‘Hmong Voices’ is a project that ‘gives voice’ or a space for Hmong elders and craftspeople in Sa Pa District.

They talk about their understandings of local history and their lives, and explain different traditional crafts.

The project is also a way for younger Hmong men and women working as trekking guides at Sapa O’Chau to learn more about their heritage, by being a core part of the project.

Listen to Hmong Oral Histories

Watch Videos of Hmong Traditional Crafts

The people and funding behind the project

The funding for this came from the National Geographic US Legacy Fund (2013-2014), through a grant designed by Prof Sarah Turner, Department of Geography, McGill University, Canada. She had a wonderful research assistant, former graduate student Sarah Delisle working with the Sapa O’Chau Hmong trekking guides in Sa Pa. Our thanks to the whole Sapa O’Chau gang, especially the guides, Sapa O’Chau’s founder Ms Shu Tan, and administrative and logistics whiz Ms Dung Ha.

If you’d like to read some academic articles about Hmong and other ethnic minorities and their livelihoods in the region, borderland trade, and food security issues, please check out the ‘Minorities in the Southeast Asian Massif Research Lab’.