suku Hmong

The Hmong people (Hmong pronunciation: [m̥ɔ̃́]; RPA: Hmoob; Hmong Dô: Hmôngz; Nyiakeng Puachue Hmong: 𞄀𞄩𞄰; Pahawh Hmong: 𖬌𖬣𖬵; Chinese: 苗族蒙人) are an ethnic group from East and Southeast Asia. In China, the Hmong people are classified as a sub-group of the Miao people. The modern Hmong reside mainly in Southwestern China and Mainland Southeast Asian countries, such as Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. There are also diaspora communities in the United States, Australia, France, and South America.

The term Hmong is the English spelling of the Hmong people's native name. It is a singular and a plural noun similar to "Japanese" and "French". Very little is known about the Hmong people's native name, as it is not mentioned in Chinese historical records, in which the Hmong are identified as . Its meaning is debatable, and its origin is uncertain, though it can be traced to several provinces in China. However, Hmong Americans and Hmong Laotians often associate it with 'free' or 'fate' (); it serves as a reminder to them of their history of fighting oppression.

Historically, the term "Hmong" is not featured in any Chinese text, only the term "Miao". However it is uncertain if all mentions of Miao people referred to the Hmong people. According to Ruey (1962), the way in which Miao was used in Chinese can roughly be divided into three periods: a legendary period from 2300 BC to 200 BC, then a period when the term generally referred to southern barbarians until 1200 AD, and then a modern period during which the Hmong were probably included. Although the term appeared before the Qin dynasty (221 BC), throughout history Miao was used as a loose and general term by the Han to refer to southern barbarians. Only since the Tang dynasty did more evidence of its association with the Hmong become more apparent. In the 20th century, Western missionaries called the Hmong and Hmao the "Big Flowery Miao" (Da Hua Miao) and the "Little Flowery Miao" (Xiao Hua Miao).

Today, the Hmong in China are categorized under the umbrella term Miáo () along with three other indigenous cultural groups, which include non-Hmong peoples such as the Hmu and the Xong of southeast Guizhou. The Chinese Miao minority was created in 1949 as part of the ethnic identification project in which members of the ethnic groups that now comprise the Miao umbrella group campaigned for identification under the name Miao—taking advantage of its familiarity and associations of historical political oppression. The push to appropriate Miao as the official name of their minzu nationality received significant contributions from three Miao intellectuals, however none of them were Hmong. The various Miao sub-groups freely identify as Miao or Chinese while reserving their specific ethnonyms for intra-ethnic communication. According to Jacques Lemoine, "Chinese Hmong have the Miao nationality but Hmong ethnicity" because the People's Republic of China doesn't recognize ethnicity.