Sandy Man

Sandimen

三地門

&

Taiwan Aboriginal Culture Park

TACP

Sandimen Township is home to the Taiwanese Aboriginal Culture Park (the southern version of the popular park at Sun and Moon Lake). This park has more of an authentic feel, though it doesn't seem as well run as its northern cousin. The park is hard to get to without your own transport (several train and bus transfers) and it is not a good idea to go during the summer rains like I did. Though it was a good experience overall and a great addition to the Formosan Aboriginal Cultural Village (FACV) I had recently visited.

The TACP is located in the mountains near Sandimen and is like a living museum of Aboriginal culture. There are many houses on display that have been saved from destruction and relocated to the park. The park is hard to get to on public transport. One needs to take a train to Pingtung County first and then take a County bus up to Sandimen. Pingtung is relatively easy to get to from Kaohsiung (though it didn't help that I got on the wrong train and ended up going 1 hour in the wrong direction before I could get off and go back). From Pingtung, I took a County bus to Sandimen, which took another 60 minutes. Many guide books mentioned that there was a bus that went direct to the TACP from Pingtung, but I couldn't find it and the staff at the TACP had no idea about it. So I got dropped off in some small isolated village and had to hike up the mountain in the middle of the monsoon rains to find it.
After 3 hours of mucking around, I only had 2 hours left before the park closed. I found it was enough, but I would have liked longer to watch the performances and eat in the restaurants.

Sandimen Township is a small mountain town located in Pingtung County in the south of Taiwan. It is much like any other small village, but it has a high proportion of Taiwan Aborigines (mostly Paiwan and Rukai). The town streets looked the same as any Han village, except they were adorned with aboriginal art and carvings (likely to be Paiwanese). Even though it was unmistakably a Taiwanese village, I felt like I could be in the South Pacific looking at all the faces on the street. Most of the Taiwanese Aborigines look nothing like their Polynesian cousins, but when it comes to the Paiwan and Rukai, they could easily move south and no-one would know the difference.

The Paiwan and Rukai are two very similar tribal groups. They both dress in a similar way, they both live in stone-slate houses, they both worship Dawu Mountain, and they both claim decent from the 'hundred-pacer snake'. The Paiwan are distinguished from the Rukai by their language and politics. The Paiwan language is mutually unintelligible with the Rukai languages (but then again, the dialects of the Rukai sub-tribes are mutually unintelligible with each other as well). The politics of the Paiwan is based on a strict hierarchical system with Nobles above Commoners (similar to the Samoans and Tongans). In one story the Nobles explain the legitimacy of their position. They explain how they came to find the lands and develop them and then others came later and paid taxes to the Nobles. So it is entirely possible that the Paiwan were an off-shoot of the Rukai. Though now the Paiwan are the larger tribe.

This idea is further strengthened by the fact that the word for 'sub-tribe' is the same in all dialects of Paiwan and Rukai - "She".

What foreign scholars refer to as the 'sub-tribe' is actually the main unit in Austronesian society (Maori call it the hapu). The "She" is a grouping of clans that share a common ancestor, and is the word that is more accurately translated as "tribe". Paiwan and Rukai are more accurately described as tribal confederations (iwi in Maori). The dialects of the "She" are highly divergent and are mutually unintelligible even to neighbours.

The Paiwan are famous for their wood carvings and many of their pillars grace the TACP. Actually, these look similar to the carvings made by Maori in New Zealand.

The Rukai have one custom in common that was mentioned at the TACP. It is the practice of courtship swinging. The man will swing his would-be bride atop a rope swing so he can display his love and affection. It also displays his strength by being able to push this heavy woman ever higher.

The most obvious commonality between the Paiwan and Rukai is the stone-slate houses that they live in. Though this may be an environmental factor considering the Bunun and many of the Tsou tribes also use stone-slate houses.

The houses are made from the abundance of smashed stones in the mountain areas. The tectonic forces that are pushing the Philippine plate under the Eurasian plate also smash rocks. One can find large piles of smashed rocks lying on the side of the road. These make a great building material.

The stone-slate houses are built into the slopes of the mountains. This helps protect the occupants during land slides and typhoons. A whole family will live inside one house where much of the inside is devoted to storing millet and grains. There is a large fire well dug in the centre of the house for cooking.

