presented by foreign english teacher anita da fu elementary / da sing elementary / fu yuan...
TRANSCRIPT
Presentedby
Foreign English Teacher Anita
Da Fu Elementary / Da Sing Elementary / Fu Yuan Elementary
Bikers along an East Rift Valley
road
Farms
The East Rift Valley is a long alluvial plain that sits right on the seam of the collision point between the Philippine and Eurasian plates.
The valley has some of Taiwan’s best farming country and rural scenery.
Bordered by the Central Mountains on one side and the Coastal Mountain Ranges on the other, stunning views are in every direction.
The valley offers plenty of hiking and biking routes and even a white-water-rafting venue.
Numerous hot springs abound, the result of the tectonic activity in the area.
Some of the area’s highlights include the fields of orange day lilies that bloom in late summer, Chulu Ranch, the wetlands in Matai’an, the National Museum of Prehistory, the Liji Badlands, the Hualien Tourism Sugar Plant, and the organic farming scene at Loshan.
The East Rift Valley is a long, narrow valley flanked by the Central Mountain Range to the west and the Coastal Mountain Range to theeast. This is where the Eurasian and the Philippine tectonic plates collide, resulting in the creation of many fault lines.
Three main river systems, the Hualien, Siouguluan River, and Beinan Rivers, create a closely-knit network of waterways in the area.
Each of these rivers originates at high mountains 2,000 to 3,000 meters in elevation.
These rivers have caused the formation of a variety of geological landforms, such as canyons, waterfalls, hot springs, winding paths, river terraces, alluvial plains, faults and badlands.
Due to the collision of tectonic plates and the branching of the three major water systems, a large number of faults have been created in the rift valley.
The water rushes down to the valley from the high mountains, descending rapidly over a length of just a few kilometers.
This rapid change in altitude results in an attractive river landscape.
The Luoshan Waterfalls at Fuli, and the Fenghuang Waterfalls at Fenglin, are both examples of water scenes that tourists can enjoy.
Badlands are land surfaces that have experienced severe erosion, resulting in numerous deep trenches that are rugged and hard to traverse. These areas are unsuitable for farming.
The Liji Mélange spreads out extensively over the southern end of the Coastal Mountain Range. It starts from a place close to Taitung City, and extends north for about 70 kilometers along the western edge of the Coastal Mountain Range, ending close to Antong Hot Springs.
The Liji Mélange's most typical exposure is located at Liji Village, 8 kilometers north of Taitung City.
At this exposure area, the commonly-seen badlands terrain is the result of the Liji Mélange's clayey mudstone, forming a complicated, confusing, and inconsistent rock mass that is made up of a variety of rocks from different places.
The East Rift Valley is home to 5 Aborigine groups:◦The Amis,◦The Bunun,◦The Puyuma (Beinan),◦The Sakizaya, and◦The Truku.
“Amis,” which means “north,” is a name given by the Beinan tribal people to the largest aborigine group in Taiwan.
The Amis people in Taitung adopted the name, but those in Hualien call themselves Pangcah.
As of April 2010, there are 188,797 Amis people in Taiwan, mostly in Hualien, the East Rift Valley, and the East Coast.
In the East Rift Valley, the Amis live in the Shoufeng, Fenglin, Guangfu, Ruisui, Yuli, and Fuli Townships in Hualien County, as well as the Chishang, Guanshan, Luye, and Beinan Townships in Taitung County.
The Amis have 3 cultural characteristics:◦A positive emphasis on water,◦Respect for women, and◦Respect for the elderly and strict
observation of etiquette.
A positive emphasis on water ：◦ The Amis came to Taiwan via the sea and chose to live
close to bodies of water. ◦ Water is the source of life: Their shamans use water to
heal sickness, a bride carries water to express love, water is sprinkled on a grave to recall the ancestors, etc.
◦ All of these activities reveal the deep feeling the Amis have for water.
◦ The Amis are naturally disposed towards optimism, brought about by the long-term conditioning of the large seas and waters.
◦ Their rich songs and dance-steps frequently represent various kinds of waves.
Respect for women ： ◦ The Amis respect their women, and the name
they give their mothers, "Cidar", means "sun". ◦ Their traditional red costumes, topknots,
garlands, the round shells hanging from their shoulders, and their sash of bells, all symbolize the sun (mother).
◦ The words "mother" or "mom“ frequently appear in their songs.
Respect for the elderly and strict observation of etiquette ：◦ There is strict observation of age-hierarchy
organization that is used to determine a person's social status and authority.
◦ In an Ami settlement, older people from a higher social class have absolute authority.
◦ The elderly have the right of veto during meetings.
◦ Etiquette training plays a vital role in implementing rules and ethics concerning age-hierarchy.
