Yao people

The Yao (Yaozu, Dao), Mien-majority nationalities of China's southwestern mountains and Vietnam's north, number 3.3 million in China and 891,000 in Vietnam, with 60,000 Iu Mien in America's west. Sprung from Changsha country, speaking Hmong-Mien tongues and kin to the Hmong since Yangtze tribes 5,800 years ago, they farm terraced rice, dye indigo, embroider the blazing red jackets and long trousers of Yao women, and keep the King Pan manuscripts that record the passage over the sea. One of China's 56 and Vietnam's 54 peoples, they survived imperial corvee, warlord taxes and collectivisation with lineage halls intact. Long-drums, sitio wedding songs and the Panwang festival keep the mountain nationality dancing. Changsha's markets still sell Yao embroidery. Yangtze tribes of 5,800 years ago still echo in song. Hmong cousins share the mountain festivals. China's 56 peoples list Yao among the oldest. Vietnam's 54 peoples count Yao highlanders. American Yao keep the western-state temples.