But Taiwan’s Aborigines could benefit

Rowan Callick
Taiwan’s politics is in the grip of a rather bitter feud over identity. But deeper in history, the island had but a single identity: as the Austronesian home of many or most of the people who migrated south-east to populate the Pacific islands.

In today’s Taiwan, the “pan-blues”—led by the Kuomintang or Nationalists—view themselves mainly as Chinese, the “pan-greens”—led by President Chen Shui-bian’s Democratic Progressive Party—as Taiwanese.

The split concerns whether people view themselves as belonging chiefly to Taiwan, because their families were established here before Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek retreated to the island in 1949 after losing the civil war to the communists—or whether they see themselves principally as Chinese linked by ancestry or birth to mainland China.

But standing to the side of this debate are the original Taiwanese, known usually as Aborigines, about two percent of the population.

The 12 original tribes of Taiwan are Austronesian by language and culture, as are the great majority of the people who settled the Pacific islands. And since most historians now believe the Pacific was settled from East Asia, the island of Taiwan seems to have been one of the principal places—if not the principal place of origin.

Work on DNA is backing this thesis up with 60 percent of Maori DNA in common with Taiwanese Aboriginal DNA.

Han Chinese people did not begin migrating to Taiwan until after a Dutch settlement in the south east of the island from 1624-62 was removed by the Ming Dynasty pirate-turned- admiral, Zheng Cheng-gong.

Until then, the Aborigines lived on the sub-tropical island in a manner remarkably similar to that of many rural Pacific islanders today.

The contemporary identity conflict has naturally led leaders of the 460,000 people who call themselves Aborigines—and who use Aboriginal names—completely different from those of the ethnic Chinese majority among the 23 million population—to affirm more strongly their own identity and to claim extended land ownership.

Aboriginal descent is usually most importantly traced through the mother—most of the cultures are matrilineal.

The chairman of the Council of Aboriginal Affairs, a government-funded body, is Walis Pelin, a tall substantial figure, a leader of the Atayal tribe, who would look at home amidst a group of aristocratic Tongans.

The tribes have different origin myths, he says. But archaeological evidence points to their emergence in Taiwan 6-10,000 years ago.

Many of the 17th century Chinese settlers were soldiers, says Pelin. Most of them were men. So they widely sought wives among the Aborigines.

The Aboriginal word for grasping a neighbour’s hand, kanchu, was mistakenly adopted into Taiwanese as the word for wife because those seeking a wife would shake hands on the “deal” and then ask the correct word. The Aborigine would give the word for the action—shaking hands—while the Chinese would assume it was describing the wife.

The Aborigines thus mixed with Chinese people and used Mandarin. They retained their cultures, says Pelin. “They didn’t always want to reveal their identity.”

They fought at first to keep their land, he says, but then reached a compromise, realising they could not compete with these new arrivals for the flat, coastal land and retreated into the mountain chain that stretches down the east of Taiwan.

When Japan took control of Taiwan, following its naval defeat of China in 1896, the Aborigines renewed their fighting–against the Japanese.

“But in a very short time, they were beaten,” says Pelin, whose own tribe lost some 60,000 people fighting Japan in the early years of the 20th century.

The smallest surviving tribe is the Saozu, whose ancestral lands are close to the Sun-Moon Lake, one of the most beautiful areas of the country. They only number about 500  and their language has almost disappeared, only known by the elderly.

But an educational programme to restore the language is under way.

Pelin says all the Aboriginal languages are still spoken in family homes in the more remote mountain areas, but that in the cities and the main centres, most children learn only Mandarin. He and his wife speak Atayal, but their children cannot.

The council has decided that only those Aborigines who can speak their own languages will be eligible for special scholarships to colleges and universities. And in primary and high schools, it will become compulsory for indigenous children to learn their languages. The council is busy training the teachers needed for this ambitious programme.

About 36 percent of Aborigines now live in cities, the rest on their traditional land, mostly in the mountains. But the 36 percent return often, says Pelin, for festivals and family events.

The Aborigines on their own land virtually all have access today to electricity and running water, and either grow crops or raise stock on their land. Some also work in the tourism industry.

Many still chew betel nut, as do many Melanesians and taro is a staple food—as is sweet potato, whose shape they say resembles that of Taiwan island itself. Traditional tattooing is having a come-back.

The difference between Han Chinese and Aboriginal homes is chiefly openness, says Pelin. “All doors are open to everyone, especially others in the family. In the city, you might not even know your neighbour.”

Pelin has travelled to several islands countries and says he always finds the numbers one to ten are almost the same as in his own language, as are the words for the organs of the body.

“If one person in the family becomes rich, they’ll look after everyone else, and it’s the same in Fiji, say, or Solomon Islands.”

In the past, he says, Han people looked down on Aborigines, using terms like “barbarian.” But those days have mostly finished, he says. “Most problems are now caused by misunderstandings.”

The legislation affecting Aborigines is being revised with about 15 new laws or amendments scheduled to enter parliament next year—covering a wide range of issues including, for instance, gun laws. Pelin says that hunting is central to most Aboriginal cultures and banning gun ownership has caused much angst in the tribes.

Regaining access to bigger areas of traditional land is another major issue, as in New Zealand and Australia.
Pelin says: “We don’t feel the same kind of identity in relation to Taiwan as other people here do. It doesn’t touch us as deeply as our tribal land does. But President Chen Shui-bian has said we should be allowed a form of autonomy, a country within a country—and to that extent, we are benefiting from this debate in Taiwan about identity."