Hmong people in the context of "Kinh Vietnamese"

Miao is a word used in modern China to designate a category of ethnic groups living in southern China and Mainland Southeast Asia. The Miao are the largest ethnic minority group in China without an autonomous region. The Miao live primarily in the mountains of southern China encompassing the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Guangdong, and Hainan. Some sub-groups of the Miao, most notably the Hmong people, migrated out of China into Southeast Asia (Myanmar, Northern Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand). Following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975, a large group of Hmong refugees resettled in several Western nations, mainly in the United States, France, and Australia.

Miao is a Chinese term referring to many groups that have their own autonyms such as Hmong, Hmu, Xong (Qo-Xiong), and A-Hmao. These people (except those in Hainan) speak Hmongic languages, a subfamily of the Hmong–Mien languages (Miao-Yao) including many mutually unintelligible languages such as the mother tongues of the four primary groups that make up the Miao: Hmong, Hmub, Xong and A-Hmao.

The Vietnamese people (Vietnamese: người Việt, lit. 'Việt people') or the Kinh people (Vietnamese: người Kinh, lit. 'Metropolitan people'), also known as the Viet people or the Viets, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to modern-day northern Vietnam and southern China who speak Vietnamese, the most widely spoken Austroasiatic language.

Vietnamese Kinh people account for 85.32% of the population of Vietnam in the 2019 census, and are officially designated and recognized as the Kinh people (người Kinh) to distinguish them from the other minority groups residing in the country such as the Hmong, Cham, or Mường. The Vietnamese are one of the four main groups of Vietic speakers in Vietnam, the others being the Mường, Thổ, and Chứt people. Diasporic descendants of the Vietnamese in China, known as the Gin people, are one of 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, residing in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Sa Pa ([ʃaː paː] , also written as Sapa) is a district-level town of Lào Cai Province in the Northwest region of Vietnam. The town has an area of 685 km (264 sq mi) and a population of 70,663 in 2022. The town capital lies at Sa Pa ward. It is one of the main market and touristic towns in the area, where several ethnic minority groups such as Hmong, Dao (Yao), Giáy, Xa Pho, and Tay live.

Bride kidnapping, also known as marriage by abduction or marriage by capture, is a practice in which a man or boy abducts the woman or girl he wishes to marry.

Bride kidnapping (hence the portmanteau bridenapping) has been practiced around the world and throughout prehistory and history, among peoples as diverse as the Hmong in Southeast Asia, the Tzeltal in Mexico, and the Romani in Europe. Bride kidnapping still occurs in various parts of the world, but it is most common in the Caucasus, Pakistan, Central Asia, and some parts of Africa.

Hmong or Mong (/ˈmʌŋ/ MUNG; RPA: Hmoob, CHV: Hmôngz, Nyiakeng Puachue: 𞄀𞄩𞄰, Pahawh: 𖬌𖬣𖬵, [m̥ɔ̃́]) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Southwestern China, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are an estimated 4.5 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan dialect forms the basis of the standard language. However, Hmong Daw and Mong Leng are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong.

Fifty-four ethnic groups in Vietnam have been officially recognized by the Vietnamese government since 2 March 1979. Each ethnicity has its own unique language, traditions, and culture. The largest ethnic groups are: Kinh 85.32%, Tày 1.92%, Thái 1.89%, Mường 1.51%, Hmong 1.45%, Khmer 1.32%, Nùng 1.13%, Dao 0.93%, Hoa 0.78%, with all others accounting for the remaining 3.7% (2019 census). The Vietnamese terms for ethnic groups are dân tộc (nation) and sắc tộc (ethnicity).

The Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert theater during the Vietnam War with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. The fighting also involved the North Vietnamese, South Vietnamese, American and Thai armies, both directly and through irregular proxies. The war is known as the Secret War among the American CIA Special Activities Center, and Hmong and Mien veterans of the conflict.

The Franco–Lao Treaty of Amity and Association (signed 23 October 1953) transferred remaining French powers to the Royal Lao Government (except control of military affairs), establishing Laos as an independent member of the French Union. However, this government did not include representatives from the Lao Issara anti-colonial armed nationalist movement. The following years were marked by a rivalry between the neutralists under Prince Souvanna Phouma, the right wing under Prince Boun Oum of Champassak, and the left-wing Lao Patriotic Front under Prince Souphanouvong and half-Vietnamese future Prime Minister Kaysone Phomvihane. Several attempts were made to establish coalition governments, and a "tri-coalition" government was finally seated in Vientiane.