YouTube has deleted a video showing Tao elementary-school students on Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) dancing in traditional attire after it was erroneously flagged for “obscenity,” the children’s teacher said yesterday.
Yayu Elementary School teacher Yan Tzu-yu (顏子矞) said that when he logged into the school’s YouTube account recently, he was greeted with a message saying that a video he uploaded in 2018 of the children performing a Tao dance to mark the construction of a new classroom had been removed.
The video was flagged by a user, and after a review by YouTube staff was found to have breached the platform’s community standards, the message read.
Photo: Huang Ming-tang, Taipei Times
Yan said the misunderstanding likely stemmed from the Tao clothing worn by the children in the video.
Traditional clothing for Tao males is a cloth tied around the lower body in a manner resembling a modern-day thong, but does not carry any of the implications of a thong in Tao culture, he said.
“My word, in that case all of my flying fish season videos will be deleted,” he said, adding that he was frustrated because YouTube apparently did not respect cultural differences.
It was not the first time the school had had a controversial encounter. The school’s performance troupe, Flying Fish, performed at Poland’s 27th international children’s arts festival last year.
At the festival’s opening ceremony the troupe refused to carry China’s national flag as requested and instead carried Taiwan’s national flag when entering the arena, Yan said, adding that the move gained them praise from Taiwanese.
“Our culture on Orchid Island is beautiful and unique. These children put a great deal of effort into their dances — what is the problem?” Yan said.
Yan said he has contacted YouTube about the misunderstanding, but has yet to receive a reply.
The “thong-style” attire of the Tao is an element of the people’s seafaring culture, and helps them stay cool on Orchid Island’s hot tropical climate, Yan said, adding that the garment is custom-made for each Tao man by a Tao woman.
“That connection also serves as an emotional ‘bridge’ between the man and the woman who made the garment for him,” Yan said.
YouTube should recognize the difference between breaching social customs and traditional culture, and should avoid making “reckless judgments,” Taitung University professor Liu Chiung-hsi (劉炯錫) said.
Taitung County Indigenous People’s Bureau Director Fang Ming-tsung (方銘總) agreed, calling on YouTube to respect Aboriginal culture.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS