The Lao soung (High Lao) include the hill tribes who live at the highest altitudes. Off all the peoples of Laos, they are the most recent immigrants, having come from Myanmar, Tibet and southern China within the last 150 years.

The largest group is the Hmong, also called Miao or Meo, who number more than 300,000 in four main subgroups, the White Hmong, Striped Hmong, Red Hmong and Black Hmong (the colours refer to certain clothing details. They are found in the nine provinces of the north plus Bolikhamsai in central Laos.

The agricultural staples of the Hmong are dry rice and corn raised by slash-and-burn method. They also breed cattle, pigs, water buffalo and chicken, traditionally for barter rather than sale. For years the Hmong’s only cash crop was opium and they grew and manufactured more than any other group in Laos. However, an aggressive eradication programme run by the government (with sunpport from the USA), has eliminated most of the crop. The resulting loss of a tradable commodity has hit many H’mong community very hard. The Hmong are the most numerous in Hua Phan, Xieng Khuang, Luang Prabang and northern Vientiane provinces.

The second-largest group are the Mien (also called Iu Mien, Yao and Man), who live mainly in Luang Nam Tha, Luang Prabang, Bokeo, Udomxai and Phongsali. The Mien, like the Hmong, have traditionally cultivated opium poppies. Replacement crops, including coffee, are taking time to bed in and generate income.

The Mien and Hmong have many ethnic and linguistic similarities, and both groups are predominantly animist. The Hmong are considered more aggressive and warlike than the Mien, however, and as such were perfect CIA-trained special Royal Lao Government forces in the 1960s and early W70s. Large numbers of Hmong-Mien left Laos and fled abroad after 1975.