The TACP needs better labeling. Although each of the tribal groups was correctly labelled, the individual displays were not. This is a problem in areas of similar tribal groups (such as the Paiwan and Rukai) because one cannot distinguish the dividing line. My best guess is that this house is Rukai, though I can't be sure.

The other problem with the TACP is that is seems poorly maintained. Many displays are falling apart and the paths are overgrown with bushes and grass. When I walked into one house, a group of park staff were sitting on the beds laughing away listening to music and drinking. The subsequent displays were littered with rubbish. Not a good look.

The good thing about the TACP is that it is more up-to-date than the FACV (though the TACP still refers to the Tao as "Yami"). The TACP includes displays for the Sakizaya, Kavalan and Truku tribal groups that have been recently recognised. But again it is hard to know who these belonged to as the individual displays were only labelled with the location where they were found, not the tribe they belonged to. Ahem.


The Truku tribe was recently recognised when it was distinguished from the Atayal and Sediq. Previously, all three were considered to be part of one group. Scholars may agree on the separation from Atayal, but they find little to distinguish between the Sediq and Truku. Nevertheless, Truku is now a recognised tribe and they have a National Park named after them.

They are known as skilled hunters and gave the Japanese a run for their money when they tried to encroach. Though I think the wax friezes of a Truku man hunting a bear with a bow-and-arrow are a bit OTT.

I was most interested in seeing the Amis display, because I-missed the display at the FACV due to poor sign directions. The Amis were grouped with the Tao/Yami (why?), so again it was difficult to tell which was which.
As far as I can guess, the Amis lived in the larger dwellings (like the one below) and the Tao live in the smaller dwellings. 

The Amis, Sakizaya and Kavalan are all related tribes and live on the far East coast. Their origin stories all claim decent from an off-shore island; though no-one has been able to determine which island it is. The most interesting thing about the Amis is that they are matriarchical. That is to say that the women hold all the power in society, and the men must ask permission to marry-into a family. Despite that, the men still hold leadership positions for farming and hunting and war. 

Included in the Amis area was the Tao/Yami tribe. The Tao don't actually live on Taiwan Island, but rather they live on Lanyu (a small island off Taiwan's southern coast). The most interesting thing about the Tao is that they wear cone-shaped helmets made from tin to protect them from evil radio waves. Lanyu sits in the Philippine Sea and is hit by frequent typhoons. This may explain why their houses are small. Their houses look more like bivouacs than the larger houses on the mainland.

Despite that, they build large houses to keep their canoes. These large houses look very similar to Maori whare and house canoes used for fishing and travelling short distances. 

The canoes look similar to American Indian canoes, and one has to wonder if there is a connection (Austronesians can sail to Easter Island and Madagascar, why can't they find North America?). The canoes are often used as symbols of the Taiwanese Aborigines, though no other tribe uses them.

Another tribe living on the East coast also came to Taiwan from elsewhere. The small Puyuma Tribe lives on the banks of the Beinan River at the foot of the Beinan Mountain. They are surrounded by the Paiwan, Rukai and Amis. For this reason they constructed the dwellings on bamboo stilts that were twice the height of a man. For this reason, they were the hegemon of the southern area until the Japanese occupation. The Puyuma are not related to any of the other tribes in Taiwan (aside from being Austronesian). They remind me more of the people in Guam and Palu - except they don't have the huge affro'.

One interesting thing about the Puyuma is the Monkey Festival. Puyuma is also matriarchal and so the men must prove their strength and skill by hunting monkeys. Though the wax display in the museum showed Puyuma men spearing a monkey in a cage.

The final display at the TACP was a wax museum that showed different aspects of Aboriginal culture. One interesting thing on display was the Pestle Music. The Aboriginals make percussion music by striking long pestles on a hard surface. This probably developed from their method of husking millet grains by ramming them in a large ceramic bowl with a large pestle. 

Finally, I came to the end of the park in the Naluwan Village. "Naluwan" is an Amis word meaning 'welcome'. This word is used everywhere in Taiwan. Hotels, theatres, and baseball teams are named Naluwan. I doubt many Taiwanese know what it means. One told me it was the name of a tribe.

