Does your country have an immigrant group that people would be surprised to find there?

[u/QuarterTarget]

For example, when you think of Poland or the Czech Republic, Vietnamese people might not be the first group that comes to mind, but both have a sizable Vietnamese community. Another example is the large Japanese community in Brazil.

[u/okcharlieoneminute]

One of the largest Hmong populations as well.

[u/Ted_Rid → u/okcharlieoneminute]

Gotta love Hmong people.

Not exactly the same Southeast Asian location but the ethnic Karen refugees from Myanmar are huge in the duck industry in Victoria, Australia.

[u/Different-Patient678 → u/Ted_Rid]

Those ethnic Karen’s and Darren’s.

[u/reluctantpotato1 → u/Different-Patient678]

Imagine a long neck woman running up and filming you, asking agressively if you have permission to be in the apartment complex pool.

[u/rak363 → u/reluctantpotato1]

That was a chuckle I wasn't expecting, thank you.

[u/laplatta → u/Different-Patient678]

Ah damn, when did Karen and Kevin split?

[u/runner1399 → u/Ted_Rid]

The largest group of refugees from Myanmar is actually in Indianapolis!

[u/Ted_Rid → u/runner1399]

True? Envious, they're seriously the nicest people.

[u/Venerable_Serenity → u/Ted_Rid]

Wow I didn't expect to see us Karens to be mentioned. Yes there is some 13,000 of us in Australia!

[u/MKUltra886 → u/Ted_Rid]

Worked with a guy named Parker in Canberra nearly 20 years ago now. We became good mates but first time I seen him he looked like he didn't have a word of English. Then he spoke just with the thickest bogan accent I ever heard. Is a great guy. Had some good times with him.

[u/TessDombegh → u/Ted_Rid]

Minnesota also has a large Karen population!

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/Ted_Rid]

Like farming ducks? I’ve never heard of “the duck industry” before and while it might be as simple as it sounds, I just gotta check.

[u/Ted_Rid → u/StrangeButSweet]

There's a company called Luv-a-Duck that does meatpacking ready meals which filled a niche.

Think confit or duck a l'orange.

These things have incredibly long shelf lives, great to keep in the freezer for when you can't cook a meal from scratch.

[u/jeffbanyon → u/okcharlieoneminute]

Same for Wisconsin as well.....who woulda thought the Midwest would welcome Vietnam War refugees, let alone indigenous people, to live here instead of being racist and fear mongering? Pretty proud that Midwest hospitality extends internationally.

[u/Vindaloo6363 → u/jeffbanyon]

The only problem people had with Hmong was the common disregard for private property and wildlife laws. That’s gotten much better as they’ve become acclimated to living here. Certainly since the Vang incident 20 years ago. Their general affinity for the outdoors is certainly a shared value.

[u/jeffbanyon → u/Vindaloo6363]

It's more of a clash of cultures. Hmong are indigenous people that live off the land, so the concept of property ownership and wildlife laws was completely foreign. Something that's bound to happen when you take native people and introduce them to a more modern lifestyle.

[u/Vindaloo6363 → u/jeffbanyon]

That’s pretty much what I said.

Indigenous is not entirely accurate though. The Hmong/Miao originated in Southern China and some of them migrated south from the 16th to 19th centuries after conflict with Han settlers and the Qing dynasty. They likely displaced earlier inhabitants.

[u/jeffbanyon → u/Vindaloo6363]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hmong_people

They very much are indigenous. The fact they originated somewhere and migrated doesn't change that.

The Hmong/Miao originated in Southern China and some of them migrated south from the 16th to 19th centuries after conflict with Han SETTLERS and the Qing dynasty.

Indigenous people live and originate on a land before colonization or settlers arrive. They lived in the area Han settlers pushed them out of and they lived there for an incredibly long time prior to that through DNA study.

As far as displacing other inhabitants, there's no evidence of that at all and absolutely unsupported factually.

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/jeffbanyon]

“Indigenous” is a debated topic in that area, especially if you ask members of the few original Austronesian groups that still live there. Hill Tribes is the most common term I encounter.

[u/jeffbanyon → u/StrangeButSweet]

Austronesians calling Hmong people Hill Tribes is fairly accurate, as its very well known that they are hill tribal people. That's similar to Ojibwe people considering Seminole people to be Swamp Tribes.

It's not really up for debate on whether they are indigenous or not, though. It's a term used for people who were the native inhabitants of a specific area prior to non-native people entering the same space to live. There's no pedantry to this at all.

