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This commentary article discusses several examples of inaccurate information about the Hmong presented in contemporary materials produced by school district staff and/or published by mainstream publishers in the United States for use with the K-12 market to teach about Hmong culture and history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 30 years various accounts of Hmong history have emerged from Hmong and non-Hmong scholars working in the United States, other Diaspora countries and Asia. This short commentary paper examines and addresses some of the questions that have arisen from the many versions of Hmong history in China being circulated among the Hmong of the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This author attended the first day of the 2005-06 Hmong New Year in Fresno,¹ which was held during the week of December 26 to 31, 2005; and found it to be strongly influenced by commercial, political and informational/educational activities. This was the 30th annual Hmong New Year event celebrated in the United States and it appears to have developed itself into a unique Hmong American festival. It included many elements and traditions from the pre-1975 New Year of the Hmong of Laos. This includes the youth displaying their Hmong traditional costumes, the ball tossing, and the singing of traditional Hmong songs. On the other hand, this New Year event was also dominated by commercial, entertainment, political and informational/educational activities that appeared to be influenced by the American and Western concepts of the market economy, technology and freedom of expression. The Hmong New Yyear in the United States has become a festival that embraces two cultures, nurtured by the Hmong Diaspora and the long-time Hmong strengths of adaptability and flexibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]