Native Taiwanese

Long before any people from China came to Taiwan, there were native Taiwanese who are thought to have come from Polynesia centuries before the Chinese ever got here.

Once in control of the who island, When the Dutch East India Company came to Taiwan, there was some fighting, but trade was pretty well set up. When the Chinese started coming it was peaceful at first until more and more fighting caused the native Taiwanese to move further into the mountains and to the less desirable east coast.

When the Japanese came to rule Taiwan, things got even worse for the native Taiwanese. Japan wanted the natural resources in the mountains (various stones, rocks, and minerals). Pushed to the brink this started a war between the Japanese and the native Taiwanese. The Japanese won and for many years the native Taiwanese were almost like slaves for the Japanese, but many years later they had a bloody revolt. After this there was a larger war between the Japanese and the native Taiwanese that was especially gruesome. With the natives having superior knowledge of the land, and the japanese using chemical warfare. The japanese eventually used other native Taiwanese tribes to kill those who were revolting.

Actually part of the reason that Taiwan was given to Japan was put into motion by an event years before where a Japanese ship crashed near Taiwan and the native Taiwanese killed many of the Japanese that had been on the ship. The Japanese government then demanded that China provide restitution but they at first declined because they said that they do not govern the native Taiwanese. Fast forward and add some other factors and Taiwan was given to Japan. Extreme over simplification on my part. I will try to revisit this at a later time.

Now a days there are some tribes left, although native Taiwanese make up around 2% of the total population in Taiwan. They mainly live on the east coast, trying their best to keep up tradition. Unfortunately much of their language is dying out. They do have art exhibits and traditional dance shows around the country.

Most Taiwanese's stereotypical view of native Taiwanese are that they are good singers (quite a few of the big singing stars are native Taiwanese), good dancers, and very talented baseball players (the majority of baseball players here are native Taiwanese). To the Taiwanese view of appearance, native Taiwanese are considered unattractive because of their darker skin and fuller bodies.

They are also viewed as stupid. This part is mainly do to the very low social economic situation that most native Taiwanese are in. The schools in their villages are quite low quality. To make up for this the government has a system to award native Taiwanese extra points on the entrance exams for high school and university. Which unfortunately causes them to be despised by their classmates when they enter those schools cause they view them as not having earned it legitimately, as well as putting them in a school which they might not be prepared for. A few extra points on a exam does not magically make the education they had before then any better. But with such a low population, government officials have no incentive to go in an improve the life quality for native Taiwanese.

The picture is of a rock that I came across while hiking. It seems to have carvings that represent language and since it's not chinese, I'm assuming it's a dialect of a native Taiwanese language. It could be something completely different though. But for now in my ignorance, when i saw this i tried to picture the life there, centuries before me. Especially when I go hiking on very old small trails, I try to picture why the particular trail that I'm on was made.

This post also reminds me that if you are interested in seeing a highly entertaining movie about the interaction between the native Taiwanese and the Japanese, you can watch Seediq Bale. I mentioned it before, but now seems to a good time to bring it up again as it just was released on dvd in the states. It's not perfect, and a tad violent, but it also provides a very good window into the culture of the native Taiwanese. I also greatly support the film because it's by far the most expensive film ever made, but the film makers were ok to lose money because they wanted to make a film for their fellow taiwanese to learn more about taiwan and feel proud of taiwan. In a time where 99% of Taiwanese movies are mind numbing stories of young romance, it's nice to see people want to make a movie about something.

[Photo Co-op]

Thanks for the synopsis, it is quite interesting. Unfortunately a common story for natives in many areas of the world. For a people who have thier own written language is advanced and not given thier due.