Myths of the World

The  Khmu  ( /kəˈmuː/ ;  Khmu : /kmm̥uʔ/ or /kmmúʔ/;  Lao : ກຶມມຸ  [kɯ̀m.mūʔ]  or  Lao : ຂະມຸ  [kʰámūʔ] ;  Thai : ขมุ  [kʰāmùʔ] ;  Vietnamese :  Khơ Mú ;  Chinese : 克木族;  Burmese : ခမူ) are an  ethnic group  of  Southeast Asia . The majority (88%) live in northern  Laos  where they constitute the largest minority ethnic group, comprising eleven percent of the total population. Alternative historical English spellings include Kmhmu, Kemu, and Khammu, among others. The Khmu can also be found in  southwest China  (in  Xishuangbanna  in  Yunnan  province), and in recent centuries have migrated to areas of  Burma ,  Thailand  and  Vietnam  (where they are an officially  recognized  ethnic group). In the  People’s Republic of China , however, they are not given official recognition as a separate “national” group, but are rather classified as a subgroup of  Bulang . The  endonym  “Khmu” is suspected to stem from their word  kymhmuʔ  meaning “people”. Khmu also often refer to their ethnicity a