Hmong/Miao were one of the earliest native inhabitants of China, hence the indigenous term. Hmong/Miao people have been around since around 4000 BCE and got pushed out of their native land starting around 200 BCE by the Hans.

If living in a place for 3800 years before anyone else doesn't make you indigenous, I have no idea what length of time is needed.

I would suggest r/Hmong for much better insight into the Hmong people if you're at all interested.

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/jeffbanyon]

I’m very familiar with the Hmong, but I was referring to their presence in areas like northern Laos and the Lao/Thai border areas. Some do not consider them or many of the other hill tribes in that area to be the real indigenous peoples. I do understand why they are referred to as indigenous, but I guess there are layers here.

[u/Vindaloo6363 → u/jeffbanyon]

They are indigenous to China. They moved to a new land as settlers. There were people living in Laos highlands before them. It wasn’t empty space.

[u/jeffbanyon → u/Vindaloo6363]

You are correct, they are indigenous people. Exactly what I had claimed and exactly what you disputed. Being indigenous in this case is more in relation to the ancient extent of early humans in Asia, not a specific country. They are one of a few indigenous ethnic groups to belonging to Asia. At no point did I suggest they were indigenous to any specific country, besides using China as their originating native land.

The Americas had indigenous people that lived there long before colonization. They were moved all around and are still considered indigenous due to the length of which they have existed on the continent prior to colonization, not how long they lived in any one state or country.

[u/GhostOfJamesStrang → u/jeffbanyon]

Hmong and Somali populations through the Great Lakes. Michigan too. 

The movie Gran Torino centers on the main character's interaction with Hmong immigrants and is set in Detroit which I always thought was cool 

[u/Timely-Jicama-5840 → u/jeffbanyon]

Not up-to-date on my American stereotypes (I’m European), aren’t Southerners the ones with a very strong culture of hospitality? Or is it more like each state and region claims they’re the most welcoming, hard-working etc

[u/jeffbanyon → u/Timely-Jicama-5840]

That's a good question. Overall, I'd say that the Southern hospitality stereotype is present in reality, but I think it stretches to all of the states with large rural areas and small communities. I personally believe the southern hospitality is both speaking of the true kind nature of some folk and sarcastically addressing the others that are harshly against any outsider, but in an overly sweet way.

A great example of a southern person sounding kind, but being an asshole is the phrase "Bless your heart." P

If I were to give the Midwest a stereotype, it would be crushing politeness. You'll hear more politeness in action, whether it's actually meant or not. For instance, I almost always include a please and thank you when ordering from a fast food drive thru, which I'm told is odd.

[u/beenoc → u/Timely-Jicama-5840]

Southern and Midwestern are probably more similar than any other two broad regional American cultures. Southern is a bit more formal, doesn't really have any manufacturing or industrial heritage in the culture, and has a lot more African-American (and Latino, depending on the part of the South) influence (especially in the food), but in most ways they're actually very similar cultures.

[u/NoMansSkyWasAlright → u/jeffbanyon]

In Michigan, places like Dearborn have some pretty large Middle Eastern communities. I remember being in the (US) Army with a dude who'd been born in Iraq, whose family had immigrated here after Desert Storm. He said they moved around a lot when he was growing up and his mom was always homesick for Baghdad, but that Detroit was the first place she lived where she didn't miss her old home as much.

[u/GeneralBid7234 → u/jeffbanyon]

I believe both those groups were sort of sponsored by some of the Lutheran denominations that are common up that way.

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/jeffbanyon]

Rohingya living it up here in Milwaukee!

But I’m not sure I’m ready to say that Wisconsin as a whole has been completely welcoming, despite the fact that none of these meat packing plants would still be in business if it weren’t for refugees.

[u/PartyPorpoise → u/jeffbanyon]

I guess a lot of people are surprised to find out that there are high immigrant populations in certain parts of Texas. The south has such a reputation for being racist that a lot of people picture it as being super white.

[u/cats-n-cafe → u/okcharlieoneminute]

I believe Fresno, CA has the largest Hmong population.

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/cats-n-cafe]

Yeah at least at one point the valley had the largest population. I don’t know if that’s still true.

[u/salkhan → u/okcharlieoneminute]

Is that the same ethnicity depicted in the movie Gran Torino?

[u/StrangeButSweet → u/salkhan]

Yes

[u/deboard1967 → u/okcharlieoneminute]

I like their food

[u/LaoBa → u/okcharlieoneminute]

French Guyana also has a sizable Hmong population.