Anyway, the Naluwan Theatre displayed live performances from Aboriginal dancers. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to see the show as I was on a reduced time frame. The Naluwan Village also had a restaurant, but despite the fact there was at least an hour left before the posted closing time, the kitchen was closed and the staff were sitting around on the clock. I guess some things don't change no matter where in the world you may go.

  
The real highlight of the trip was the walk back down the mountain in the rain. After being told that there were no special buses back to Pingtung, I went looking for the bus station I got dropped off at - only to find it closed. One lone bus drove by a short time later and the driver got out to take a slash. I tried to ask him where he was going and when the next bus to Pingtung may be, but he gave me a long speech in Chinese with a lot of vague pointing. It is safe to say that I understood none of it, but the gist probably was that he was coming back around, because he showed up half an hour later to pick me up. Why not just let me get on board in the first place and save me from waiting in the rain? At least I didn't miss any of the connecting trains back home.

Sandimen really was beyond the Pale, but it was certainly worth the trip. The TACP is more accessible than the FACV (though travellers will probably head to Sun and Moon Lake anyway, where as there is not much else in Pingtung to see). It is a shame that there is not more known about the Aboriginals (considering they have shared a country with the Taiwanese for 400 years). But places like this, although flawed, still give one a view into what their life may have been like in the natural state. 

Sun and Moon Lake

Sun and Moon Lake

Sun and Moon Lake is the most beautiful area in Taiwan. It reminds me of Rotorua and Taupo put together. Well, in fact it is two lakes put together. SML is also strong on Aborigine culture and it is the home of the Thao people.
This was the first time I had travelled in Taiwan outside of the cities and I can confirm that it is beautiful there. The cities seem so derelict and temporary, but the mountains are natural and everlasting.
It is hard to get to the mountains without a car. I took so many different modes of transport to get there and had to over-night in Taichung. I can’t wait for the next 3-day weekend so I can do it again!

Sun and Moon Lake was originally two lakes. Surprisingly, one was shaped like a Sun and the other looked like a Moon. But when the Japanese came, they saw the potential for a hydroelectric power station and they damned the rivers. They also diverted several other rivers into the lake. The result was a significant rise in the water level, and the two lakes merged. The communities living on the shores of the lakes were all swamped; including the homeland of Taiwan’s smallest tribe the Thao (pronounced Shao). The little Lalu Island is now almost completely under water, except for one peak that breaks the surface. The ancestors of the Thao are all buried in the island, so the Thao have built floating gardens around the peak to protect the island from the many tourist boats that encircle it on a daily basis.
There is a new hotel built in honour of the Lalu; not that the Thao people see any of that money.

Sun and Moon Lake was also an important area for forestry and deer hunting, so there are many roads and a railway leading to the area (though not quite to the village – which is inconvenient). To get there and back I needed to take several different modes of transport. I took a train to Taichung and overnighted there. The next day I took a bus to Sun Moon Lake village. On the return journey, I took the same bus back to Taichung. But since it was a long weekend, there were no train tickets, except standing tickets. So, I took the High Speed Rail (HSR) back home. However, there are no stations anywhere near where I live, so I had to take a bus back to the main train line, then once I arrived at my station, I had to take a bus back to my town. It is a real hassle to get anywhere in Taiwan if you don’t have a car.

Sun and Moon Lake looks like a Taiwanese Riviera (even though there is no river or coast). Wharves jut out into the lake from everywhere and they are full of boats and other pleasure craft. The hotels and restaurants that border the lake are all painted in bright colours and they are all lit up at night. As I walked around the shore on the balmy evening, people were busking and singing romantic songs. I sat outside for a refreshing cocktail and watched the boats and people going past.

Transport is cheap and easy in Sun and Moon Lake. There is a circuit bus that takes you around the lake, and other bus services that connect the neighbouring towns and the nearest big city – Taichung. But why would you take a bus when you can take one of many boats across the lake. They are actually quicker to many locations and drop you right in front. Plus nothing beats the view from the water with the breeze in your hair (if you’re lucky enough to have hair), and you can be forgiven for forgetting that you are in a heavily industrialised Asian nation in the middle of the tropics.

