Hmong or Mong (; RPA: , Nyiakeng Puachue: , Pahawh: , ) is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hainan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are some 2.7 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan () dialect forms the basis of the standard language. However, Hmong Daw and Mong Leng are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong. Varieties Mong Leng () and Hmong Daw () are part of a dialect cluster known in China as (), called the "Chuanqiandian cluster" in English (or "Miao cluster" in other languages) since West Hmongic is also called . The variety spoken from Sichuan in China to Thailand and Laos is referred to in China as the "First Local Variety" () of the cluster. Mong Leng and Hmong Daw are just those varieties of the cluster that migrated to Laos. The names Mong Leng, Hmong Dleu/Der, and Hmong Daw are also used in China for various dialects of the cluster. Ethnologue once distinguished only the Laotian varieties (Hmong Daw, Mong Leng), Sinicized Miao (Hmong Shua), and the Vietnamese varieties (Hmong Dô, Hmong Don). The Vietnamese varieties are very poorly known; population estimates are not even available. In 2007, Horned Miao, Small Flowery Miao, and the Chuanqiandian cluster of China were split off from Mong Leng [blu]. These varieties are as follows, along with some alternative names. Hmong/Mong/Chuanqiandian Miao macrolanguage (China, Laos, also spoken by minorities in Thailand and the United States), including: Hmong Daw (Hmong Der, , , , 'White Hmong'; Chinese: , , 'White Miao'), Mong Leng (, , , 'Blue/Green Hmong'; Chinese: , , 'Blue-Green Miao'), Hmong Shua (; 'Sinicized Miao'), Hmo or A-Hmo (Chinese: , , 'Horned Miao'), Small Flowery Miao, and the rest of the Chuanqiandian Miao cluster located in China. Hmong languages of Vietnam, not considered part of the China/Laos macrolanguage and possibly forming their own distinct macrolanguage — they are still not very well classified even if they are described by Ethnologue as having vigorous use (in Vietnam) but without population estimates; they have most probably been influenced by Vietnamese, as well