Aborigines should revive the art of making sailboats to recover their connection with Austronesian people worldwide, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kolas Yotaka and Aboriginal culture advocates said yesterday.
At a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, Kolas said when she visited Maori in New Zealand and told them she came from Taiwan, they often responded: “That is where our ancestors came from.”
“In our school textbooks we were always told to look to China, but we have never looked to the east and the Pacific Ocean,” she said.
Photo: Peng Wan-hsin, Taipei Times
Council For Farangaw Autonomy chairman Raranges Hoki Na Tungaw (羅福慶) said his organization has been trying to revive the Aboriginal art of making sailboats, what the Amis call fayan.
A fayan is a boat made of bamboo poles and a triangular or rectangular sail, he said.
His elders used to cross the “black tides” between Taiwan and Green Island (綠島) on this type of boat, he said.
Raranges said the council successfully reproduced a traditional sailboat in 2014 for the first time since the tradition died out and it now hopes the art can be handed down to the younger generation.
“Our culture has been withering, which makes us feel very insecure and anxious,” he said, adding that reproducing the sailboat would be one way to revive Aborigines’ adventurous spirit that connects them to the ocean.
Foundation of Ocean Taiwan chief executive officer Liu Chiung-hsi (劉炯錫) said his organization plans to visit Aboriginal elders in the east to collect more knowledge and stories about making boats.
The foundation would invite elders of the Taumako on the Solomon Islands to exchange their sailing knowledge with Taiwanese Aborigines next month or in September, he said, adding that the foundation also plans to sail its boats to Okinawa, Japan, next year.
“Sailing is the instinct of Austronesian Aborigines,” National Cheng Kung University Institute of Archeology director Liu Yi-chang (劉益昌) said.
“The ocean is not a barrier, but a pathway,” Liu said.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS