Origins of the Miao

 The possible Caucasian origin of the Miao people can be seen in the fair complexion of this young girl in Guizhou. [Miao Messenger]

When Snow Covered the Ground

Any visit to Guizhou Province is incomplete without a trip to a Miao festival. The Miao, who number approximately five million people in Guizhou alone, have millions more in other areas of south China and throughout the mountains of Southeast Asia, where they are better-known by the name of their dominant subgroup, the Hmong.

In 1924, F. M. Savina of the Paris Foreign Missionary Society published a book in which he claimed the Miao were of Caucasian origin. Savina wrote, "In appearance the Miao are pale yellow in complexion, almost white, their hair is often light or dark brown, sometimes even red or corn-silk blond, and a few even have pale blue eyes."

For many centuries the Chinese living in the Miao regions called themselves Li-min, which is generally translated 'black-haired people'. One historian has asked, "Why, then, did they designate themselves the Black or Dark people? Did they at one time live in the neighborhood of people who were fair-haired and of lighter complexion than themselves?"

During intense periods of Chinese persecution, many Miao were killed because they were easy to single out. An 80-year-old Miao man in Laos, Cher Sue Vue, remembered his childhood when the Chinese crossed into Laos searching for white babies. He said, "At that time there was only one white baby in our village. The infant's parents were warned before the Chinese arrived, and they carried him into the forest where they hid."

Speculation about the origins of the Miao has led some to claim that the ancestors of the Miao first lived in Persia or Babylon before migrating into Siberia. After staying there for a time, the Miao moved again, passing through Mongolia and entering north China.

Chinese histories confirm that the Miao once lived in north and central China before they were pushed south. For centuries the Miao have passed down oral histories from one generation to the next. One of their legends tells of a homeland where "days and nights lasted six months, the water was frozen, and snow hid the ground. Only a few trees grew and they were small. The people, too, were short and squat, clothed in furs."

Two young Miao girls with blonde hair. [Miao Messenger]

Genesis According to the Miao

The mysterious origins of the Miao is made even more intriguing by their oral traditions, handed down in song and in couplets, where each alternate sentence acts as a definition of the first. This method has helped their stories and genealogies to be remembered with great accuracy. At funerals and weddings among some Miao groups today, the ancestry of the bride and groom are recited all the way back to Adam.

From their genealogies, it can be seen that some Miao tribes trace their ancestry back to Japheth and Gomer, which some scholars argue would make them of Indo-European stock. If this theory holds true, it would support the speculation that the Miao originated in today's Middle East or Central Asia.

While it's impossible to prove or disprove these theories, Miao wedding and funeral recitations have helped the Christian message enter into the hearts of many Miao people over the past century.

Early anthropologists were astounded when they first recorded Miao creation legends among communities that had been driven out of Jiangxi Province. One account closely mirrored the biblical record of creation, the fall of man, and the other key events from the Book of Genesis. This convinced some scholars that the Miao have managed to preserve the story of their origins with remarkable accuracy over thousands of years, although the account of the flood varies from tribe to tribe.

Some of the more interesting parts of the ancient Miao creation story are included here, as translated by Edgar Truax of the Institute for Creation Research:

The Creation

On the day God created the heavens and earth.On that day He opened the gateway of light.In the earth then He made heaps of earth and of stone.In the sky He made bodies, the sun and the moon.In the earth He created the hawk and the kite.In the water created the lobster and fish.In the wilderness made He the tiger and bear,Made verdure to cover the mountains,Made forest extend with the ranges,Made the light green cane,Made the rank bamboo.

Man

On the earth He created a man from the dirt.Of the man thus created, a woman He formed....

So the earth began filling with tribes and with families.Creation was shared by the clans and the peoples.

The World Wicked

These did not God's will nor returned His affection....

Their leaders shook fists in the face of the MightyThen the earth was convulsed to the depth of three strata.Rending the air to the uttermost heaven.God's anger arose till His Being was从这位贵州小姑娘白皙的肤色就可以看出苗族可能是白种人的血统。 【苗使者】

 当雪覆盖大地时

 没有参加过苗族节日的贵州之旅是不完整的。 苗族仅在贵州就有约五百万人口，在中国南方其他地区和整个东南亚山区也有数百万人，在这些地区，苗族以其占主导地位的亚族苗族而闻名。

 1924年，巴黎外国传教士协会的F. M. Savina出版了一本书，声称苗族是高加索人的后裔。 萨维娜写道：“从外观上看，苗族肤色呈淡黄色，近乎白色，头发常为浅棕色或深棕色，有时甚至呈红色或玉米丝金色，有的甚至有淡蓝色的眼睛。”

