In ancient times, Miao people were called "Jingchu", "Man Jing" and "Na Man", and that's it. After Yu brutally cut down three seedlings, there were no records of three seedlings in the Central Plains literature. Different appellations of Jingchu,, and Na Man all refer to the * * * status of Miao people. His predecessor was Sanmiao, and the descendants of Sanmiao reappeared in history under the abstract guise of "scenery", "Chu" and "Man". These appellations confuse the appellations of Miao and other nationalities. After the Song Dynasty, Miao was separated from some mixed names of "Man" and became a single national name.

It is said that Miao people had written characters in ancient times, which may be homologous to Chinese characters, but they were later lost. These legends are hard to prove now. At the beginning of the 20th century, some Miao intellectuals created some square characters for the development of Miao culture and education, such as Fang Miaowen created by Shibantang in western Hunan, shorthand Miao Wen created by Shi Qigui, Miao Wen textbook compiled by Songtao Long Shaohua in Guizhou, etc. Some foreign missionaries also created some Miao Wen for missionary purposes. However, due to various conditions, these Miao prose has not been popularized among Miao people.

Miao people have their own religious beliefs for a long time. After a long period of historical development, the religious beliefs of Miao people in different regions are different. In some Miao areas, due to traffic jams, Miao people believe in primitive religions; There are also a few Miao areas, such as Weining, Shimenkan and Yuanling in western Hunan, which converted to Catholicism and Christianity in modern times due to the influence of foreign missionaries. But on the whole, most Miao people still believe in primitive religions that have been formed for a long time, including nature worship, totem worship, ghost worship and ancestor worship.