The Hmong are divided in two sub-groups, White and Blue - Green, and can be found in mountainous regions of China. Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. In Thailand there are probably about 60,000 Hmong people settled in villages throughout a wide area of the north, with perhaps another 50,000 refugees from Laos living in camps located near the north-eastern border of the country. These ethnic group originates in western China.
The Hmong live in houses that sit right on the ground, However, the main floor of their houses is not at ground level, but rests upon a kind of above-ground basement or root cellar that they use for food storage. For a long time the Hmong have supported themselves by the cultivation of opium poppy. Most of the Hmong people are turning from opium growing, and are now seeking to market their exquisite needlework in order to supplement their income.
Hmong women traditionally make clothing for their families from cotton or hemp. Their clothing is richly decorated with magnificent embroidery and silver jewellery. Blue Hmong women wear beautiful pleated skirts with bands of red, blue and white intricately embroidered. Jackets are of black satin, with wide orange and yellow embroidered cuffs and lapels. White Hmong women wear black baggy trousers with a long wide blue cummerbund. Their jackets are simple, with blue cuffs. Hmong men make crossbows, musical instruments, and other items of wood, bamboo and rattan. Many of the men are skilled in blacksmithing and gunsmithing.
The Hmong are strict animists, whose shamans use "dramatic methods to contact the spirits". So far there have been few converts to Christianity or Buddhism.
The Hmong are diligent and independent people, fond of wearing their silver ornaments during ceremonies and are devoted to the sky spirit they believe has created their own ancient way of life.
The Hmong (Meo) settlement is concentrated in thirteen provinces : Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Nan, Phrae Tak, Lampang, Phayao, Phetchabun, Kampaeng Phet, Mae Hong Son, Sukhothai, Pitsanuloke and Loei.
The Hmong prefer to locate their villages at high altitudes (1,000-1,200 m.). They are pioneers and primary-shifting cultivators. They are also expert silversmiths and skilled at embroidery. Their rituals are related to birth, marriage, death, funerals and mourning.
The Hmong, even more than the other tribes, practice a strict male-female division of labour. One custom that especially illustrates this is that of giving a newborn boy a gift of metal from which he will one day forge a weapon, whereas newborn girls receive no special gift.