Kucong

Status The Kucong are not recognized by the Chinese government as an official minority nationality. Living conditions The Kucong are co The people are considered invisible people due to the fact that they intentionally have little contact with other ethnic groups, even seldom allowing outsiders to see them physically when selling wares. Their houses are small and narrow, consisting of a single room without divisions or windows and a central fire. Families sleep around the fire together, along with their livestock. The Kucong currently keep a semi-nomadic lifestyle and subsist off of hunting, gathering, government subsidies, and small amounts of commerce with other ethnic groups. Kucong children often do not attend school due to lack of proficiency in Mandarin. Wang Zhengyun 1989 Tiananmen Square protests leader Wang Zhengyun was an ethnic Kucong and at the time a student of the Central University for Nationalities. At the time, he was the only member of the Kucong ethnicity to be studying at a university. Zhengyun was arrested in July 1989 and released two years later to return to his village in the Yunnan countryside. ==In Laos==

The Kucong are also found in Laos and are considered to be one the nation's more primitive groups. More than 3,000 Kucong inhabit at least 16 villages of northern part of the country. A subgroup of the Kucong in Laos are called Lahu Aga ('Bent Gourd Lahu') by other people because they traditionally wore a curved gourd around their necks. These are the reasons why the Kucong are often identified by some sources as part of Lahu group. There are sources, however, that cite distinctions between the two minorities. These point to key differences such as in the case of their languages. Although closely related, Kucong and Lahu are far from mutually intelligible. == See also ==