Plains Indigenous peoples


Plains indigenous peoples, also known as Pingpu people and previously as plain aborigines, are Taiwanese indigenous peoples originally residing in lowland regions, as opposed to Highland indigenous peoples. Plains indigenous peoples consist of anywhere from eight to twelve individual groups, or tribes, rather than being a single ethnic group. They are part of the Austronesian family. Beginning in the 17th century, plains indigenous peoples have been heavily influenced by external forces from Dutch, Spanish, and Han Chinese colonization of Taiwan. This ethnic group has since been extensively assimilated with Han Chinese language and culture; they have lost their cultural identity, and it is almost impossible without careful inspection to distinguish plains indigenous peoples from Taiwanese Han people.
Plains indigenous peoples are recognized by the Taiwan government as "Pingpu Indigenous People". However, only the Kavalan sub-group has been given full rights and privileges. It was not until the mid-1980s that Plains indigenous peoples started gaining interest from historians and anthropologists, leading to increased public attention to this group. These indigenous groups are currently continuing to fight for their identity, rights, and recognition as Taiwanese indigenous peoples. In 2016, the Tsai Ing-wen administration promised to grant official recognition to the Plains indigenous peoples, and a draft bill is being reviewed by the Legislative Yuan as of June 2018.
As of 2012 there were 80,000 people identified as Plains Indigenous people in Taiwan and an estimated 200,000 people are descendants of the Plains Indigenous Peoples.

Background

In The Island of Formosa, former US Consul to Formosa James W. Davidson presented the first English-language account of the indigenous peoples of the whole island, which was almost entirely based on the comprehensive work collected over several years of study by Ino Kanori, the foremost authority on the topic at the time. In Ino's eight-group classification, the Pepo, Puyuma, and Amis groups were known as "domesticated savages", primarily due to their abandonment of ancient customs. Of these three groups, only the Pepo lived in the western plains, where they remained to compete with the Chinese settlers.
The term Pepo referred to indigenous peoples that resided in the Formosan plains, rather than the highland mountainous regions. Plains indigenous peoples mainly settled in the west and central mountain regions of Taiwan. The term Sek-hoan was also used to describe Plains indigenous peoples because they often lived closer to the coast and had more interaction with Dutch and Han Chinese colonizers, hence were more assimilated and "civilised" than highland indigenous peoples. Mention of Plains indigenous peoples have appeared in Qing texts dating back as early as 1764. In summary, the Pepo were those Plains indigenous peoples who could still be easily distinguished from the Chinese, whereas the Sek-hoan had already thoroughly adopted Chinese customs, thus exhibiting no trace of their "ancient life".
The Dutch, who had ruled Taiwan for 38 years, have left an imprint on the Plains indigenous people. The Sinkang manuscripts, which are bilingual land contracts written in Romanised letters, have become important historical documents for studying the Plains indigenous people. This Romanised tribal language was instructed by the Dutch commissaries in order to teach Christianity. Nevertheless, the Dutch influence on the Plains indigenous people has been limited to language and religion, reaching merely around the Tainan area. Only the influence of the Han Chinese has been far and long-standing.
In the 17th century, Plains indigenous peoples were involved in the flourishing deerskin export market. Plains indigenous hunters often supplied deerskin to the Qing and Dutch regimes, in exchange for cash to trade for other goods and also to pay for taxes enforced under the new regimes. By the 18th century, the deerskin industry had diminished due to overhunting, and the inflow of Chinese immigrants began to take up much of the grazing land. Therefore, Plains indigenous peoples increasingly relied on plow agriculture and land rent from indigenous land reclaimed by Han settlers.
Han settlers initially implemented policies that favoured Plains indigenous peoples. This was because Han officials feared a revolt against Chinese immigrants, and also because Plains indigenous peoples were tax-paying citizens and could be used as military sources. Furthermore, the Chinese government initially viewed their expansion as a disruption to the indigenous people status quo, hence they introduced policies to favour Plains indigenous peoples. However, Plains indigenous peoples were increasingly not able to compete economically and ethnically with the growing Chinese population that flooded into Taiwan. Han policies in favour of Plains indigenous peoples began to disappear. Han settlers started to remove many of the Plains indigenous peoples from their original villages. It is within these "political and economic frameworks" that the Plains indigenous peoples gradually became sinicized.
In the course of their interaction with the Han Chinese, some Plains indigenous peoples moved to Puli Basin; the Kavalan tribe moved southward to Hualien County and Taitung County; and the Siraya tribe moved to Taitung. However, relocation could not prevent the Plains indigenous peoples from being assimilated. After the Qing Empire had officially taken over Taiwan, the Plains indigenous peoples were rapidly sinicized as a result of advocacy for their "civilising". They were forced to dress in Han clothes, change their names, and receive Han customs.
Plains indigenous peoples began to adopt aspects of Chinese culture, values, and language. Most importantly, intermarriage between Chinese and Plains indigenous peoples increased rapidly, leading to the acculturation of the two groups. Many of the early Chinese settlers in Taiwan were not permitted to bring women with them; hence, they married Plains indigenous women out of necessity. This is the origin of the common saying "there are mainland grandfathers, but no mainland grandmothers". This extensive intermarriage is the reason that many Taiwanese people today are unaware that they could be descendants of Plains indigenous peoples. Several theories have been proposed during the 2000s to suggest that a large majority of Hoklo and Hakka Taiwanese could have Plains indigenous lineage in their bloodline. An increasing number of Taiwanese people are starting to search for their Plains indigenous roots and claim their status as Plains indigenous peoples.

