The Village People
June 26th, 2006
DOI PUI IS A HMONG VILLAGE IN THAILAND
We visited a Hmong village near the city of Chiang Mae Saturday, June 24, 2006. The village of Doi Pui, is nestled in the hills of northern Thailand, homes improbably perched on every incline. This is a small, but densely populated village. Homes touch each other, with no yard to separate them, all covered with metal roofs.
Doi Pui is an “authentic” village, unlike the Ganlandba Dai Village in China, which the government created (near an existing village) as a tourist attraction. At the same time, the villagers of Doi Pui make their living from tourists, so it feels much the same. Adults sell hand-made crafts to visitors. Children dress in traditional clothing, hoping that tourists will pay them for the honor of a photo. In one instance, I couldn’t resist.
I walked up the hill and saw two men training roosters for cock fights.
A short distance later, I met an old woman sitting on a chair outside her home. She told us that she was 107 years old, which seemed unlikely, notwithstanding her aged appearance.
I walked through the village, peeking into homes and taking photos.
I also visited tiny Hill Tribe Research Institute, which is located at Doi Pui. The museum maintains a series of exhibits on the history of Thailand’s hill tribes. There are nine minority ethnic groups recognized by the Thai government, most of which live in the northern part of the country. Together these groups are known as the hill tribes. They include the Akha, Lahu, Lisu, Yao, Hmong, Karen, Lua, Khamu, and H’tin. According to the official government census, there are about 400,000 hill village people in Thailand, though there could easily be three or four times as many. These groups also live in other Southeast Asia countries.
The plight of the hill tribes is quite interesting. Many of these residents have lived in Thailand for generations, yet only about half have been granted citizenship. This is important because non-citizens cannot attend school, cannot own land, cannot travel about the country freely and cannot receive government benefits. (You can obtain a white citizenship card by proving long-term residence or paying a lot of money. Few village people can do it.)
Professor Viradi Somswasdi, chair of the Women’s Studies department at Chiang Mai University, says that many Thai residents exhibit strong biases against the villagers — “They are lazy … they are stupid … they all grow opium,” and so on — making it difficult for the villagers to progress. Recently though, the village people have begun to press their claim for greater rights.
Entry Filed under: Freeman Fellowship
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