9. Ethnic Labels in a Mountainous Region: The Case of She “Bandits”

Tracing the fine‐scale demographic history and recent admixture in Hmong–Mien speakers

“…We also observed special admixture histories in some HM speakers. Congruent with their admixture date interval (1304 CE, 95% CI 963–1591 CE, Figure 7a), the largest proportion of ancestry surrogated by Han_Fujian (79.0%, Figure 8b) in She confirms that they acquired the majority of their southern Han Chinese‐related ancestry only after their settlement in Fujian (Chan, 2006). Likewise, the extra genetic influx surrogated by Laos (36.0%, Figure 8c) is observed in Iu Mien, currently living in Northeast Thailand (Kutanan et al, 2021), which is compatible with the scenario of admixture during their migration out of South China (Penth et al, 2004; Schliesinger, 2000).…”

“…Bottleneck events occurring around the South Song Dynasty (1127–1279 CE) are inferred in Miao (1275 CE) and Yao_Bama1 (1247 CE). The bottleneck time estimate for She (1471 CE) postdates the first occurrence of She in Fujian (1236 CE) (Chan, 2006), suggesting that the bottleneck of She might occur after their initial settlement in Fujian. More recent estimates of bottleneck events are observed in HM speakers in Vietnam, that is, Pa Then (1639 CE), Dao (1667 CE), as well as a second bottleneck for Hmong (1779 CE), which indicates the occurrence of founder events along with their migration from South China to Vietnam (Culas & Micraud, 1997).…”

“…According to Ozawa (2000) and Zeng (2005), swidden farming groups sharing exonyms of present-day HM speakers, like She and Yao, were presented in many records by contemporary poems during the Tang Dynasty. Particularly, the She people's continuous historical record in Fujian and their practice of swidden agriculture can be traced to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) (Chan, 2006). According to anthropological records, the practice of swidden agriculture was also widespread among HM speakers in Mainland Southeast Asia.…”

“…All the Yao populations from localities in western Guangxi (i.e., Duan, Dahua, and Bama, Figure 1a) derive more of their non-HM-like ancestry from Southeast Asian-like sources than southern Han Chinese-like ones (Figure 8a). By contrast, for HM speakers in eastern Guangxi (Yao_Gongcheng and Yao_Fuchuan, Figure 1a), eastern Guizhou (Miao, 28 N, 109E), and northeast Fujian (She, 27 N, only after their settlement in Fujian (Chan, 2006). Likewise, the extra genetic influx surrogated by Laos (36.0%, Figure 8c) is observed in Iu Mien, currently living in Northeast Thailand (Kutanan et al, 2021), which is compatible with the scenario of admixture during their migration out of South China (Penth et al, 2004;Schliesinger, 2000).…”