Are they the same? If not, tell me the diffefence!!

More like Han to Mongolian or Mexican to French.

Hmong Lao would be the same as Hmong Thai.

Khmer Lao would be the same as Khmer Thai.

Chinese Lao would be the same as Chinese Thai.

Hmong is also Lao.

They are known as Lao Sung and they're Lao nationals (the ones living in Laos). But if the OP wants to know if they are ethnically the same as Lao Loum (ethnic Laotians), then the answer would be no. In any case, Laos is the home of both groups.

then Hmong is also Thai right.

There are Hmong tribes in the mountains of Nothern Thailand. So those hmongs are Thai, as the Hmong in Laos are Lao.

But Lao is also an ethnic group of ppl like Hmong is an ethnic group of ppl.

Yup, Hmong are an ethnic people and nationals of whatever country they live in.

American as well.

But I heard that they are somekind of related to Han Chinese? I'm sorry, I'm really ignorant in this matter and Hmong people ethnicity is sometimes quite confusing although they have interesting history, at least from what I had learned from certain Hmong members...

I think Hmong and Chinese are related. Related to the point that you can safely say Hmong and Han Chinese are asian. Hmong and Han have their own languages. Hmong, Lao, Tai ancestors used to live up north. Many Hmong, Tai, Lao groups still live in China speak variety dialects. Some can not even understand each others.

Well hmong are apart of Laos, but technically both are different ethnic and culture.

they come from the same area in China. Pure Lao look like Hmong.

mon/khmer family.

Lao people are Tai-Kadai speakers.

Hmong are Miao-Yao.

Sadly, neither of these are part of Mon-Khmer.

That's what I'm saying, Hmong and Lao are the same. If Lao hadn't been influenced by Khmer there wouldn't be no different.

different ethnicities but lived together for a bit back in China i'd say.

I agree, different people but same culture.

Do Lao people practice animism/shamanism???? I'm not sure about those Zhuangs and Dai from China.... but it seems as if Lao from Laos practice Buddhaism or something like that.

I also heard that lao people are matriachal. Is this true?

We are in the Tai family section NOT Khmer/Mon.

Taught it was the other way around? Khmer use to be half naked native back then until the Tai were force to move southward because of the Mongolian invasion from the North. And we brought over cloth and new fashion design into South East Asia. But I have to say Tai did influence some of Khmer, but not entirely like Thailand. And plus we don't even understand Khmer language which sound very foreign to some of us.

Actually there is Lao who practice Animist and Shaman, but just a small fraction North East to South Eastern side of Laos that still do this. And the Laotian from the West side near the Mekong River are major Buddhist.

awesome. cool to know. ^^

Yes I remember there was a video on youtube showing explorer going into Laos and experience "How life was in Laos" or something like that. But I will post it up if I can ever find it again and its been a long time when I saw that video.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA, LoL,

Lao influenced Khmer? that's a joke....that's how I know you're a troll.

Hi, YouKu...fu-king Chinamon.

I said Laotian influence "SOME" but not the entire culture and tradition. Can you even understand that or picture it??

Nah. none of those you mentioned. Notice the difference in grammar and ideas. Nothing related to china people here. >_<

Laos = Ethnic Laos
Hmong = Ethnic Hmong, some are Laotian nationals.
Very different in terms of cultures, languages, traditions, customs and etc...

The story Hmong and Han Chinese believe is that they were once like brothers. Then the wars started and each took their side thinking that they were in the right. It is a known fact that if there were no Hmong women the men would marry other ethnicities to multiply.

yep, before Buddhism Lao people practiced animism/shamanism, some still do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oylwUylQXmA

hmong is white like ghost. most hmong is huge forehead. most hmong is chinesey eye.

hmong and lao is like native indian and american.

hmong have no relation to lao except living in mountain of laos. hmong and lao is whole different race. they dont speak same language and none their words are same.

^

I love how you try to describe us in such an awful way. We came from shades of pale to brown, and we are proud of it.
Huge forehead? I thought it was a Laotian trait? I may be wrong. Our eyes range from almond to round. NOT CHINESEY. What the heck is CHINESEY?

You can't compare hmong and lao to native indian and american.

It's more like comparing yakut of siberia to chinese people.

different race? you mean different ethnic groups with different cultures.

I agree that Hmong language is 100% different from Lao language.
It's like also comparing Spanish to Russian.

i dont mean to offend you sahai. just describing as i see.



yeah what the hell is chinesey? meant to say chinesey.

We down Southern Thai and Northern Malaysia East Coast here too practicing shamanism, totemism, and animism of course with the sprinkling of Buddhism and Brahmanism...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkFlL2mTUV0...feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XIqtwQfHPk...feature=related

The Lao today pratice Buddism with elements of animism, we still worship the spirit of the water and moutains, isnt the Laos boating racing festival based upon the worship of the water spirit, you can go to the temple and you will see the small spirit houses. So the Lao mixed the Buddhist faith with our animist past.

second, where i live, I see more dark Hmong ppl then i do see light skin Hmongs? matter of fact, i almost see nothing but dark skin Hmong ppl, a couple of days ago i drove a couple of Hmong ladys home who was shopping at the Lao store, one was pregant and they bought a lot of stuff, so i gave them a ride because i felt bad that they had to take the bus.

Nationality wise, yes for those who live there and were born there.
Ethnicity wise, no, they're two very different groups.
You probably don't know much about the Lao or Hmong, which I don't blame you... I guess..
A lot of people are clueless. Some don't even have an idea where Laos is on the map >_<! I mean, it's just right next to Vietnam, and America was in Vietnam for a period of time.

Aw, you're so nice..
Where do you live? I know we've fought like heck in the past and maybe we will again in the future, but no, I'm not going to hunt you down and sprinkle you with holy water or anything.. at least, tell me what state you live if you won't tell me the city or town. I'm curious because you talk a lot about the Hmong people and living among them.

@TURBOBOY: I wouldn't say 100% different since Hmong in Lao adopted some Lao words.. but if you take away all those Lao words, yes two very different language. Even a person who doesn't speak either language can tell the difference.

I live in the USA, one town in my state just recently has become one of the largest hmong communites in the US, i was surprised when i heard it. and because of that there seems to be a big influx of Hmong ppl that moved to where i live. There was just a big concert of Hmong singers here not too long ago, and for the first time there was a group of hmong ppl that even showed up at the Temple this past weekend, which surprised me since it is mostly a Thai and Lao temple. They didnt speak Lao or Thai, so we had to tell them when to eat.

but it seems many of them are poor, and it also seems many of them might be new arrivals since they are very ethnic in nature and dont speak any english at all.

Urrr.... Somewhere in MN (St. Paul or Minneapolis)?
One of those cities (or both) is considered the Hmong capital. It used to be Fresno.

The Hmong keep pushing out babies. LOL Isn't the Hmong population in the U.S. larger than ethnic Lao now or is it around the same?

I just read somewhere online that they make up 30 something percent of the Laotian group.. I didn't look at the date of that article.
I wouldn't be surprised if they outnumber other Laotians.

Hmong people just loooooove having kids.. but regret later in life.

No kidding. I've seen Hmong girls around 15 or 16 with kids.

^

Can you add a little more to that?

Heck no Hmongs and Lao are not the same. It's like saying that Russian and Italians are the same; of course both caucasians but still different.

Totally different linguistic groups despite long historical contact.