ISSN 1919‐0581Highland ethnic minority Hmong livelihoods in Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province, northern Vietnam
resonate with adaptability, having flexed to accommodate and respond to diverse macro level political
and economic circumstances through time. This paper focuses on this flexibility during the socialist
and post-socialist periods. We illustrate the decisions of the State that have directly affected Hmong
households in the Northern Highlands during this transition, and then, using ethnographic fieldwork
data, turn to concentrate on Hmong reactions and their survival and coping strategies during these
two contrasting periods. We then focus on current day Hmong livelihood portfolios, unravelling the
specific features that allow Hmong households to adapt to local level political and economic transformations,
including the creation of a National Park and limits to forest resource access as well as
emerging market opportunities
