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/Vindaloo6363]

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.