> [!NOTE]+ Meta > Author:: Alex V. Cipolle > Reference:: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/arts/design/hmong-refugees-twin-cities-story-cloths.html > Date:: 2025 > Tags:: #warp #USA #textiles #Hmong > WeftLinks:: [[Migrant and refugee value of craft]] > Claim:: [[Claim - Craft is a means to keep traditions alive and evolving in new environments]] > [!SUMMARY] Summary > Embroidered Story cloths were developed in refugee camps and continue to be a way of keeping the Hmong culture alive in the diaspora. ### Highlights > The Hmong community in the Twin Cities shares its history through colorful story cloths that depict their experiences during the Vietnam War and their journey to the United States. These tapestries are displayed in museums and markets, celebrating their culture and resilience. The Hmong population has thrived in Minnesota, becoming an important part of the local community and heritage. Lee Pao Xiong, a Hmong scholar Xiong pulls out tapestry after tapestry — story cloths, part of the Hmong textile tradition of paj ntaub. Most feature colorful pastoral or wedding scenes, but some depict memories from the “Secret War” in Laos >In the 1970s and ’80s, the Hmong invented story cloths in refugee camps in Thailand. Xiong explained that it was a way to keep family history alive, and make money, after fleeing Laos during the Communist takeover in the spring of 1975. Lee Pao Xiong, director of the Center for Hmong Studies at Concordia University in St. Paul Center for Hmong Studies, and the nearby [Hmong Archives](https://hmongarchives.org/) and [Hmong Cultural Center Museum](https://hmongculturalcentermuseum.org/) in a [neighborhood known as Little Mekong,](https://www.visitsaintpaul.com/things-to-do/neighborhoods/little-mekong/) named after the river that [more than 130,000 Hmong crossed into Thailand](https://geriatrics.stanford.edu/ethnomed/hmong/introduction/history.html) as they escaped Laos. “[Gov. Al Quie actually traveled to the refugee camps in Thailand in 1979](https://www.mprnews.org/story/1979/10/30/archive-quie-refugee-camps) and then came back and advocated for all the churches to basically accept the refugees,” Xiong said. “He basically lobbied the State Department to send the refugees to Minnesota.” Yang was also born in the Ban Vinai refugee camp; her family came to St. Paul when she was 6. Her mother and aunt made story cloths in the camp. “Hmong women and girls are known for their tapestry around the world,” Yang said. “It was a rebellious act of us to conserve our stories for future generations using what we had.” The Hmong Cultural Center Museum also preserves traditions, including teaching the qeej, an ancient bamboo woodwind instrument used at weddings and funerals. The annual [Qeej and Hmong Arts Festival](https://www.hmongcc.org/qeej-and-hmong-arts-festival.html) was held April 24-26.