The Hmong have been a group of people without a homeland for at least 4,000 years. The history of the Hmong people is difficult to know, because there are no written records of their history. Some experts believe that at one time in the past, the Hmong must have a highly developed civilization, because their culture has a complex and sophisticated legal system, which does not fit with most societies who are "slash-and-burn" farmers. ¹  The Hmong history has been passed down through legends and ritual ceremonies, from one generation to another. The legends tell of a time when Hmong lived in a cold land, covered with ice and snow, and where night lasted for half the year. The Hmong were living in Western China before the Han Chinese lived there, but they were always known as outsiders or barbarians, because they spoke a non-Chinese language, and wore special clothes that were not like Chinese. To avoid conflict with the Chinese, the Hmong settled in remote mountain areas, living and supporting themselves with agriculture. When the Chinese attempted to force the Hmong to become Chinese, giving up their language, customs, dress and lifestyle, many groups of Hmong refused, and the Chinese persecuted them and attempted to kill the leaders. This caused the Hmong to move southward, looking for places where they could live in peace. Eventually, about 200 years ago, Hmong began to be found in northern Vietnam, in the mountainous areas near the Laotian border. Over the last 200 years, groups of Hmong have moved further and further south, into Laos, where they again settled in the high mountains, far away from the majority group (the Lao people), who lived in the lowlands near the rivers and flat field s. The Hmong in Laos were eventually taxed by the government, and because they had very little money, they were allowed and encouraged to pay the head tax with raw opium, which grew well in their mountain fields. When the Communists began to come into Laos in the 1950's the Hmong villagers had to choose to join the Communists or move on. Some Hmong joined the Communists, but the most moved on and on, until they reached the lowlands in the center of Laos. There they were contacted by the United States in the early 1960's to become a guerilla army to fight the Communists and help U.S. pilots who were shot down over Laos.¹ The Hmong became a loyal and hard-fighting army, supplied and supported by the United States, and managed to keep the Communists from winning for about 15 years; they were called the "US Secret Army", and people in the United States did not know about them until after the war was over.¹ When the Communists won in 1975, the Hmong who were US allies had to flee for their lives. The Communists have tried to eliminate all the Hmong liveing in Laos, because they were such strong supporters of the United States. No one knows for sure how many Hmong lived in Laos before the war, since there was no census taken, but experts estimate that there were about 300,000. About 30,000 to 40,000 Hmong died while fighting as the Secret Army, and about 150,000 have made it safely to Thailand as refugees.¹  No one knows how many died trying. There are today about 90,000 Hmong who have come to the United States and another 35,000 Hmong children who have been born here. There are still about 40,000 still in Thai refugee camps, in 1990.¹ Some Hmong have lived in Ban Vinai, the major Hmong refugee camp, for fifteen years. Since the Hmong lost their homeland thousands of years ago, they have tried to find a place to live in peace....in China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Thailand, and now, since 1975, in France, Australia, South America, and the United States. Throughout these 40 centuries, the Hmong have remained unidentifiable as Hmong, because they have maintained their own language, customs, beliefs, costume, and ways of life, while also adopting the ways of the country in which they live. For the Hmong who are in the United States, the young people are quickly becoming Americanize and are busy with school, an opportunity which most minority groups did not have in Laos. The young are no longer learning the oral history from their elders, and as the old generation die, the knowledge of the Hmong Legacy also dies. Also quickly disappearing are the needlework and silverwork skills of the Hmong, as the young people don't have time to learn and practice the arts.