I was told to bring warm clothes as the mountains are at least 10 degrees colder than the plains. But when the temperature on the plains is in the high 30s dropping down only ten degrees isn’t exactly freezing. So my warm clothes were surplus. The good news is the weather is bearable here.  You are not left with the tough decision of trying to find a restaurant with aircon or having to shoot yourself. The weather here is just nice, and a great way to spend a tropical afternoon is to sit outside with a cooler and admire the view.

The biggest attraction at Sun and Moon Lake is the Formosan Aborigines Cultural Village (FACV). It is known in Chinese as the 9 Tribes Cultural Village, as a vestige of a time when there were only 9 recognised mountain tribes. This century, 5 more tribes have been recognised by the government, bringing the total to 14. Many others remain unrecognised.

It is an interesting business model where a theme park is combined with an historical village. It contains such Aboriginal treasures as ‘Caribbean Splash’, ‘Mayan Adventure’ and ‘Aladdin’s Cave’. There is even a model European garden on the grounds. But if these things provide the money for the aboriginal village, then it is worth it.

The main thing I was interested in was seeing all the recreated buildings and wax works depicting the native people. There is an interesting continuum from south to north of how the buildings are constructed. The buildings in the typhoon ravaged south owned by Paiwan and Bunun are made from stone, but the further up-country more wood is used, until at the farthest north, the buildings are entirely made from wood in Atayal areas with significant living areas below ground made from stone. The north is still hit by storms and floods and I wondered why people would want to live in dug-outs. But this area also gets a lot of earthquakes, so perhaps there is some benefit.

The most disappointing thing about the village is the lack of the new tribes, especially the Thao. The Thao were recognised in 2001 and their homeland is Sun Moon Lake, so I thought there would be a key exhibit for them. Instead they are grouped in the ‘Tsou/Thao’ section, and it is not clear which exhibits relate to the Thao and which to the Tsou (they are not related to the Tsou, by the way). The Sediq are grouped in a similar way with the Atayal. The Truku, Sakizaya and Kavalan have no exhibit at all. The most recent recognised tribe was registered in 2008, more than enough time to build exhibits.
The largest tribe in Taiwan, the Amis, has a large exhibit, but it is off the main trail. I didn’t realise I had missed it until I got to the bottom of the valley, by which time it was too late to go back up.

The main method of transport at the FACV is the Ropeway – which is a kind of cable car that is hoisted over the hills and valleys. It is made by an Austrian company that produces ropeways for the Alps. The Taiwanese are so proud of showing off their European technology, I thought they would have been prouder if they made their own – though I certainly feel safer with the Austrians in the design room.
The Ropeway is very good and fast with spectacular views of the Lake. But it only runs in good weather and stops an hour before the park closes. So what do people do when it is not running? Climb the mountain and leap the valleys?

The other main attraction at Sun and Moon Lake is the Xuanzang Temple.  Xuanzang was the seventh century Chinese monk that walked to India and brought back the scrolls of Buddhism. He wasn’t the first to bring Buddhism to China, but he did make the best translations (having spent most of his life in India).
So the legend goes, his remains were buried in China, but the KMT exhumed and stole his remains and brought them to Taiwan. Supposedly they are hidden somewhere in this temple. Still it’s a pretty amazing feet (haha  . … get it?) for him to walk all those places in India and back.  

The temple itself feels like it is covered in snow, what with all the white-washed buildings and white aggregate on the ground. If it had been a few degrees colder, it may have seemed like a winter wonderland. Maybe It should come back at winter and check it out.

To get to the temple, one needs to climb a moderate hill. The main tourist route follows the winding main road around the mountain. With no tree cover or natural shadows, walking on the baking asphalt is a nightmare in summer. Ironically, there is a hiking trail that takes less than half the time and is completely covered by bush. Do Chinese really have such an aversion to hiking that they would rather walk on the road (which has no footpaths) in that heat and take much longer?
Moreover, the walk was quite interesting with all those sculptures and art zones dedicated to Buddhist motifs.

During the walk to the top, I met some random Turkish family arguing with their children. They were trying to take a photo of the spectacular view, but the kids wouldn’t stand still. They asked me to take photo while they held the kids, but to no avail. Still, they kindly offered to photograph me .
I’m not sure which looks better, me or the Lake.
You can see Lalu island in the mid-ground.