 许多世纪以来，居住在苗族地区的中国人称自己为“利民”，通常翻译为“黑发人”。 一位历史学家问道：“那么，为什么他们将自己称为黑人或深色人种呢？他们是否曾经生活在金发、肤色比自己浅的人附近？”

 在中国迫害最激烈的时期，许多苗族人被杀害，因为他们很容易被挑出来。 老挝 80 岁的苗族男子 Cher Sue Vue 回忆起自己的童年，当时中国人进入老挝寻找白人婴儿。 他说：“当时我们村里只有一个白人婴儿。在中国人到来之前，婴儿的父母收到了警告，他们把他抱进了森林里藏身。”

 关于苗族起源的猜测导致一些人声称苗族的祖先首先生活在波斯或巴比伦，然后迁徙到西伯利亚。 在那里停留了一段时间后，苗族再次迁徙，经过蒙古，进入华北。

 中国历史证实，苗族在被南下之前曾居住在中国北部和中部。 几个世纪以来，苗族一直将口述历史代代相传。 他们的一个传说讲述了一个故乡，那里“日日夜夜持续了六个月，水结冰了，雪覆盖了大地。只有几棵树生长，而且它们很小。人们也矮矮胖胖，穿着 毛皮。”

 两名金发苗族少女。 【苗使者】

 苗族创世记

 苗族的神秘起源因他们的口头传统而变得更加耐人寻味，这些传统以歌曲和对联的形式流传下来，每一个交替的句子都是第一个句子的定义。 这种方法帮助人们非常准确地记住他们的故事和家谱。 如今，在一些苗族群体的葬礼和婚礼上，新娘和新郎的祖先都会被背诵到亚当时期。

 从他们的家谱中可以看出，一些苗族部落的祖先可以追溯到雅弗和歌篾，一些学者认为这将使他们成为印欧人的后裔。 如果这一理论成立，则将支持苗族起源于今天的中东或中亚的推测。

 虽然无法证明或反驳这些理论，但在过去的一个世纪里，苗族婚礼和葬礼上的诵读帮助基督教信息进入了许多苗族人民的心中。

 当早期人类学家第一次在被赶出江西省的社区中记录苗族创世传说时，他们感到非常震惊。 其中一个记载密切反映了圣经对创造、人类堕落以及《创世记》中其他关键事件的记录。 这让一些学者相信，几千年来，苗族已经成功地以惊人的准确性保存了他们起源的故事，尽管每个部落对洪水的描述各不相同。

 这里包含了古代苗族创世故事中一些更有趣的部分，由创世研究所的埃德加·特鲁阿克斯翻译：

 创作

 在那一天，上帝创造了天地。在那一天，他打开了光之门。在地上，他创造了土和石头的堆积。在天空中，他创造了物体，太阳和月亮。在地球上，他创造了太阳和月亮。 创造了鹰和鸢，在水中创造了龙虾和鱼，在旷野创造了虎和熊，使青翠覆盖了山峦，使森林连绵，使苍翠的藤条，使等级竹 。

 男人

 在地球上，他用泥土创造了一个男人。在这样创造的男人中，他又创造了一个女人……

 于是，地球上开始充满了部落和家庭。创造物是由氏族和人民共享的。 changed;His wrath flaring up filled His eyes and His face.Until He must come and demolish humanity.Come and destroy a whole world full of people.

The Flood

So it poured 40 days in sheets and in torrents.Then 55 days of misting and drizzle.The waters surmounted the mountains and ranges.The deluge ascending leapt valley and hollow.An earth with no earth upon which to take refuge!A world with no foothold where one might subsist!The people were baffled, impotent and ruined,Despairing, horror stricken, diminished and finished.

But the Patriarch Nuah was righteous.The Matriarch Gaw Bo-lu-en upright.Built a boat very wide.Made a ship very vast.Their household entire got aboard and were floated,The family complete rode the deluge in safety.The animals with him were female and male.The birds went along and were mated in pairs....

Babel

Their descendants established encampments and cities.Their singing was all with the same tunes and music;Their speaking was all with the same words and language.Then they said let us build us a very big city;Let us raise unto heaven a very high tower.This was wrong, but they reached this decision;Not right, but they rashly persisted.

God struck at them then, changed their language and accent.Descending in wrath, He confused tones and voices.One's speech to the others who hear him has no meaning;He's speaking in words, but they can't understand him.So the city they built was never completed;The tower they wrought has to stand thus unfinished.In despair then they separate under all heaven,They part from each other the globe to encircle.They arrive at six corners and speak the six languages.