【Press release from Ministry of Education】
Circling Taiwan - Image Record of Aboriginal Culture
Pave a Warm-hearted Journey
Release date:September 3rd , 2019
Issued by: Youth Development Administration
Coordinator: Chun-Fan, Wu
Telephone/Mobile phone:0988-225304/02-77365583
E-mail:chunfanwu@mail.yda.gov.tw
Contact person for the press: Section director, Rong-Mang Ma
Telephone/Mobile phone:02-7736-5579/0912-830696
Youth Development Administration of Ministry of Education promoted "Touching Taiwan Youth Travel Program" Program to encourage young people to make their own creative grand tour proposals, broaden their horizons, cultivate independence and teamwork skills, meanwhile, explore around Taiwan and experience the beauty of Taiwan. In 2019, there are 111 groups of young participants made proposals, and more than 400 young people stepped outdoors in summer and found the beauty of their hometown.
The 2019 selected team, “Circling Taiwan” consists of two Bunun tribal brothers from Shuang-Long tribe, Nantou County, Wei-Yi, Quan, Wei-Qi, Quan , and designer, Hui-Ru, Zhang. They visited the tribes and made good use of their photographing professions; they took pictures and kept records of the beautiful secret trails, daily life of the aborigines, featuring ritual activities, and the legendary taboos. They hoped to impact on tourists’ thoughts and attitude towards these multicultural tribes with respect and an in depth tour.
Starting from their hometown in Shuang-Long tribe, the team visited Dharma Luan tribe in Xinyi Township, Nantou County and the Luona tribe, which has the most populations of Bunun tribe and is the largest tribe among aboriginal tribes in Taiwan, then to WangHsiang tribe. Furthermore, they kept records of Mala-Hodaigian, a Bunun tribal Ear Shooting Ceremony and all the details about Bunun history and natural sceneries.
In the impression of the majority, the local tribes seem to be far away from the lives of others. However, when visiting the waterfalls of the Shuang-Long tribe, they met the Israeli youths who came to Taiwan for an island tour. The team took tea for wine and had a conversation with the Israeli about their impression of Taiwan.
When the team arrived at WangHsiang tribe, they immediately noticed that their plans for tribal tours and road remediation are well-managed. For example, there are hand-painted guides at the intersections of the tribes, and there are also noticeable road signs on the roads to guide directions. Moreover, they walked around the tribe and saw each family has their own family stone murals for their family stories, which combines the meaning of environmental landscaping and history preservation. Cycling Taiwan was deeply impressed by what they have accomplished.
The experience of visiting the tribes and talking to the people in the tribe gave Cycling Taiwan different perspectives on the relationship between people, nature, tourism and tribes. When tourism brings positive benefits to the tribe; how do we also protect the traditional culture from becoming a plain scenic spot for tourists? The team has a goal to lead people to some secret spots that would move people, motivate people to actively do more research on tribal cultures, and experience your own version of “Cycling Taiwan Tour” on foot and respect to the land.
Exploring a tour with care and love isn’t only an activity for the youth to challenge themselves or to fulfill their dreams. With all kinds of creative proposals from various teams, there are more possibilities to encourage public attention to social issues. Are you curious about other tribal features and cultures? Follow Cycling Taiwan fan page on Facebook for more tribal stories and tours! (https://www.facebook.com/circlingTaiwan/)
For more stories of the adventures, please visit the "Youth Travel Fan Page - Exploring Love Map” Program. (https://www.facebook.com/events/370962866813157/). You’ll find more interesting and fun proposals here!