When I returned to the village I sat down for a traditional Aboriginal meal in Thao style. There is quite a burgeoning industry at Sun Moon Lake for Aboriginal food – but I don’t know how authentic it is. Just like in Maaori cuisine, there is a lot of pork and fish. This particular restaurant served the meal in little bamboo bowls on top of a Betel nut tree leaf. The centre-piece was a Thao man sculpted out of wood holding a plate full of Mountain Boar; and the drinking mug looked like a shrunken head. Quite cool. There was even a shot of the famous millet wine, which didn’t didn’t make me feel woozy like Baijiu does.

One last note about my hotel: It was a boutique, like the one I stayed at in Kenting. These boutique hotels seem to pop up in tourist towns where the big business hotels won’t compete with the international resort hotels. These kinds of hotels are small and quaint, with even a hint of romanticism. There is a strong focus on aesthetics and personal service – which were both very good.

But they often miss simple things that bigger more established players would do as a matter of course. The aircon was positioned badly and didn’t cover the whole room. So when I turned it off to go sleepy-byes, all that hot air that had been hiding in a corner crept back over towards me and slow-roasted me over night, so I couldn’t sleep. Plus, there was no drapes on the main window (despite there being drapes on every other window), so I got woken up at the crack of dawn and had to listen to babies and roosters screaming all morning. So much for getting some rest over the long weekend.
The room had a TV, but it was a 14” and it was so far from the bed that I had to strain to watch it. Babylon 5 was premiering in Taiwan TV that night – didn’t that come out like 15 years ago?

The strangest thing about these boutique hotels is that they give you towels to dry your body that are smaller than the hand towels to dry your hands. What am I supposed to do with that? Maybe if I was descended from a tiny Fujianese it would be ok, but I was a normal white guy. I already fell like a giant in this country, now I have to dry myself with a loin cloth? I was seriously considering using the floor mat until I realised they probably don’t wash it as often.
I guess they do that because they are a small hotel and don’t have a laundry room. There are no Laundromats in these small towns, so they have to launder and turnover hundreds of towels per day in a normal household washer. Remind me next time to take my own towel.

                          

Well, this Blog post is up over 2000 words, which is hard to believe since I didn’t do much! I only really went to the FACV and the Xuanzang Temple, and spent the rest of the time relaxing by the Lake.
It really was a good trip to Sun and Moon Lake, one I hope to do again when the weather is cooler.
Sun and Moon Lake is one of the few beautiful and pure places in Taiwan (even though essentially it was man-made). I recommend you all to visit there.

ROC 100年

Taiwan island is the last vestige of the Republic of China founded in 1911.
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Republic of China, and I decided to spend my time teaching in Taiwan.


I am teaching in a 国小 in Tainan County, grades K-6 
The kids are so diligent and so cute!
I am the only foreigner in my small town, and most of the Taiwanese country-folk really make me feel welcome.


Taiwan is part of the Sino-sphere, but also has a distinct culture than mainland China.
There are four distinct cultures on Taiwan island: Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, and the Aborigines (the Aborigines themselves are divided into 14 recognised tribes, and many more fighting for recognition).
My overall impression of Taiwan is that it is a Chinese version of Japan. The geography is similar to Japan (with high mountains and little flat land, it is also prone to earthquakes), and the Japanese culture has had a significant impact on Taiwan. But walking around the streets and talking to the people one can tell that Taiwan is unmistakably Chinese.


Taiwan has had only a short 400 years of recorded history (compared to the 1000s of years of Chinese history), but in that time there have been so many significant changes.
From early European influence (most significantly the Dutch), to the influence of the Min people of south Fujian Province, to the controlling influence of the Manchu people under the Qing Dynasty, and most significantly - the Japanese - who invaded and then developed Taiwan into a 'model Japanese colony'. In the 20th century the Japanese were made to leave and they were replaced by a huge influx of Mainland Chinese who turned Taiwan into one of the Asian Tigers. 
Taiwan is undergoing a cultural and artistic renaissance in the 21st century as it embraces its unique culture and "Taiwaneseness"
I hope to learn all I can about this small but significant island.