 花头瑶, Sand / Sha Yao 沙瑶, Level-Headed / Pingtou Yao 平头瑶, Bazi Yao 坝子瑶 Autonym 标曼 or 史门: Min Yao 民瑶, "Four Great" Min Yao 四大民瑶 Autonym 标敏 or 交公勉: East Mountain / Dongshan Yao 东山瑶 (in Quanzhou County, Guangxi), Dog-Headed / Goutou Yao 狗头瑶 Autonym 藻勉: Bapai Yao 八排瑶 Autonym 优念, 炳多优, or 珊介: Red Yao 红瑶 (in Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County, Guangxi), Plains / Pingdi Yao 平地瑶 Autonym 布努: Beilou Yao 背篓瑶, Beilong Yao 背陇瑶, West Mountain / Xishan Yao 西山瑶, East Mountain Yao / Dongshan 东山瑶 (in Bama Yao Autonomous County, Guangxi), Tudi Yao 土地瑶, Tu Yao 土瑶 (in Pingguo County and Mashan County, Guangxi), Mountain / Shan Yao 山瑶, Man Yao 蛮瑶, East Valley / Dongnong Yao 东弄瑶, West Valley / Xinong Yao 西弄瑶, Fan Yao 反瑶, Anding Yao 安定瑶, White Yao 白瑶, Black Yao 黑瑶, Black-Trouser / Heiku Yao 黑裤瑶, Long-Shirt / Changshan Yao 长衫瑶 Autonym 瑙格劳 or 包诺: Siting Yao 四亭瑶, Situan Yao 四团瑶 Autonym 炯奈: Hualan Yao 花蓝瑶 Autonym 巴哼: Dog Yao 狗瑶, Eight-Surname / Baxing Yao 八姓瑶, Red Yao 红瑶 (in Liping and Congjiang Counties of Guizhou; Rongshui Miao Autonomous County and Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County of Guangxi), Wood Yao 木瑶 Autonym 唔奈: Flowery Yao 花瑶 (in Longhui, Dongkou, Chenxi, and Xupu County and the Tongdao Dong Autonomous County of Hunan) Autonym 优诺: Red Yao 红瑶 Autonym 拉珈: Tea Mountain / Chashan Yao 茶山瑶

Plains Yao Groups considered to be "Plains Yao" (Pingdi Yao 平地瑶) include:

Autonym Bingduoyou 炳多尤 (Pingdi Yao 平地瑶, Dainaijiang 代奈江): in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County 江华 of Hunan; Gongcheng 恭城, Fuchuan 富川, Zhongshan 钟山, and Lingui 临桂 counties of Guangxi Autonym Yeheni 爷贺尼 (Pingdi Yao 平地瑶): in Jianghua Yao Autonomous County 江华, Hunan (Jianghua County Gazetteer). The Yeheni speak a divergent Chinese dialect. It is spoken in Taoxu Town 涛圩镇 and Helukou Town 河路口镇 in Jianghua County, Hunan.