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.  The Hmong history has been passed down through legends and ritual ceremonies, from one generation to another.  Throughout these forty centuries, the Hmong have remained identifiable as Hmong, because they have maintained their own language, customs, and ways of life while adopting the ways of the country in which they live.  The new generations of the Hmong are becoming Americans and are seldom taught about the history of the Hmong culture from their elders, and as the old people die the knowledge of the Hmong also dies.  Hmongs found living in Thailand along with the elders from Thailand (parents, grandparents, uncles, aunt) are still carrying the customs of the Hmong culture.  Even though we are all Hmong, each individual has a different aspect of life and mind.  For these reasons, there are many differences between the new Hmong American generation and Hmong Thailanders, which includes those presently living in Thailand and those who migrated from Thailand to the United States.
     The attitudes and personalities of Hmong Americans differ greatly from Hmong Thailanders.  Hmong Americans are, usually, wild, immature, and loud.  These characteristics are very different from Hmong Thailanders because they are the opposite.  Thailanders are usually mature, shy, serious, and calm.  These characteristics make them different from each other and are usually used as excuses not to be with the outsiders.  The characteristics of Hmong Americans and Hmong Thailander are usually expressed through the way they look.  Clothing is used to express the personality and attitudes of a person.  Hmong Americans would usually classify a Hmong Thailander as an out of fashion person.  (A person who doesn’t know how to dress with style.)  Hmong Thailanders would usually classify Hmong Americans as gangsters or slut.  Hmong Thailanders always wear clothes covering all body parts while Hmong Americans wear clothing showing their body parts.  It is seldom to find a Hmong Thailander wearing a short skirt or a tank top, unlike Hmong Americans.  Hmong Americans are used to wearing shorts, tank tops, and short skirts.  Hmong Americans in this generation are also use to wearing loose baggy pants, which is the opposite of what Thailanders wear.  One would usually find them in pants that fit them perfectly.  These actions can be explained that Hmong Thailanders follow the custom of the Hmong culture and Hmong Americans are adapting to the American culture.
     Hmong Americans have adapted to the American culture quickly.  They tend to eat things with a lot fattening that causes high blood pressure.  Hmong Thailanders in the United States has also adapted quickly to the way Hmong Americans eat.  The tradition of eating rice with every meal is still used everyday.  Rice has always been eaten in the Hmong culture for many generations.  This is one thing that has been kept alive and will never be lost. Vegetables are hardly eaten by the newer generation of the Hmong children.  In Thailand it was on a special occasion when a family would kill a chicken, pig, or cow.  Now a days anyone could buy it from the grocery store.  Meat has been in the diet of the Hmong Americans and vegetables are not grown or eaten as often.  Hmong Thailanders love the taste of the freshly grown vegetables.  Not only is the way Hmong Americans and Hmong Thailanders dressed differently, they have deviant diets.
    It isn’t so often when one would find a Thailander arguing with their parents.  Thailanders are obedient people and always listen to their parents.  (Not in all cases)  If they disobeyed their parents, their punishment would be getting whipped.  Therefore, disobeying ones parents is disrespecting the elders, and in the Hmong culture this isn’t allowed.  Hmong Americans are born to have the right to disobey their parents and the elders.  Parents of the Hmong Americans find it very hard to control their kids.  The only way to keep control of their kids was by using a whip.  In the United States it isn’t allowed because it is called child abuse.  This takes away their rights to obedience their children.  It would be rare to find Hmong Americans not arguing or threatening their parents.  Where a person is raised up could effect the way they act and in Thailand respect is a word they understand so they show it to the elders. Here in the United States children have their free will to do anything they want.  Most Hmong American families are torn apart because their children have too much free will.
     Education in the United States is required for every child and has been a great impact on many Hmong Americans.  It is important to have an education so children are always in school.  When they return home they are busy doing homework and spending time with their friends.  This leaves no time for them to spend with their parents and to do house chore. Hmong Thailanders have an option to attend school, help out in the fields or around the house.  Most parents would need help in the fields and around the house because that was the only way to support the family.   In the United States it is more advanced because of the technology.  There are stores that provide everything a person needs for a living.  For these reasons a lot of the Hmong needlework and silver work skills are disappearing.  The Hmong art is disappearing as time goes by.  Hmong Americans are too busy with school to learn how to sew and about the needlework of the Hmong culture.  Technology has stopped the Hmong American men to learn how to make tools, knife, and etc. (Silver work) In Thailand the needlework and silver work are still used today.  Sewing clothes and making tools for themselves was their way of making a living.  American technology is causing the Hmong Americans to lose the Hmong form of art.
     Hmong Americans are exposed to many different kinds of religion.  Some Hmong Americans are Christians, Shaman, Mormons, and etc.  Coming to the United States has given them varieties of religions to choose from.  In Thailand one would find that only the religion of Shaman and Christian are known.  Most Hmong Thailanders are Shaman.  The religion Shaman is also part of the Hmong custom, but as time went by others learned about different religions and started to practice them. Shaman is still practiced by many Hmong Thailanders and Hmong Americans today.
 Hmong New Years have been a tradition for the Hmong culture.  It has been carried on for many generations.  Now a days the New Years is still taking place, but the tradition of wearing Hmong clothes and ball tossing is fading away.  Most Hmong Americans don’t like wearing the Hmong clothes because it is so heavy.  One would find Hmong Americans dressed in jeans and shirts to a Hmong New Year Celebration.  Even when Hmong Americans are dressed in Hmong clothes it would be seldom to see them ball tossing.  The ball tossing seems like it’s being replaced by the gang fighting that occurs during a new year celebration. (In most cases) The traditions of the Hmong New Years are changing due to the fact of the adoption of the American culture.
     The custom of marriage has also changed.  The Hmong society does not allow marriage within a different culture or race.  Today many Hmong Americans are married to a different culture or race, which is a big disgrace to their family and elders.  Even though it isn’t permitted the Hmong Americans have learned to except it.  In Thailand there are also cases like this.  Thailanders are also found married to other cultures or race.  Even though the Hmong culture says it’s a disgrace to marry a person from outside of their own race or culture many has done it and some people are excepting it.  One thing that will never be excepted in the Hmong culture is being pregnant not knowing whom the father is.  The woman would have to be force to marry the man she thinks is the father of her child or the man will have to pay certain amount of money to fix her.  Many Hmong Americans and Thailanders are found having sex before marriage and will never be excepted by the Hmong culture.
     Living in two different societies has changed the Hmong culture.  The difference has been compare between Hmong Americans and Hmong Thailanders.  Hmong Americans are not practicing the Hmong customs anymore but are adapting to the American Culture.  Hmong Thailanders still practice the Hmong customs and culture, but even some of the customs are dying out.  The effect a society has on a culture is strong, but the Hmong people shouldn’t adopt a new culture and try to keep theirs alive.  When a culture is lost it will never be found again.