Tourism, Culture and Society

Perception of Taiwan

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Perception of Taiwan

Before getting to know about Taiwan, in my perception, Taiwan is a beautiful place with different culture and is a food heaven.

Culture and Heritage

Many people have identified Taiwan as a must see destination. What I feel is that it is a rich diverse country whereby areas are segregated into different areas where there are different tribes living together. Not only they are peaceful, but also having a few different languages apart from speaking Chinese itself.

Night markets and food

Infamous for their night markets, it is definitely linked to food. Similar to the night markets in Singapore, what I think of this place is that Taiwan’s night markets are like Singapore’s whereby they are movable and also accessible at every part of the country.

What is Taiwan?

What is Taiwan?

Located at the Eastern Asia, the country is segregated into 3 parts, Taipei, Taizhong and Tainan.

Its capital of the country is Taipei where the Taipei 101 is located at. (Kwintessential, 2011)

Representation of Taiwan

Representation of Taiwan

Night market

In the past, Taiwan’s night markets are also known to be the ghost markets as it is being operated during the night time. However, now which is known as night markets, they are infamous for their Taiwanese food which is not as authentic as the ones there in the night markets. One of the biggest night markets is known as Shilin night market. (Taiwan Government , 2010 )

Taiwan Dramas

The entertainment industry of Taiwan is also one of the important aspects that the world is reminded of. When speaking of Taiwan, artiste will be linked such as Rainie yang or Show Luo. Not only so, Taiwan dramas are also one of the hot favorites. One example is Hana Kimi.

Tapei 101

The infamous and tallest building in Taipei (tallest in the Taiwan) is 101 floors in height. It is basically a shopping mall at the bottom of the building, office floors in the middle of the building, observatory is located at the uppermost of the building. (Taipei 101, 2011)

Taiwan indigenous groups

Taiwan indigenous groups

Although in Taiwan, it can be considered as a developing and globalized country whereby internet access, television, hand phones, shopping malls, cinemas etc. can be seen in the city areas, however there are currently still a few indigenous groups of people who are living in mountainous area of Taiwan apart from the city people. (Go2taiwan, 2011)

Atayal People

The origin of these indigenous people can be traced back into long time ago. They are originated from the most northern branch of the Austronesia culture group. (Bureau, 2011) The government recognized only 13 tribes which are mainly Amis, Atayal, Paiwan, Bunun, Kavakan, Paiwan, Pinuyumayan, Ruki, Saisiyat, Thao, Ruuku, Tsou, Yami and Sakizaya. Even as they are other more tribes in Taiwan today, they are basically in small groups of them but they are disappearing as the world globalized today. (Copper, 2008 , p. 12) As they come in contact with the globalized world, the Han Chinese may have influence the indigenous groups as they affect their traditions and culture. However, they are bound to have some who are preserving their tribe.

Yami Tribe

Yami tribe

Taitung

The Tao

I’ll focus on one of the indigenous group that is still currently in existed in this globalized society today. One of such group is the Yami tribe. Yami is an oceanic tribe consisting of approximately 2,900 Tao (how they address themselves as people) this group lies at an island off-shore of the Taitung country, name Lanyu island. (Go2taiwan, 2011)

Culture of Yami Tribe

Culture

Food

The main food they consume is taro and sweet potato which are hand grown by them. While the millets of these crops is a type of gift that is given to family and friends when they are having rituals. Other than consuming these foods, they also pick up wild herbs and greens that are near the tribe for consumption. Also, being an oceanic tribe, they also consume flying fishes they caught. (Cultural specialties , 2011)

Attire

The Tao people usually dress simply which are monochrome. The materials of their clothes are made from natural plants as such it is more convenient for their fishing activities.

For the men, they only wear a “loincloth” and during special occasions they only wear “double breasted” vest and other accessories. As compared to the women, they wear a short vest to cover their top part of their body, and another cloth to cover their bottom part. Similarly, they wear “double breasted vest” during special occasions as well. (Cultural specialties , 2011)

The Tao are different and unique in a sense that they are shorter than the normal Han Chinese and they look different in a way that their facial features stand out more. Not only so, as mentioned that the way they dressed are different which can be noticed easily. (Copper, 2008 , p. 12)

Traditions of Yami Tribe

Traditions

As there are many traditions in the Yami tribe, I’ll zoom into a few more special traditions that the Taos practiced.

Flying Fish Culture

What’s unique about this tribe is that they have developed a culture that is known as the “Flying Fish Culture” whereby they conduct a “Flying Fish Calling Ritual” during where flying fishes appear and thereafter, baiting to catch the fish. This culture not only focuses on catching flying fishes, but also they practiced different kinds of catching methods to catch different types of fishes. They also limit rating them to prevent excessive fishing.

They classified the fishes into categories whereby they are being consumed by different hierarchy of people. They are the old people fishes which are consumed by the elders, the men fishes which are not available to women and the women fishes which are available to everyone. (Yami Tribe, N.d.)

Great Boat Culture

Apart from the “Flying Fish Culture”, Yami tribe has another culture named the great boat culture. The great boat culture is where this tradition is being passed by where families built their own fishing boats using only 21-27 planks.