Exhibition on the Yami, an aboriginal group from Taiwan

KuKulzA28 · 13th January 2010, 03:48 PM

That's awesome yuanzhumin

... I wish I could go.

Afterall I have an a'gong, a'ma, and other family members in the Taipei area (though most are from Chi-aYi further south). It's too bad I cannot. If anyone has the opportunity, don't miss out! the Danshui area is nice and you can also shop at it's nightmarkets and at Shih-Ling.

The Yami are a very interesting group. They're related to the other yuanzhumin, but they are an oceanic group. They don't headhunt, drink, and aren't landlocked. All the other aborigines stayed on land. I've heard the Yami once had a war with coastal peoples in the northern part of Luzon. Their warfare, compared to the other aborigines, is unique... and does in some ways resemble pacific islanders'.

From an ethnographic weapon standpoint..... The last Atayal laraw makers can be found near Wulai, south of Taipei. The last traditional pocket knife maker can be found in Taipei in the Shih-Ling area. There's excellent kai-shan-dao being made in the northern Taiwan area. The last traditional swordmaker (same guy who make the sword for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is in Gowshiong. The last unsecret bladesmith of the aborigines is in Tong-men, Hualien (there's other privately commissioned smiths for the other tribes). There's somewhere where rattan shields are still made I hear.

yuanzhumin · 14th January 2010, 02:55 AM

You'll have the time to go, Kukulza ! The exhibition will remain open for nearly one year. I guess you'll find the opportunity to come back before October, when it's ending. By the way, I recommand a nice aborigine restaurant just 5 mn away from the Shisanhang Museum where to stop for a lunch/dinner with friends, with live Taiwan aboriginal music. There, you can enjoy a saute of betel flower, glutinous millet wrapped into wild vegetable leaves, BBqed wild mountain pigs or flying squirrels, and many other great dishes. Don't forget the delicious but sometimes dangerous xiao mi jiu (millet alcohol) !
Talking about drinking, Kukulza, you're right to underline the big differences between the Yami and the other Taiwan aborigines group. The Yami didn't drink alcohol when, on the other hand, this tradition is very strong among the Taiwan island aborigines that are used to drink xiao mi jiu (millet alcohol), with a strong religious dimension. To the Taiwan island aborigines, drinking alcohol is closely associated with worshiping the spirits, the ancestors and headhunting. Even today, many Taiwan aborigines put their fingers into their glass of alcohol before drinking it, and then snap it into the air to share the few falling drops with the spirit of the ancestors. Headhunting, as you mentioned, is also something that the Yami didn't do.
If Orchid Island, better known formerly under the name of Botel Tobago, is today territorially dependent from Taiwan, it is in fact ethnically closer to the Philippines. The Yami are close relatives of the people living on the other side of the Bashi Channel, on the northern littoral of Luzon, Northern Philippines, and most probably came from there few hundred years ago. But anyway, all of them were coming from Taiwan when they first arrived in the Philippines, few thousand years ago.
Inez de Beauclair, a French German ethnologist that lived among the Yami in the 40s, wrote a very interesting paper on their fighting weapons and traditions. By the way, I lost the link to her article online, and it would really be great if someone could communicate it to me. It would be also worthwhile to make it permanent in the links list of the this forum. Just a suggestion !

KuKulzA28 · 14th January 2010, 03:21 AM

Damn... I am going to try, but my finances aren't the best... we'll see!

I remember eating shan-joo-zhou (mountain pig)... and with Millet wine it's... it's heavenly...

I loved their food so much (and was so determined to learn more about the aborigines and also get a laraw) that all my relatives started calling me yuanzhumin! Hehe, but I have a lot of female ancestors that were yuanzhumin (pingpu) back when my Fujian ancestors were settling in the Chia-Yi area - so I guess that statement is not out of place! Just as the old saying goes... there is a gandpa from the mainland but no grandma from the mainland.

As you can see with my post on my laraw , it was no simple task to get one.

I might have read the paper you are talking about... I'll see if I can find it. If not, I know I have some resources about the Yami I can post up!

yuanzhumin · 14th February 2010, 10:49 AM

'there is a gandpa from the mainland but no grandma from the mainland'.

