Timeless Taiwan Aboriginal Art

The site will share you about the culture of aboriginal society in Taiwan. You will more understand what is their philosophy and admire their characteristics .

Taiwan--the Most Possible original home of the Austronesians According to scholastic researches, the Taiwan's aborigines belong to the Austronesian language family, which spreads from Taiwan ( the another old name of Taiwan is Formosan ) in the north and covers an area extending from Madagascar, near Africa in the east, to Easter Island in the west, and as far south as New Zealand (excluding Australia). It is estimated that currently there are about 280,000,000 people who use languages belonging to this languages family. It is the largest language's family in the world.

For these ten years, many experts and scholars here and abroad have discovered that the aborigines in Taiwan play crucial role in the process of extensive migration and distribution of " the Austronesians" , based on long-term studies. It is very probable that Taiwan can be the "origin". Noted Scholars holding this view include archeologist, Mr. Peter Bellwood in National Australia University, linguist Mr. Robert Blust, Ms. Barbara Theil, etc.. Now the Austronesians in Taiwan (what we know as the aborigines) are about 320 thousand in population, which is about 0.107/100 of the 20 billion and 80 million Austronesians worldwide.

Why does Taiwan receive so much attention and is considered the origin of the Austronesians? After linguists did research extensively about lingustatistchronology, they found that Taiwan contains many ancient linguistic elements (in the language of the aborigines in Taiwan, there preserves ancient tongues of the Austronesian language, among which more than 20 kinds of different speech sounds can be recognized). This founding can be found nowhere in the whole world. The Austronesians in Taiwan are the most concentrated and there exist divergent languages (many linguists and historians acknowledge a rule, that is, an origin of a language is in the area where dialects or language are most divergent, in other words, there are many kinds of languages that can be found). Therefore, Taiwan, where the Austronesians have dwelled for thousands of years is highly possible the origin of all Austronesians.

Nowadays Nowadays, according to the current official classification, there are nine aboriginal groups in Taiwan. Their names are Amis, Atayal, Saisiat, Bunun, Paiwan, Rukai, Yami, Tsou and Puyuma. However, researchers believe there are even more groups that could be included in that official classification. In support of this view, scholars have identified at least twenty different ethnic languages. Research shows that besides the nine major groups, there are also many Pingpu groups that are already assimilated or mostly assimilated by the Han Chinese. For recent hundred years, the aboriginal society in Taiwan has been undergoing the impact of the intruding culture that induces the rapid collapse of the tribes and gradual disappearance of their traditional culture.The Austronesians excel in sailing and fishing. Yet besides Yami and Ami here in Taiwan, other aborigines lead a life completely severed from the sea. Experiencing varied conflicts and influences from the Han Chinese and foreign sovereignty, it can be that those people all gave up fishing and began farming, or they just left the shore and went deep into the mountains.

Trible Classroom TIMELESS ART--The graphic statement of the aborigial ancestors' art (drawing by Cheng Chi-lu). A brief photo essay on the context in which the Rukai Harvest Festival is celebrated today. Related Taiwan's aborigial cuture & art web sites: Taiwan indigenous cuture The Aboriginal groups Y2K+1 Walis Wu, Diing-Wuu Solo Show
	Defining "Austronesia" "Austronesia" is made up of two Greek vocabulary roots austro- and nesia. Austro- means South, for instance, Australia (the southern land) -nesia means archipelago (plural), for instance, Micronesia (small island), Polynesia (many islands), Melanesia (land of the black) and Indonesia (India archipelago).