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Concept
Lahu people
Summary
The Lahu people ( Lāhùzú; Lahu: Ladhulsi / Kawzhawd; La Hủ) are an ethnic group of China and Mainland Southeast Asia.
Graphic pejoratives in written Chinese
The Chinese name "Lahu" literally means "to drag favour from heaven" (拉, lā, "to drag"; 祜, hù, "blessing, favour"). It replaced the older and more-offensive "Luohei" (猓黑) as the official Chinese name for the Lahu people.
The Lahu are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China, where about 720,000 live in Yunnan province, mostly in Lancang Lahu Autonomous County. In Thailand, the Lahu are one of the six main groups categorized as hill tribes. The Tai often refer to them by the exonym Musoe (also spelled Muser; มูเซอ), meaning 'hunter'. They are one of 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, and mostly live in three communes of Mường Tè, Lai Châu Province.
A few Lahu, along with the Hmong, Lao, and Mien were recruited by the United States Central Intelligence Agency to help fight against the communist Pathet Lao, known as the secret war, during the Laotian Civil War. In fear of retribution when the Pathet Lao took over the Laotian government in 1975, those who had helped the United States fled to neighboring Thailand seeking political asylum.
A couple thousand Lahu have resettled in the United States as refugees, in the states of California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah.
The Lahu divide themselves into a number of subgroups, such as the Lahu Na (Black Lahu), Lahu Nyi (Red Lahu), Lahu Hpu (White Lahu), Lahu Shi (Yellow Lahu) and the Lahu Shehleh. Where a subgroup name refers to a color, it refers to the traditional color of their dress. These groups do not function as tribes or clans - there are no kin groups above that of the family. Lahu trace descent bilaterally, and typically practice matrilocal residence.
Bradley (1979) lists the following Lahu ethnic subgroups.
Official source
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