TL;DR: The Khang (self-name Mơ Kháng) are one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, long settled in the northwest, mainly in Lai Châu and Sơn La. They speak a Mon-Khmer language (Austroasiatic family), are fluent in Thai, practice swidden farming with wet rice, basketry and boat building. They believe each person has five souls, worship father spirits and observe a mother-spirit cult with a ceremony every three years, alongside Lunar New Year, new-rice festival and swidden farming rituals.
Who are the Khang and where do they live?
The Khang are one of Vietnam's 54 ethnic groups, with the self-name Mơ Kháng. According to the official list of Vietnam's ethnic groups, the Khang are also known as Hang, Bren and Xa, and include local subgroups such as Kháng Dẩng, Kháng Hoặc, Khang Don, Kháng Súa, Ma Háng, Bư Háng, Ma Háng Bẻng and Bư Háng Cọi. In the official list, the Khang are recorded under the alternative names Xá Khao, Xá Đón and Xá Tú Lăng, and subgroups Kháng Xúa, Khang Don, Kháng Dống, Kháng Hốc, Khang Ai, Kháng Bung and Kháng Quảng Lâm, residing in Lai Châu and Sơn La.
According to the Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities dated 1 April 2019, the Khang population is 16,180. Earlier, the 2009 Population and Housing Census recorded 13,840. The difference reflects both natural population growth and changes in data collection methods between the two surveys.
The Khang are among the oldest settled peoples of Vietnam's northwest. Their traditional territory was tied to former Thai muang. In Khang villages, wealth stratification had emerged, and the patriarchal nuclear family predominated, alongside some remnants of matrilineal customs such as uxorilocal marriage and the role of the maternal uncle.
What language do the Khang speak?
The Khang language belongs to the Mon-Khmer group of the Austroasiatic family. This is notable because linguistically Khang is closer to Khơ Mú, Xinh Mun, Mang and Cong than to Thai. However, through long co-residence, the Khang speak Thai fluently and many aspects of their life are deeply influenced by Thai culture.
This coexistence produces a striking cultural feature: the Khang retain their original Mon-Khmer language while many material and spiritual practices take on Thai forms. Khang women's dress, for example, resembles White Thai women's dress. The Khang also dress like the Thai. In their folk arts, many Khang know Thai songs and poems and many proverbs and folk verses.
What are Khang houses and transport like?
Khang housing has two forms: temporary and permanent. Stilt houses include single-roof and double-roof types, without a ridge cap and without side rooms, with a main door running straight from one end to the other, connected to a ladder for going up and down. This through-door structure is a recognisable feature of Khang housing compared with many neighbouring peoples.
For transport, the Khang use a basket carried with a strap across the forehead and a swallow-tail boat. They are skilled at building and using dugout canoes and swallow-tail boats. Their boats are sought after by brother peoples. The Khang also habitually store drinking water in bamboo tubes and carry water home in a forehead-strapped basket.
How do the Khang make a living?
Swidden farming is the dominant economic form, using slash-and-burn and dibbling. Three groups can be distinguished by degree of settlement:
- Fully nomadic group: swidden farming.
- Semi-settled nomadic group: swidden farming combined with wet rice.
- Settled group: wet rice combined with swidden farming.
The custom is to grow glutinous rice together with maize, cassava and sesame. Livestock raising is fairly developed, including pigs, chickens, ducks, buffalo and cattle. A well-known sideline is basketry for household items such as chests, rattan chairs, rattan and carrying baskets. Rattan chest weaving is a traditional craft of the Khang, and its products are favoured and have become a common commodity.
In diet, the Khang like glutinous rice and sour, spicy dishes such as sour-marinated fish, pickled taro leaves, and a mixed dish of lolot leaves, meat, chilli, garlic and herbs, cooked. Drinking by nose (tu mui) is a unique cultural trait. The Khang are accustomed to drinking white liquor and jar wine, and to smoking cigarettes and pipe tobacco.
What are traditional Khang social relations like?
Under the former Thai muang administration, the Khang had no separate social organisation. The highest official in the village was the quan cai, roughly equivalent to the Thai Tao ban. Clan heads still had a certain role in community life.
This social structure raises an interesting question of identity: a people with no separate political institution, living within the Thai muang system, yet maintaining their own language, beliefs and many cultural practices. This parallel existence shows the diversity in how ethnic communities adapt and preserve identity.
How do Khang marriage and funerals work?
