chinaadventure (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} chinaadventure) wrote,@ 2005-12-15 22:36:00 |
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Shuimen - natives and my nascent modelling career
A couple of weeks ago I took a day trip to Pingtung County to see the Aboriginal Culture Park in Shuimen Village. It was my first train ride in Tainan, and fortunately I bought a ticket the night before so I had a seat reserved. Passengers can also ride the train standing if there are no seats available, but as it was an hour on the train to Pingtung and another hour by bus to Shuimen Village I considered myself lucky to be seated. After catching the bus in Pingtung I got off at Shuimen and had to ask one of my fellow passengers, a Shuimen resident, where the park was. Not only did she show me the direction, she also took me to the park gate on her motorbike and pointed out the stairway down the hill so I wouldn't have to walk down the road when I left the park. This woman also refused any compensation for her effort. It's people like her that make traveling such a pleasure.
The park is set in the mountains away from most vestiges of civilization, which gives one the impression of life in Taiwanese villages sometime before the modern era. It was designed to display living quarters and ceremonial houses from each of Taiwan's major native tribes all in one place. Once inside the park I decided to eschew the tour bus in favor of hiking the main road. The road crossed two bridges, both of which offered scenic views of the surrounding hillsides and the Ailiao River. The path then divided into the three areas of the park, each featuring native dwellings from some of Taiwan's twelve registered tribes. While many native Taiwanese have assimilated with the immigrant Han coming from Mainland China, there are a few areas where their traditional way of life is preserved. The culture park offers visitors a chance to learn about Taiwan's native peoples without traveling all over the island.
While in the park I was able to see a performance of songs and dances from some of the twelve major tribes. Despite the awkwardness of sitting in a performance hall with three hundred people and realizing you are the only non-Taiwanese person there, the performance was enjoyable and even featured English supertext translations of Taiwanese songs. The dances were lively and the costumes brilliant. Photographs were prohibited in the performance hall but on the Photobucket website I do have some photos of Taiwanese costumes that I took elsewhere.
I also had a chance to talk to some of the native employees in the park. Despite the apparent success of the culture park, some of the employees seemed to struggle with health problems - one gentleman smiled at me with his only tooth. It was difficult to tell whether these problems were specific to natives or indicative of the region; Shuimen area isn't very highly developed, and as in the United States the history between the government and native peoples is somewhat checkered, so it could really be either. Nonetheless, the people I spoke with did not seem overly affected by their situation. They were proud of their culture and proud to be native Taiwanese.
I also spoke to a model who identified herself as Paiwan and said her name was Miss Tu. A photographer had seated her when he noticed me on the road and called me over. I came over thinking he needed help with something, but it turned out he wanted me to sit for the camera. Not having had any experience in posing, I was nervous, but he assured me it was fine. He and the camera would do most of the work. He took several pictures of the two of us next to a stone pillar that Miss Tu said was a sacred symbol for the Paiwan tribe, an emblem of the hundred-pacer snake. She also told me another sacred symbol among native Taiwanese is the flying fish, which is a source of food for coastal peoples. When the photographer finished with his shots he took a few with my camera so I would have some for my own album; they are also posted on the Photobucket website.
Visiting the park was a wonderful day trip and a great opportunity to learn about Taiwan's native peoples. Although it was a long distance to travel, the journey was well worth it and I look forward to a chance to visit some real native Taiwanese villages sometime in the near future.
Photos of Shuimen Aboriginal Park: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a
A couple of weeks ago I took a day trip to Pingtung County to see the Aboriginal Culture Park in Shuimen Village. It was my first train ride in Tainan, and fortunately I bought a ticket the night before so I had a seat reserved. Passengers can also ride the train standing if there are no seats available, but as it was an hour on the train to Pingtung and another hour by bus to Shuimen Village I considered myself lucky to be seated. After catching the bus in Pingtung I got off at Shuimen and had to ask one of my fellow passengers, a Shuimen resident, where the park was. Not only did she show me the direction, she also took me to the park gate on her motorbike and pointed out the stairway down the hill so I wouldn't have to walk down the road when I left the park. This woman also refused any compensation for her effort. It's people like her that make traveling such a pleasure.
The park is set in the mountains away from most vestiges of civilization, which gives one the impression of life in Taiwanese villages sometime before the modern era. It was designed to display living quarters and ceremonial houses from each of Taiwan's major native tribes all in one place. Once inside the park I decided to eschew the tour bus in favor of hiking the main road. The road crossed two bridges, both of which offered scenic views of the surrounding hillsides and the Ailiao River. The path then divided into the three areas of the park, each featuring native dwellings from some of Taiwan's twelve registered tribes. While many native Taiwanese have assimilated with the immigrant Han coming from Mainland China, there are a few areas where their traditional way of life is preserved. The culture park offers visitors a chance to learn about Taiwan's native peoples without traveling all over the island.
While in the park I was able to see a performance of songs and dances from some of the twelve major tribes. Despite the awkwardness of sitting in a performance hall with three hundred people and realizing you are the only non-Taiwanese person there, the performance was enjoyable and even featured English supertext translations of Taiwanese songs. The dances were lively and the costumes brilliant. Photographs were prohibited in the performance hall but on the Photobucket website I do have some photos of Taiwanese costumes that I took elsewhere.
I also had a chance to talk to some of the native employees in the park. Despite the apparent success of the culture park, some of the employees seemed to struggle with health problems - one gentleman smiled at me with his only tooth. It was difficult to tell whether these problems were specific to natives or indicative of the region; Shuimen area isn't very highly developed, and as in the United States the history between the government and native peoples is somewhat checkered, so it could really be either. Nonetheless, the people I spoke with did not seem overly affected by their situation. They were proud of their culture and proud to be native Taiwanese.
I also spoke to a model who identified herself as Paiwan and said her name was Miss Tu. A photographer had seated her when he noticed me on the road and called me over. I came over thinking he needed help with something, but it turned out he wanted me to sit for the camera. Not having had any experience in posing, I was nervous, but he assured me it was fine. He and the camera would do most of the work. He took several pictures of the two of us next to a stone pillar that Miss Tu said was a sacred symbol for the Paiwan tribe, an emblem of the hundred-pacer snake. She also told me another sacred symbol among native Taiwanese is the flying fish, which is a source of food for coastal peoples. When the photographer finished with his shots he took a few with my camera so I would have some for my own album; they are also posted on the Photobucket website.
Visiting the park was a wonderful day trip and a great opportunity to learn about Taiwan's native peoples. Although it was a long distance to travel, the journey was well worth it and I look forward to a chance to visit some real native Taiwanese villages sometime in the near future.
Photos of Shuimen Aboriginal Park: http://s15.photobucket.com/albums/a
