Sonom was the fourth son of Langkya [note 1], who was the previous ruler of Greater Jinchuan.

Other women and the children were sentenced to life imprisonment (永遠監禁; 永远监禁; Yǒngyuǎn jiānjìn; Yung-yüan Chien-chin).

According to the Quincy account, ultimately Sonom surrendered when the Chinese promised that his family would survive if he did so.

[1] Entenmann argued that the use of the word "Miao" was imprecise during the time when Jean Joseph Marie Amiot wrote an account of the Jinchuan Wars,[15] since the Qing government under the Qianlong Emperor referred to all ethnic minorities in Southwest China as "Miao people" (苗民; Miáomín; Miao-min).

[16] Amiot uses "Miao-tsée" (苗子; Miáozi; Miao-tzu) to refer to the Gyalrong people,[15] of which Sonom was a part.

[17] François Marie Savina, in Histoire des Miao, reprinted the account by Amiot.

[15] Entenmann stated that the book Hmong: History of a People "does not offer a reliable history of the Hmong in China" because Quincy was "evidently not trained as a historian" and did not read Chinese, so he introduced the error made by Savina.

[18] Anne Fadiman in her book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down cited Quincy and stated that Sonom was Hmong.