Esouth has a series of posts on the Thao indigenous people in Taiwan. There are 500 people left in Taiwan, less than 50 families. Because of the development of tourism, their distinctive culture is vanishing (zh). Here is a chronology of development projects since 1932 that ruined their living space (zh).
Written byOiwan Lam
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Dear Oiwan Lam: seems an interesting piece, any links between “Thao” and “Taiwan”? where can read more about indigenous peoples of Taiwan? tq
hi, tq, many indigenous tribes in Taiwan are associated with Southeast Asia, such as the Philippines. After the Han people arrived in the island, many were forced to the hills or outer islands. there are hundreds of indigenous tribes in Taiwan, and many research papers in the area of indigenous studies about their histories, origin, etc. maybe you can try google scholar for english materials.
When I traveled to Taiwan, I feel very bad when the indigenous people voluntarily selling himself as tourism commodity. I feel it is completely disgusting and refuse to buy anything from those so-call indigenous people shop. They just work like something in rural area in Hongkong — only want development and even wasteland in their original farmland.
Hi McDonald,
Your words are unfair to the indigenous people in Taiwan. Most of them leave their farmland because they lost their lands and they cannot get much from their lands due to the agriculture economic problems all over the world.
Actually, your words are unfair to many indigenous people all over the world.