The question "what is your surname" may just be the most difficult one to answer for some Aborigines.
"What is your surname, sir?" a staff member at a small cafe in Tamsui asked.
"I don't have a surname," Mayaw Biho answered.
This situation occurs almost every day, Mayaw explained in an interview.
Mayaw, who is a member of the Pangcah (Amis) tribe in eastern Taiwan, is an advocate of a movement to restore tribal names.
He has also directed several documentary films on Aboriginal cultures.
"Surname" as found among the ethnic Han does not exist among some of the country's Aboriginal groups. Some tribes have other naming systems, Mayaw said.
For the Pangcah, a given name is proceeded by the name of an elder member of the family, Mayaw explained.
"For example, Mayaw is my name and Biho is the name of my great grandfather," he said.
For the Tao of Lanyu, a name changes several times during one's life.
A man named Mipanpan Si Mipanpan, and beomes Siaman Dzawal when his first son Dzawal is born, according to a booklet published by Mayaw's documentary team.
However, traditional Aboriginal naming systems were threatened when a law passed in 1946 required all Aborigines to adopt Chinese names.
The ban was finally lifted in 1995 after a long struggle led by civil rights activists.
However, in the last count at the end of last year, only 6,000 of the nation's 460,000 Aborigines had reverted back to their tribal names, Mayaw said.
"Most fear derision and discrimination from mainstream society," he explained.
The situation of an elementary school teacher illustrates the discrimination that is still prevalent in society.
After the teacher changed back to his tribal name, the school's principal began receiving requests from parents to transfer their children out of the teacher's class, "because the parents were worried abut the teaching quality of an Aboriginal teacher," Mayaw said.
Despite the fact that the use of tribal names is allowed, Mayaw says the government is not ready.
"The household registration forms only allow 15 characters," he said.
Many Aboriginal names require more than 15 characters if phonetically translated into Chinese.
Current law requires a phonetic translation in Chinese to accompany Romanized tribal names.
Another obstacle comes from within Aboriginal villages. The older generation tends to be less willing to challenge imposed social norms, Mayaw said.
Restoring tribal names also means rejecting the identity people have had their whole lives, he said.
However, the name restoration movement still sees hope.
About 100 Aboriginal children have not been given Chinese names at all, Mayaw said.
"The Council of Indigenous Peoples seems to be doing something now," Mayaw said, referring to the fact that the council is now holding more meetings with Aboriginal leaders.
"I hope that, maybe in 10 years, Aboriginal names can be written on official documents without Chinese characters," Mayaw said.
Also see Editorial:
Editorial: What's in an Aboriginal name?
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS