Of Grasshoppers, Caterpillars, and Beans: A Historical Perspective on Hmong Messianism

Abstract

This paper considers Hmong messianism in Asia and beyond from a historical perspective, arguing that its thematic repetition of themes and ideas requires a new understanding of subjectivity at the intersections of the psychological with the social and political. Hmong messianic movements have adopted a variety of forms ranging from the more indigenous to the more explicitly Christian. While the attempt is not to seek a particularist ‘ethnographic-historical’ understanding of these recurrent movements, nevertheless the contexts of colonialisation, mass migration and marginal social status are suggested as providing the essential background for such an understanding. Several different theoretical approaches to understanding such movements are considered, with some attention to major theorists of structure and agency. It is argued that ultimately messianic movements can be appreciated in terms of a kind of ‘anticipatory consciousness’, and are enabled to challenge current social orders because they are motivated by a particular notion of time, which combines a medieval and revolutionary notion of simultaneity with one of historical progression which is, however, not gradualist. A ‘central irreducible core’ of ritual beliefs and actions among the Hmong emerges from this consideration of historical movements, which may demand a reconsideration of older and largely abandoned notions of cultural structure.

Historical Continuities and Changes in the Ethnic Politics of Hmong-Miao Millenarianism

“…The late Nicholas Tapp (2015) gave a more nuanced historical perspective of Hmong-Miao messianism, seeking to understand the repetition of themes and ideas within the contexts of colonialization, mass migration and marginal social status. Nevertheless, he can be critiqued for assuming, or at least implying, that "the millennial tendency of the culture or society toward millennialism remains unchanged" (Huang, 2014, p. 20).…”

“…1 Specific timeline events which mentioned in the article will be additionally referenced in bold with a letter corresponding to their position on Figure 1 (Heimbach, 1976) 1964: Hmong prophet calls for revolt in Laos (Halpern, 1964) 1957: Protests across Northwest Vietnam; Hmong, Yao and Khmu participants (Lentz, 2017) 1967: Hmong king proclamation in Dien Bien, Vietnam; rumours of king bringing airplanes and tanks (Vương, 2005) 1959-71: Peaceful movement led by Shong Lue Yang in Laos, Hmong and Khmu followers (Smalley, Vang & Yang, 1990) 1978-81: Rumours of Hmong king, Hmong migration from Vietnam to China (Tapp, 1989) 1970-90s: Violent Hmong Chao Fa insurgency in Laos and Thailand (Baird, 2013) 1980s-present: Peaceful Hmong movements in Chiangrai refugee camp, Thailand (Tapp, 2015) Late 1980s-present: Peaceful Hmong sect led by Duong Van Minh in Vietnam (Rumsby, 2018) 2003: Violent Hmong attack in Houaphanh, Laos (Baird, 2004) Secondly, uprisings have constantly occurred in 'borderlands' regions, either defined as territories claimed by multiple polities without clearly demarcated boundaries (Giersch, 2006), or in the literal sense after modern state borders were established (see Figure 2). This factor has been crucial to the ability of millenarian movements to operate transnationally, as leaders or followers regularly crossed borders to evade state armed forces or recruit more people.…”

“…The fourth constant theme is of specific cultural symbols present within millenarian activity, including: great importance attached to literacy and a Hmong script, appropriation of (and reactions against) external politico-religious concepts and symbols, ability to miraculously generate armies, promises of invulnerability, abundance and, of course, the Hmong king(dom). 2 Tapp (2015) has already explored the meaning and significance some of these themes, framing them as "resistance to or reaction against forces felt to emanate from a sphere outside of that of Hmong culture and society" (2015, p. 303). His analysis could be stretched even further back to the 1797 rebellion of Guizhou (B), which was led by an ethnic Zhongjia local-healer-turned-Miao-king and an 'immortal princess' who chanted incantations of invulnerability to enemy bullets (Weinstein, 2014, p. 98), caused rice to pour down from heaven and planted beans which turned into thousands of soldiers (2014, p. 111).…”

Restoring that which has never been: Hmong millenarianism and the reinvention of tradition

“…This moral collapse of the past and future, while eliding the present as corrupt and out of sync, is typical of religious movements that can be called ‘millenarian’ (see Hickman & Webster in press; Webster 2022: 341), and this temporal imagination is particularly well illustrated by the proliferation of millenarian movements that have emerged across the now‐global Hmong diaspora. While there is a notable history of millenarian movements in Southwest China and Southeast Asia (Lee 2015; Tapp 2015), this is perhaps exceeded by a modern proliferation of movements across the global diasporic community that are currently vying against one another (ironically) to unite global Hmong society and return it to its primordial grandeur before the fall of the ancient Hmong kingdom.…”

“…11Other accounts range from brief synopses of Hmong history relevant to specific ethnographic phenomena, to summaries of particular periods, to competing theories of Hmong history and migration (Culas & Michaud 2004; Hickman 2014; 2021; Lee 2015; Schein 2000; Tapp 2015). …”