Marriage
In the past, marriage among the Khang was both free and subject to many rituals. After four years of courtship nights staying at the girl's house, if the couple agreed, betrothal and many rituals followed for the young couple and both families. After three years of uxorilocal residence, the young couple had to hold a ceremony introducing the two families, and only then did the groom's family organise the bride-taking. This was the most important ceremony.
Funerals
The Khang have a custom of dividing property for the deceased, including blankets, mats, knives, bowls, plates, a chest for clothes, water tubes, a basket of glutinous rice and whatever the deceased commonly used in life. All these offerings are placed above the grave. At the head of the grave a tall post is also buried, on which a wooden bird figure and a shirt the deceased often wore are hung. After burial, on returning home, siblings and relatives must stand under the floor for the maternal uncle to cut a tuft of hair and put it into a bowl of raw water containing eggs and dried fish, then throw it by the roadside or in the graveyard so that the dead person's soul does not return to disturb descendants and relatives.
What do the Khang worship and believe about souls?
The Khang believe a person has five souls: one main soul in the head and four in the limbs. At death, the main soul becomes a benevolent spirit protecting descendants, while the other four become malevolent spirits that harass and demand offerings. People also believe in many other spirits such as stream spirits and village spirits.
The Khang worship father spirits and observe a mother-spirit cult. The ceremony for parents is held every three years. This is the happiest ceremony, when the family invites siblings and relatives in the village to a meal, followed by xoe dancing and dancing all night. It should be noted that this describes a belief practice as a cultural phenomenon, without asserting or denying the efficacy of those beliefs.
What festivals and farming rituals do the Khang hold?
The Khang celebrate Lunar New Year and the new-rice festival and perform rituals related to swidden farming. This is shared with many peoples of the northwest, where the festival cycle is closely tied to the swidden cultivation cycle.
Khang folk songs often reflect daily life. The Tăng Bu dance of the Khang in Điện Biên province is an example of folk performing practice recorded in community cultural activities.
Summary table of basic information about the Khang
| Criterion | Information |
|---|---|
| Self-name | Mơ Kháng |
| Other names | Hang, Bren, Xa; Xá Khao, Xá Đón, Xá Tú Lăng |
| Local subgroups | Kháng Dẩng, Kháng Hoặc, Khang Don, Kháng Súa, Ma Háng, Bư Háng, Ma Háng Bẻng, Bư Háng Cọi; Kháng Xúa, Khang Don, Kháng Dống, Kháng Hốc, Khang Ai, Kháng Bung, Kháng Quảng Lâm |
| Population | 16,180 (Survey of 53 Ethnic Minorities, 1 April 2019); 13,840 (2009 Census) |
| Language | Mon-Khmer group, Austroasiatic family; fluent in Thai |
| Territory | Lai Châu, Sơn La |
| Main economy | Slash-and-burn swidden with dibbling; wet rice; livestock; basketry; boat building |
| Main beliefs | Five-soul belief; father-spirit worship, mother-spirit cult; parents' ceremony every three years |
| Festivals | Lunar New Year, new-rice festival, swidden farming rituals |
| Crafts | Rattan chest, rattan chair and basket weaving; dugout and swallow-tail boat building |
What should you know when studying the Khang?
First, existing sources on the Khang generally agree on the self-name, language family, territory and main cultural practices. Differences lie mainly in population figures between survey dates, which is normal in demographic research.
Second, because the Khang live within the Thai muang system and are deeply influenced by Thai culture, distinguishing purely Khang cultural elements from borrowed and acculturated ones is a complex scholarly issue. Ethnographers tend to record cultural interweaving rather than seek absolute separation.
Third, customs such as marriage with long courtship and uxorilocal residence, or the division of property for the dead, are described in ethnographic sources as traditional practices. In contemporary life, many practices have changed to some extent in line with new socio-economic conditions.
Fourth, a clear distinction must be made between Khang local subgroups and other ethnic groups. In the official list of Vietnam's ethnic groups, the Khang are a separate people, not part of the Thai or any other group, despite many cultural similarities with the Thai.
The Khang in the wider picture of Vietnam's peoples
According to the General Statistics Office announcement of 2 March 1979, Vietnam has 54 ethnic groups. The Kinh make up more than 85.4% of the national population, and the remaining 53 groups are called minorities, accounting for about 14.6% of the national population. Ethnic minorities live across all regions, mainly in high mountainous, border, remote and far areas, with the northern mountainous region having about 6.7 million people.
The Khang are among the small-population peoples residing in the northwest. Together with other brother peoples, they contribute to the cultural diversity of this land. Studying the Khang is not only about one specific people but also a cross-section for understanding the process of cultural interweaving and acculturation among ethnic communities in Vietnam's northwest.
