Taiwanese aborigines
Taiwanese aborigines or
aboriginal peoples (;
Tongyong Pinyin: yuánjhùmín;
Taiwanese Pe̍h-o"-jī: gôan-chū-bîn, literally "original inhabitants") are the
indigenous peoples of
Taiwan. They are descended from the
Austronesian-speaking inhabitants of Taiwan, who are believed to have been living on the islands for approximately 8,000 years before major
Han immigration began in the
1600s. The Taiwanese aborigines are closely related to the
Malay peoples of the
Philippines,
Indonesia, and
Malaysia.
For centuries the Formosan tribes experienced economic competition and military conflict with a series of conquering peoples. As a result of these intercultural dynamics, as well as more dispassionate economic processes, many of tribes have been culturally and linguistically assimilated, resulting in varying degrees of language and culture loss. For example, of the approximately 26 languages of the Taiwanese aborigines ( known collectively as the
Formosan languages), at least ten are extinct, another five are
moribund,
[Zeitoun, Elizabeth & Ching-Hua Yu "The Formosan Language Archive: Linguistic Analysis and Language Processing". Computational Linguistics and Chinese Language Processing. Volume 10, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 167-200] and several others are to some degree
endangered.
Despite this, the indigenous peoples of Taiwan have been actively seeking a higher degree of self-determination since the early 1980s. In 1996 the Council of Indigenous Peoples was promoted to a ministry-level rank within the
Executive Yuan. Moreover, efforts are underway by indigenous communities to revive traditional cultural practices and preserve their languages.
The total population of these peoples is around 458,000 as of January 2006,
[Council of Indigenous Peoples, Executive Yuan "Statistics of Indigenous Population in Taiwan and Fukien Areas".] which is approximately 2% of Taiwan's population.
There is a common misunderstanding that all of the twelve peoples officially recognized by the Taiwan government live in mountain areas. This originated from the Han immigrants' reception of the aboriginals during the Qing rule (1683-1895). Those who lived on the western plains were called "cooked" (i.e. "civilized") aboriginals (熟番). On the other hand, those who lived in the mountainous areas in central Taiwan and in eastern Taiwan (including the eastern plains) lived on land mostly unknown to the Han. These were called "raw" ("wild") aboriginals ("番). This idea was accepted by later anthropologists during the Japanese rule (1895-1945), as the "plains aboriginals" (平"番 "Pepohoan", POJ Pêⁿ-po·-hoan) referred to "the cooked" and mountain aboriginals (高山族) to "the raw." This view was later adopted by the Chinese Nationalist government (1949-2000), which continues to affect Taiwan's indigenous peoples policy even to date. Thus even today the two groups are simply (and not entirely correctly) distinguished as
Pingpu or
Pepo (平" - Plains) and
Gaoshan or
Ge Sen (高山 - High Mountain) tribes.
By no means was this bureaucratic classification, devised by Qing officials, based strictly on geographical location. Some of the so-called Gaoshan tribes actually lived on the plains, as was the case with the Amis tribe of the east coast and the Tao tribe of
Orchid Island. Instead it was based largely on behavior. Those tribes which submitted to pay taxes were classified as
Sek Huan (熟番), which means familiar barbarian; the tribes which had not submitted were classified as
Se Huan ("番), which means unfamiliar barbarian. From the imperial governance point of view, the distinction is whether the population (人籍） of a tribe and its land (圖籍) had registered as part of the Empire property, and were subject to tax payments. Legally, "cooked" ones were synonymous with being Han, or subjects of the Empire (民人). Moreover, the prevailing idea was that anyone could become a civilized person by adopting
Confucian social norms.
