Mapping Southeast China's Minorities

China's Yunnan Province is noted for a high level of ethnic diversity. It has the second highest number of ethnic groups among the provinces and autonomous regions in China. Among the country's 56 officially recognised ethnic groups, twenty-five are found in Yunnan. According to Wikipedia, some 38 % of the province's population are members of minorities, including the Yi, Bai, Hani, Tai, Dai, Miao, Lisu, Hui, Lahu, Va, Nakhi, Yao, Tibetan, Jingpo, Blang, Pumi, Nu, Achang, Jinuo, Khatso, Derung, Manchu, Sui, and Buyei.

High-res portrait photographs with full exif data, precise geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's

Flickr Album 2012-11c Mapping Chinese Minorities
Flickr Album 2012-09c Praying with Chinese Hui Muslims

Flickr Album 2012-07a Munching at Donghuamen Market

Meeting the Vietnamese H'mong

The H'mong are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand; they are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China.

Bắc Hà is a rural district of the Lào Cai Province in the Northeast region of Vietnam and the "capital" of the Vietnamese Flower H'mong, one of the more than 50 minorities of Vietnam and of the six main groups of the H'mong people. Bắc Hà town is famous for its Sunday morning market, where thousands of locals gather, the older women dressed in their handmade, very intricate and colourful traditional costumes (it takes three to five months to embroider one by hand) and the younger women in their tribal costumes manufactured in China. Another large Flower H'mong market is the Saturday morning market at Can Cau aka Can Cao, c. 20 km north of Bắc Hà. 

Many H'mong practice shamanism and ancestor worship. Like other animists, they also believe that all things are endowed with spiritual beings and so should be respected. Significant numbers of the Vietnamese H'mong who seek to worship independently of the regime of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam have reportedly been subjected to military attacks, police arrest, imprisonment, extrajudicial killings, and torture.

During the Indochina Wars, the United States recruited thousands of H'mong people to fight against forces from north and south Vietnam, known as the Secret War, during the Vietnam War. Hundreds of thousands of H'mong refugees fled to Thailand seeking political asylum. Thousands of these refugees have resettled in Western countries since the late 1970s, mostly the United States, Australia and Canada.

High-res portrait photographs with complete exif data, geotags and other specs in Matt Hahnewald's
Flickr Album 2018-03d Motorbiking in Northeast Vietnam

Flickr Album 2012-11b Meeting the Vietnamese H'mong

Facing Downtown Hanoi

As the capital of Vietnam for almost a thousand years, Hanoi is considered one of the main cultural centres of Vietnam, where most Vietnamese dynasties have left their imprint. It is a very picturesque city, the leafy metropolis sometimes dubbed the "Paris of the East", one of only a few Asian capitals to retain its historic charm amid rapid modernisation and population growth. Hanoi is a city full of photographic opportunities and most people like to be photographed…

The áo dài is the stylish Vietnamese national costume, now most commonly worn by women. In its current form, it is a tight-fitting silk tunic worn over pants. The word áo dài was originally applied to the outfit worn at the court of the Nguyễn Lords at Huế in the 18th century. This outfit evolved into the áo ngũ thân, a five-paneled aristocratic gown worn in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by Paris fashions, Nguyễn Cát Tường redesigned the ngũ thân as a modern dress in the 1920s and 1930s. The updated look was promoted as a national costume for the modern era. In the 1950s, Saigon designers tightened the fit to produce the version worn by Vietnamese women today.

High-res portrait photographs with complete exif data, geotags and technical details in Matt Hahnewald's
Flickr Album 2018-03b Cherishing Vietnam's Beauty
Flickr Album 2016-03a Snapping Street Photographers

Flickr Album 2012-11a Facing Downtown Hanoi