Plains Indigenous Peoples Recognition Movement

After centuries of acculturation, Plains indigenous peoples are almost completely sinicized. It was already noted in the early 20th century that careful observation was required to detect their deeper eyes as compared to the Chinese; also, the women did not practice foot binding. It is now nearly impossible to distinguish Plains indigenous peoples without careful inspection. Through the process of acculturation, much of the language, culture, and identity of Plains indigenous peoples have become nonexistent in modern Taiwanese society. The Republic of China government currently only officially recognises one of all the Plains indigenous peoples.
Even though there was a lack of attention and interest in the history of Plains indigenous peoples until the mid-1980s, through the works of scholars, folklorists, anthropologists, historians, and remaining descendants of these groups, there has been a gradual restoration of Plains indigenous culture, history, identity, and language. For example, a descendant of Plains indigenous peoples in Hualien, Chieh Wan-lai, still insists on teaching the traditional language and culture of his ethnic group. More educational pamphlets are emerging to teach Taiwanese people about the existence of Plains indigenous peoples. Furthermore, a campaign was started in Yilan County for descendants of the Kavalan to find their roots. Many Plains indigenous ceremonies have been revitalized around Taiwan, and these have been opened up to the public and to people who have recently discovered their status as Plains indigenous peoples.
Ethno-political activities and Nativist Cultural Movements flourished after the 1990s, and a "Plains Aborigine Name Correction Movement" emerged. Several protests occurred in 2001 and 2010, and a formal complaint was sent to the United Nations in 2010, demanding that the ROC government formally recognize Plains indigenous peoples. Descendants of these groups today continue to fight for the official recognition of their status as Taiwanese indigenous peoples.
Through the efforts of indigenous people, Tainan County became the first local government to recognize Siraya people as county-level indigenous people in 2005, followed by the recognition of local Taivoan, Makatao, and Siraya people by the Fuli Township government in 2013. In 2016, the Pingtung County government announced the recognition of local Makatao. Plains indigenous peoples have been allowed to register in Kaohsiung City since 2013 but have not yet been recognized as city-level indigenous peoples. The number of people who have successfully registered, as well as ones to whom the Kaohsiung City government has opened registration but who haven't yet been recognized as of 2017, are as follows:
SirayaTaivoanMakataoNot SpecificTotal
Tainan11,830---11,830
Kaohsiung107129-237473
Pingtung--1,8032052,008
Fuli, Hualien---100100
Total11,9371291,80354214,411