The Sun Moon Lake area, renowned for its scenic beauty, has been devastated by the 921 Earthquake. Almost all the area's tourist facilities in the area were destroyed. Now the government has decided to rebuild the area as a "national-level sightseeing spot."
There is something about this description that smacks of the mixture of the insipid, the overly formal and the unimaginative that seems almost native to "national level" attempts to make the island's beauty more accessible.
Let us hope therefore that the reconstruction efforts will involve a reevaluation of the geographical and historical significance of the area and try to make it a scenic spot that incorporates the lifestyle of Aboriginal people who inhabit the region.
The Sun Moon Lake area is the ancestral home of the Thao tribe, but today the Thao people's cultural heritage is nowhere to be found in the sightseeing area. Instead, it is inundated by temples and archways that have nothing to do with Thao culture. Under the double pressure of politics and business, the area is filled to the brim with cheap, vulgar structures, totally ruining the area's natural beauty. The most laughable of all is the political totems instituted by the KMT government under the rule of the two Chiangs.
In a flagrant move of Han Chinese chauvinism, the ancestral home of the Thao people originally called Puli (
Names like Wenwu Temple (
From these names, we can see the haughtiness of the Han Chinese and their destruction of other cultures.
In fact, Aboriginal cultures are themselves an important resource for the tourism industry, and attention should be spent on their preservation. Not only can respect for Aboriginal cultures enrich cultural understanding and promote ethnic harmony, it is also beneficial for business.
The idea of a reconstruction that simply brings back the footprints of the Chiangs is to be deplored. We should use this opportunity to build a culture that incorporates Aboriginal and modern lifestyles, and the reconstruction of Sun Moon Lake provides a good starting point.
After the 921 Earthquake, Aboriginal people have not received the attention they deserve. They live in remote areas with fragile transportation infrastructure. Most of them farm on government land, which makes it difficult for them to apply for aid. Most of them do not qualify to apply for loans. Politicians ignore them because their votes do not count for much in elections.
The Aboriginal council created under the Executive Yuan has very little power. Aboriginal civic organizations are so deep in discord that a unified voice is almost impossible.
In our reconstruction efforts, we should not forget to build a home, and of the right kind,for Aborigines who have for so long been underprivileged.
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