Miaoicization vis-à-vis sinicization: contrasting Miao subgroups in contemporary China

This article studies the Miao classification as an example to examine the minzu shibie project initiated by the Chinese Communist Party after 1949. The Miao classification that originates with the minzu shibie project can be defined as a process of miaoicization; however, it is not a unified Miao group (as projected by the classification team) that has emerged but rather one dominant Miao subgroup that defines the official Miao category in contemporary China. At the moment the most dominant Miao subgroup is the Hmu group in Southeast Guizhou. The overemphasis of Hmu sub-culture to represent all the Miao of China is related to the fact that over the last decades many important leaders in Guizhou have been Hmu. While all Hmu are sinicized to a certain extent, it seems that the Hmu at the bottom of the socioeconomic scale are most likely to be sinicized and to amalgamate with the Han majority.