The Hmong, Opium and the Haw: Speculations on the Origin of Their Association

The importance of opium as a cash crop among the Hmong 1 in north Thailand is widely known and has been studied in detaii.2 The association between the Hmong and Yunnanese "Haw" traders, through whom the Hmong have traditionally marketed opium, is also well known. It is a common misconception, however, that opium plays a central role in Hmong culture. It has, for example, apparently little or no role in Hmong ritual, unlike rice, which is central to Hmong society and culture. Rice, more than opium, has been by far their most important crop,3 although recently many Hmong have been forced to give up the cultivation of swidden rice due to land shortage, scarcity of mature forest, and labor conflicts involving opium. The prevalence of opium-growing among the Hmong in north Thailand makes it a question of some interest as to how the growing of opium as a cash crop may have arisen among the Hmong and what part the Haw may have played in this process.