-Yes, Kukulza, the first one of your Han or Hakka ancestors coming from mainland China was probably a male, for the good reason that the Qing emperor had forbidden for a long time the immigration of women or whole families (but don't forget that the first ones coming also from Mainland to taiwan where the Austronesian themselves !) In Taiwan, these first male Han or hakka migrants got married to women from the Pingpu aborigines (Pingpu meaning plains, by opposition to the mountains austronesians), ethnic groups that have been living there for thousand of years, may be ten thousands of years. There were at that time, 3 centuries ago, many plains austronesian tribes that have mostly disappeared today after being sinicised. The good reason for their sinicisation is that the first Han or hakka males imposed their Confucean/chinese/male dominant culture to their newly wed austronesian wives, and it went on like this through the family tree till today. These austronesian roots have often been forgotten in the mind of most of the Taiwanese today and most of them disregard the austronesian/aborigines/original inhabitants people of the island. But if the memory has failed, the blood is speaking for the Taiwanese : today, 80% of the island population whose family was in the island before 1949 (arrival year of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek and his armies) have austronesian blood at a diverse degree. Ah, one important thing that helped a lot in the integration of these first Han/Hakka males in their new land is that, when they arrived a couple of centuries ago, the already there Pingpu tribes had a mostly matriarchal family structure. So when they married a woman from this tribes, they inherited the power and the land, and that's a reason why this integration was quite easy for them. The story was completely different with the mountains aborigines that mostly refused the assimilation and whose territorties in the 2/3 central part of the island was still vastly unexplored at the end of the 19th century.
-So Kukulza, what about this paper on the fighting weapons of the Yami, did you find it ? If you do, don't forget to post it wholly on the forum as the link could disappear once more. I wish you, Kukulza, a Happy Chinese new year fron Taichung, taiwan, where I am for few more days.
Ah one more

KuKulzA28 · 15th February 2010, 01:00 AM

Good points! I never realized the matrilineal structure being helpful to the Chinese sinicizing the ping-pu... very interesting. It's almost pitiful that earlier historians theorized or claimed that plains aborigines were driven from the plains into the mountains to become today's tribal groups. Even my own father, a staunch democratic party supporter and one who wishes for Taiwanese rights and self-determination... even he was misled by that education. I'm glad that historians are beginning to do Yuan Zhu Min peoples justice and that society is starting to recognize them. Sadly a lot of stereotypes and racism still exist against them.

Thanks for the happy new years wish - I even made a resolution.
Enjoy Taiwan yuanzhumin, it's a beautiful island - wish I could be there right now.

13th January 2010, 03:48 PM	#1
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	That's awesome yuanzhumin ... I wish I could go. Afterall I have an a'gong, a'ma, and other family members in the Taipei area (though most are from Chi-aYi further south). It's too bad I cannot. If anyone has the opportunity, don't miss out! the Danshui area is nice and you can also shop at it's nightmarkets and at Shih-Ling. The Yami are a very interesting group. They're related to the other yuanzhumin, but they are an oceanic group. They don't headhunt, drink, and aren't landlocked. All the other aborigines stayed on land. I've heard the Yami once had a war with coastal peoples in the northern part of Luzon. Their warfare, compared to the other aborigines, is unique... and does in some ways resemble pacific islanders'. From an ethnographic weapon standpoint..... The last Atayal laraw makers can be found near Wulai, south of Taipei. The last traditional pocket knife maker can be found in Taipei in the Shih-Ling area. There's excellent kai-shan-dao being made in the northern Taiwan area. The last traditional swordmaker (same guy who make the sword for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) is in Gowshiong. The last unsecret bladesmith of the aborigines is in Tong-men, Hualien (there's other privately commissioned smiths for the other tribes). There's somewhere where rattan shields are still made I hear. Last edited by KuKulzA28; 13th January 2010 at 04:01 PM.

14th January 2010, 02:55 AM	#2
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	the Yami of Botel Tobago/Orchid Island You'll have the time to go, Kukulza ! The exhibition will remain open for nearly one year. I guess you'll find the opportunity to come back before October, when it's ending. By the way, I recommand a nice aborigine restaurant just 5 mn away from the Shisanhang Museum where to stop for a lunch/dinner with friends, with live Taiwan aboriginal music. There, you can enjoy a saute of betel flower, glutinous millet wrapped into wild vegetable leaves, BBqed wild mountain pigs or flying squirrels, and many other great dishes. Don't forget the delicious but sometimes dangerous xiao mi jiu (millet alcohol) ! Talking about drinking, Kukulza, you're right to underline the big differences between the Yami and the other Taiwan aborigines group. The Yami didn't drink alcohol when, on the other hand, this tradition is very strong among the Taiwan island aborigines that are used to drink xiao mi jiu (millet alcohol), with a strong religious dimension. To the Taiwan island aborigines, drinking alcohol is closely associated with worshiping the spirits, the ancestors and headhunting. Even today, many Taiwan aborigines put their fingers into their glass of alcohol before drinking it, and then snap it into the air to share the few falling drops with the spirit of the ancestors. Headhunting, as you mentioned, is also something that the Yami didn't do. If Orchid Island, better known formerly under the name of Botel Tobago, is today territorially dependent from Taiwan, it is in fact ethnically closer to the Philippines. The Yami are close relatives of the people living on the other side of the Bashi Channel, on the northern littoral of Luzon, Northern Philippines, and most probably came from there few hundred years ago. But anyway, all of them were coming from Taiwan when they first arrived in the Philippines, few thousand years ago. Inez de Beauclair, a French German ethnologist that lived among the Yami in the 40s, wrote a very interesting paper on their fighting weapons and traditions. By the way, I lost the link to her article online, and it would really be great if someone could communicate it to me. It would be also worthwhile to make it permanent in the links list of the this forum. Just a suggestion !

