It's not Dzao it's Mien !

So for all these years I have been describing Tamay's cultural identity as Dzao because that is what she said she was, but it's time to use the true name which is Mien. 

Tamay and most of the people in Taphin village will refer to themselves as Dzao when talking with tourists who come to the village because this is what they have been called by tour guides for years, and hence over time it has become the common way to culturally identify themselves in and around Sapa. Some people use the name 'Dao' as this is the Vietnamese Government name. Tamay is relaxed about the name people say because it is fore-mostly important that the actual cultural practices, religion, language, clothing, farming traditions are respected and acknowledged.

However this is not the name they call themselves when they talk to one another, they are Mien ! This is their linguistic identity, their cultural and ethnic identity. And, of course it is important to use the name that they call themselves rather than the name that the tour guides use. 

So here we go the name Tamay & Me will now use to describe their ethnicity and cultural identity is 'MIEN'.