Languages: Official language of Taiwan is Mandarin though other local languages were also spoken in originally indifferent tribes. Mandarin is the language that is used for everyday communication in Taiwan but the origin of Mandarin started from Ching dynasty. Mandarin and other languages that were spoken in Taiwan were basically derived from Chinese language families. Indigenous people had their own languages which have survived to date. "From Taiwan to New Zealand and Madagascar to Easter Island, the Austronesian language family is made up of more than a thousand languages and dialects. (Estimates vary from 900-1200 according to how dialects are distinguished from languages)" (Austronesian Expansion).
Other languages that were spoken in Taiwan included Halo Taiwanese which is now the second most spoken language in Taiwan around 70% Taiwanese speaks Halo. The Hakka language in Taiwan developed six divisions although the Hakka language was still used within Hakka communities. Initially Taiwan was a mixture of diverse cultures and languages in different tribes and currently awareness of the importance of preserving the variety of languages spoken in Taiwan is growing and government is taking steps to preserve these languages. "To help preserve indigenous culture, the government has included the study of indigenous languages in Taiwan's compulsory education system. In 2005, more than 40,000 elementary and junior high school students took indigenous language courses, and 40 languages and dialects were taught. Since the Dutch colonial period, people have tried to Romanize indigenous languages. For example, Christian missionaries introduced a Romanization system for the language of the Siraya, a pingpu group" (Taiwan Year Book).
Arts and Handicrafts: People of different tribes played their important part in enhancing the value of arts and crafts. Due to their creativity and innovation they made their artistic values incomparable. Indigenous Taiwanese were famous for their stone work...
Other things that are well-known regarding the art and handicrafts include weaving of clothes, plaiting of bamboo and rattan. Indigenous Taiwanese also showed their creativity by creating different things from ceramics.
Dwellings: Dwelling of Taiwanese can be classified on the basis of many different aspects such as according to the lifestyle of Indigenous Taiwanese, according to the layout, roof structure, and material used in the preparation of houses. As the language, festivals differed from one tribe to another similarly; their dwellings were also different from each other. Atayal usually lived in two types of houses i.e. semi-under-grounded wooden houses and the above grounded bamboo houses. Saisiat usually built their houses on the slope of mountains and the materials that they used in constructing their houses included wood, rattan and bamboo. The Bunun made their dwellings from slate, wood, thatch and the bark of vines. Bunun usually built several rooms in their houses. Traditional Tsou dwellings consisted of thatched houses while, Amis dwellings were usually built in clusters. Puyuma traditional dwellings had thatch roofs, bamboo walls, and a rectangular floor pan. Paiwan and Rukai were famous to live in stone-slab houses. Yami people were island dwellers so their dwellings were built underground. The style of dwelling of Thao consisted of wicker binding bamboos. The Kuvalan people inhabited with timber, cogon grass, and earth as the construction material. Lastly, the building material that Taroko tribe used for building their houses were hardens woods, snake woods.
References
Austronesian Expansion - Taiwan 4,000 BC' Retrieved from Website: http://www.ualberta.ca/~vmitchel/rev3.html
Taiwan Aboriginals' Retrieved from Website: http://www.tacp.gov.tw/ENGLISH/INTRO/nine/nine.htm
Taiwan Year Book' Retrieved from Website: http://www.gio.gov.tw/taiwan-website/5-gp/yearbook/02PeopleandLanguage.htm