14th January 2010, 03:21 AM	#3
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	Damn... I am going to try, but my finances aren't the best... we'll see! I remember eating shan-joo-zhou (mountain pig)... and with Millet wine it's... it's heavenly... I loved their food so much (and was so determined to learn more about the aborigines and also get a laraw) that all my relatives started calling me yuanzhumin! Hehe, but I have a lot of female ancestors that were yuanzhumin (pingpu) back when my Fujian ancestors were settling in the Chia-Yi area - so I guess that statement is not out of place! Just as the old saying goes... there is a gandpa from the mainland but no grandma from the mainland. As you can see with my post on my laraw , it was no simple task to get one. I might have read the paper you are talking about... I'll see if I can find it. If not, I know I have some resources about the Yami I can post up! Last edited by KuKulzA28; 14th January 2010 at 06:22 AM.

14th February 2010, 10:49 AM	#4
yuanzhumin Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Ex-Taipei, Taiwan, now in Shanghai, China Posts: 180	'there is a gandpa from the mainland but no grandma from the mainland'. -Yes, Kukulza, the first one of your Han or Hakka ancestors coming from mainland China was probably a male, for the good reason that the Qing emperor had forbidden for a long time the immigration of women or whole families (but don't forget that the first ones coming also from Mainland to taiwan where the Austronesian themselves !) In Taiwan, these first male Han or hakka migrants got married to women from the Pingpu aborigines (Pingpu meaning plains, by opposition to the mountains austronesians), ethnic groups that have been living there for thousand of years, may be ten thousands of years. There were at that time, 3 centuries ago, many plains austronesian tribes that have mostly disappeared today after being sinicised. The good reason for their sinicisation is that the first Han or hakka males imposed their Confucean/chinese/male dominant culture to their newly wed austronesian wives, and it went on like this through the family tree till today. These austronesian roots have often been forgotten in the mind of most of the Taiwanese today and most of them disregard the austronesian/aborigines/original inhabitants people of the island. But if the memory has failed, the blood is speaking for the Taiwanese : today, 80% of the island population whose family was in the island before 1949 (arrival year of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek and his armies) have austronesian blood at a diverse degree. Ah, one important thing that helped a lot in the integration of these first Han/Hakka males in their new land is that, when they arrived a couple of centuries ago, the already there Pingpu tribes had a mostly matriarchal family structure. So when they married a woman from this tribes, they inherited the power and the land, and that's a reason why this integration was quite easy for them. The story was completely different with the mountains aborigines that mostly refused the assimilation and whose territorties in the 2/3 central part of the island was still vastly unexplored at the end of the 19th century. -So Kukulza, what about this paper on the fighting weapons of the Yami, did you find it ? If you do, don't forget to post it wholly on the forum as the link could disappear once more. I wish you, Kukulza, a Happy Chinese new year fron Taichung, taiwan, where I am for few more days. Ah one more

15th February 2010, 01:00 AM	#5
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	Good points! I never realized the matrilineal structure being helpful to the Chinese sinicizing the ping-pu... very interesting. It's almost pitiful that earlier historians theorized or claimed that plains aborigines were driven from the plains into the mountains to become today's tribal groups. Even my own father, a staunch democratic party supporter and one who wishes for Taiwanese rights and self-determination... even he was misled by that education. I'm glad that historians are beginning to do Yuan Zhu Min peoples justice and that society is starting to recognize them. Sadly a lot of stereotypes and racism still exist against them. Thanks for the happy new years wish - I even made a resolution. Enjoy Taiwan yuanzhumin, it's a beautiful island - wish I could be there right now.