Indigenous tribes and ethnic groups of Taiwan

Taiwan & its Origins

The Republic of china more commonly known as Taiwan and formerly known as Formosa is an island off the South-East coast of China spread over an area of 36,000 square kilometers. Taiwan is one of the densely populated countries of the world. This land has its own culture and languages which can be traced back in history. Taiwan was governed by China from the 17th century and was ceded to Japan following the Sino-Japanese war in 1895. At the end of the World War II it reverted to China. When the communist under Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-shek fled from mainland China to Taiwan. Just like its rulers people in Taiwan also have a history and they belonged to different groups and tribes.

Population in Taiwan

Total population of Taiwan is estimated to be around 21.3 millions now and there are more than three hundred and fifty thousand people who are indigenous & tribal. Linguistically, they are recognized as sub-groups of Austronesian-speaking family. Therefore, they are also called the Austronesians. There are different theories proposed for the Austronesians' origins. "Some scholars have even proposed a chronology for the arrival of the aboriginal tribes in Taiwan; for example, the Saisiat and Taiya tribes are thought to have arrived in Taiwan during the early ceramic period around. 3,000 B.C., whereas the Paiwan and Beinan tribes probably arrived during the heyday of the Megalithic culture of Southeast Asia" (Taiwan Aboriginals)

Immigrants arriving after 1949

When National Government did relocation of Taiwan in 1949 it brought about 1.2 people from China. As these immigrants came from the different parts of China they brought with them their own culture and tradition hence, they lend a hand in enriching the original culture of Taiwan and spreading the Chinese culture in the land of indigenous people.

Culture of Indigenous Taiwanese

Life style, food, festivals, dresses, religious events, and languages when all of these things unite together, they form a culture. Indigenous Taiwanese possessed their own strong and enticing culture.

Food: Every nation or tribe on planet earth has its unique culture and traditions. The people living in different eras had different lifestyles and so their food and eating behavior differed and set them apart from others. Eating habits of indigenous Taiwanese has been the same among the different groups and tribes of Taiwan. The most popular staple food among all the tribes was Millet. As in recent years the culture of Taiwan has influenced by Chinese, most of the Taiwanese divert towards rice-based diets. Green vegetables such as cabbage, beans, mustard and leeks were the important part of their regular diet followed by other vegetables in which Bok Choy was the most widely eaten vegetable. When the supply of vegetable became insufficient then they relied on edible wild plants. Parts of the wild plants that they consumed included roots, stems, flower and fruits. Especially the Ami tribe is well-known to have wild plants in their diet. Apart from Millet and Rice some other foods were common among different tribes such as Yam, Taro, Cassava, Sweet Potatoes, and Maize etc. The food of Taiwanese also differed according to the land or area where they lived. For example, Fish was the major food for the dwellers of Islands while, Game was an important part of the diet of the mountain dwelling people. Taiwanese had very simple taste for beverages and they most commonly drank water. They sometimes had tea and vegetable soups.

Festivals: Indigenous people of Taiwan celebrate different occasions according to their own culture and custom. They had different religious festivals. They celebrated marriages and funerals according to their own customs. Apart from marriage and funeral they had different forms of occasions that they celebrated for instance; they celebrated harvesting festival, held different ceremonies of adulthood, ceremonies of river. Hence, all of these festivals, occasions and other rituals that indigenous Taiwanese celebrated prove that the Indigenous Taiwanese were full of life and were true cultural people who celebrated all their occasions with enthusiasm and ebullience.

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 as well as different things made from woods. 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.