Taiwan Indigenous News
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
Political whisk: Angry Taiwan aboriginals throw eggs
"It's about our land, and the Council of Indigenous Peoples doesn't support us." The protesters, organised largely by aboriginal legislators, ...
Tea, aboriginal beads, cakes win contest for Taiwan's best products
Handcrafted with clay, they were used as a symbol of nobility and power in the aboriginal tribe. Now they have become one of the must-buy tour souvenirs in ...
Indigenous people call for minister to resign
6 (CNA) Over 300 members of the indigenous people's alliance for safeguarding the Aboriginal Basic Law staged a protest Tuesday in front of the Council of ...
Protesters slam interference in media affairs
PTS, Hakka Television Service and Taiwan Indigenous Television Service (TITV) are all affiliates of TBS, which is funded mainly by the government. ...
Today, the Atayal are distributed over a wide area of Taiwan, but their traditional territory lies in the Central Mountain Range north of Nantou County’s Jenai Township and Hualien County’s Wanjung Township, covering much of the Hsueh Mountain Range between 500 and 2,500m above sea level. This makes for roughly one third of the island’s total mountain area.
There is no universally accepted theory about the origins of the Atayal, but it is generally believed that their wide distribution is an indicator of a turbulent early settlement history. Researcher Lin Chao-chi thinks that some 6,000 years ago, the first Atayal settlers arrived on the Western plains, from where they migrated into the Western hills and mountains. The Atayal are divided into numerous groups and clans with often very marked cultural differences, but all of them shared one important cultural feature: the traditional custom of facial tattooing. This was closely linked with tribe’s religious, political and communal life, and the art itself is still preserved, although the tribal members who actually have facial tattoos are all very old now.
The Atayal see themselves as the protectors of Taiwan’s central and northern mountain ranges, and they are by nature a fierce, independent people with a strong martial tradition. Historically, they were known for their proud, unyielding spirit, which explains why the Japanese colonial rulers classified them as “the worst of all the fierce savages”. Today, the Atayal remain in their ancestral territories, and they continue to live in relative harmony with their natural environment, contributing to the protection and preservation of the Taiwan’s mountainous resources.