Economic forces as well as military subjugation caused many of the original Formosan tribes to lose their separate identities. This happened first and foremost among the "Plains Tribes." Before the 1600s, aborigines lived throughout the island, but those in the western coastal plains have acculturated to mainstream Taiwanese culture and intermarriage with the Han Chinese immigrants has complicated the designation of tribes and the ethnic composition of Taiwan. Typically assimilation took place gradually through intermarriage, but occasionally individuals simply adopted a Han identity outright. One account of this "identity shift" occurs in the area called Rujryck by the Dutch, now part of
Taipei city. A document from the seventh year of the
Qianlong Emperor, and signed by the village heads states, "We originally had no surnames, please bestow on us the Han surnames, Pan, Chen, Li, Wang, Tan, etc." Taking a Han name was a necessary step in instilling Confucian values in the aborigines. In the Confucian Qing state, Confucian values were necessary to be recognized as a full person. A surname would allow the Aborigines to worship their ancestors, pray to gods and conduct in the practices of filial piety that would allow them to operate within a Confucian state. Often, the large groups of immigrant men would unite under a common surname to form a brotherhood. Brotherhoods were used as a form of defense as each sworn brother was bound by an oath of blood to run to the aid of a brother in need. The brotherhood groups would connect their names to a family tree, in essence manufacturing a genealogy based on names rather than blood and taking the place of the kinship organizations commonly found in China. The practice was so widespread that today's family books are largely unreliable. Many plains aborigines joined kinship groups to gain protection from the group as a type of insurance policy and through these groups they took on a Han identity with a Chinese lineage.
The centuries-old process of assimilation is still in motion today, albeit in a somewhat different shape: "As indigenous areas become more accessible, the young leave to the cities, residents from the plains press further into tribal areas, and old customs and languages are forgotten"
[Ericsson, Niclas S. "Creating 'Indian Country' in Taiwan?". Harvard Asia Quarterly. Volume VIII, No. 1. Winter 2004.] However, today some tribes are trying to recover their tribal identity in many ways. One important political means of distinguishing a tribe's identity is through obtaining formal recognition of tribal status from the government.
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Map of highland tribes according to traditional geographical distribution. |
Currently the government of Taiwan officially recognizes 12 tribes among the indigenous community.
[Ericsson, Niclas S. "Creating 'Indian Country' in Taiwan?". Harvard Asia Quarterly. Volume VIII, No. 1. Winter 2004.] This formal recognition confers certain legal benefits and rights upon a group, as well as providing them with the satisfaction of recovering their separate identity as a tribe. To gain this recognition, tribes must gather a number of signatures and a body of supportive evidence in order to successfully petition the
Council of Indigenous Peoples.
After a group petitions for recognized status, the
Council of Indigenous Peoples analyzes their "...language, history and the locations where they are residing now."
[[1]. Tribe wants official recognition. Taipei Times, Friday, Oct 14 2005, Page 2] An important factor in a successful formal petition is tracing the genealogical roots of members of the group, which can be a very labor-intensive task. Other historical documents or articles can be used as supportive evidence. One obstacle that faces many tribes petitioning for recognition is that the existence of a distinct tribal language is a very strong argument in a group's favor. However, the languages of many tribal groups are extinct, which weakens their case.
Among the plains aboriginal groups that have petitioned for tribal status, only the
Kavalan and
Thao have been officially recognized. The remaining ten are traditionally regarded as mountain aboriginals. But, in fact, among them there are the
Amis and
Puyuma, who inhabit the plains of eastern Taiwan, and the
Tao live on
Orchid Island.
Tribal groups or subgroups that have pressed for recovery of legal aboriginal status include the Chimo (who have not formally petitioned the government),
["Chimo seek recognition of aboriginal status".Taiwan Journal, September 2, 2003] the Kakabu, Makatao, Pazeh, and Siraya,
[ "Kavalan become official Aboriginal group". Taiwan News, December 26, 2002 ] and more recently the Sakizaya.
[ [2]. Tribe wants official recognition. Taipei Times, Friday, Oct 14 2005, Page 2] The act of petitioning for recognized status, however, does not always reflect any consensus view among scholars that the relevant group should in fact be categorized as a separate tribe.
There is discussion among both scholars and political groups regarding the best or most appropriate name to use for many of the tribes and their languages, as well as the proper
romanization of that name. Commonly cited examples of this ambiguity include (Seediq/Sediq/Truku/Taroko) and (Tao/Yami).
A full list of the recognized tribes of Taiwan, as well as some of the more commonly cited unrecognized tribal groups, is as follows:
*
Introduction to the 10 tribes of Taiwanese indigenous peoples*
Council of Indigenous Peoples (Taiwan)*
Taiwan Aboriginal Handicraft Art*
Academia Sinica: Formosan Language Archive*
an overview of the tribes*
Taiwan Aborigines Studies*
Taiwan First Nations*
Reed Institute's Formosa Digital Library*
Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines*
BBC News: Taiwan's aborigines find new voice (
2005-07-04)
