ABSTRACT

The colonial administrator, Paul Boulanger, observed that the montagnards of upper Laos were more or less "violently agitated" during the entire period from 1914 to 1921. Up until 1914, he contends, the various races of Muong Sing, Lu as well as montagnard, had accepted French tutelage, the only major dissenter being the Lu chief and "vulgar bandit", Van Na Poum, until his death at the hands of the military in 1910. In November 1914, what the French saw as a band of "Chinese pirates and opium smugglers" entered Laos from Yunnan and attacked the administrative center at Sam Neua, killed the French administrator, Lambert, and made off with between 100,000-200,000 piasters from the local treasury along with 49 kilograms of opium and a supply of weapons. The Hmong or "free", along with the Yao, Ho, Mouseu and Lanten are known in Laos by the generic label of Lao Soung and comprise about five percent of the population.