The “Harvest Festival” takes place every July and August. This is one of the Amis’ most important annual celebrations.
They celebrate the protection and provision of the ancestral spirits during the past year, and offer thanksgiving.
They also request the ancestral spirits to continue protecting the clan members in the New Year, and to provide them with good fortune.
The Bunun are divided into five sub-groups: the Isbukun, the Taki banuaz, the Taki vatan, the Taki bakha, and the Taki tudu.
The Bunun living in the East Rift Valley are mostly of the Isbukun sub-group. They live in the Yanping and Haiduan Townships, both located in Taitung County.
The Taki banuaz, the second largest Bunun group in the East Rift Valley, live in Zhuoxi Township, Hualien County.
The Taki vatan are found in the Mayuan Village in Wanrong Township and the Qimei Settlement in Ruisui Township.
In Taiwan’s history, the Bunun greatly predate other ethnic groups.
The culture that they have developed is still a forest culture permeated with “forest wisdom”, and forest-nature is at its core.
Natural sounds, smells, and colors are incorporated in the creation of
daily utensils that reflect their original designs. Carving in ornaments and designs is avoided.
The Bunun’s musical expression involves eight-part harmony group singing, and their “Prayer Song for the Millet Harvest” (Pasibutbut) is world-famous.
The “Ear Shooting Ritual” is the most important Bunun yearly celebration.
Every year, after the spring plowing, the natural sounds of harmony can be heard echoing throughout the East Rift Valley, allowing one to experience the Bunun people’s enthusiasm, optimism, and trust in nature.
The life progressions of the Bunun are recorded in their ceremonies.
Everyday matters, important life events, and every kind of major activity are all closely intertwined with “ceremony.”
As such, their lives are based on calendrical and life ceremonies that are carried out strictly according to sequence and time.
These ceremonies, and the meanings that they represent, result in the Bunun living a life based on life’s rhythms.
They have an optimistic acceptance of their destiny and live according to the pulses of life.
Many Bunun today are Protestants and Catholics.
The Bunun subsist mainly on farming and hunting.
Their main staple is millet, which has the special ability to grow in extremes of cold and heat, and easily adapts to harsh environments.
Consequently, many Bunun ceremonies are related to grain production.
The main festivals include the Land-Cultivation Festival, the Stone-Throwing Festival, the Hoeing Festival, the Hoeing-Completion Festival, the Bird-Dispersion Festival, the Harvest Festival, and the Grain-Gathering Festival.
The Bunun divide the year into 12 months in accordance with the phases of the moon, and carve these months onto the famous wooden Bunun calendar.
Of the Bunun rituals related to grain-production, the “Prayer Song for the Millet Harvest” (Pasibutbut) is especially representative.
The Bunun believe that the quality of their song performance will directly influence the harvest.
Thus, throughout the performance of this song, the singers must maintain a solemn and reverent attitude.
The Puyuma live in ten major settlements. Four of these settlements are located in the
East Rift Valley, along Highway No. 9: Xiabinlang, Alibai (also called Shangbinlang), Chulu and Longgoumai (incorporated into Mingfong Village).
These are all in close vicinity of other Aboriginal settlements: the Amis and the Bunun to the north, the Rukai to the west, and the Paiwan to the south.
The influence of settlement-living on the Puyuma is closely related to their unique matrilineal or age-hierarchy social system.
Because Puyuma women have an important role in their family lives, as well as greater responsibility, the men are free to concentrate on the maintenance of settlement safety.
The course of a Puyuma man’s life strongly develops along standards based on age hierarchy.
A young Puyuma man's life can be divided into the following four stages: 1. First stage (age 12/13 to 17/18): The strict, rigorous training of a
boy in his early youth.2. Second stage (age 17/18 to 20/21): Exposure to hunger and
poverty – the test of the youth's will.3. Third stage (age 20/21 to elder): Marriage and career. The young
man can undertake responsibilities involved in protecting his family and clan.
4. Fourth stage (when he becomes an elder): The elder stage. The man is considered to have abundant life experiences and mature judgment skills, therebyenabling him to take responsibility for policy-making.
These four stages are strictly distinct, and each involves different training and responsibilities.
These different life stages are further reflected by very distinct residences, etiquette rules, and costumes.
There are no separate growth stages for the girls, who are free to marry after they reachage 15 or 16 and have matured into adulthood.
At this time they can start to seek out adult men for marriage, and then begin families of their own.
The traditional religion of the Puyuma is still practiced.
Shamans are still used to perform healings, cast out demons, and undertake ceremonies and rituals of life.
Because traditional Puyuma society includes farming and hunting, their religious beliefs and calendrical ceremonies are closely tied to farming and hunting themes.
The main surviving calendrical ceremonies are: ◦ March and April: a special women's ceremony
known as the "Millet Weeding Festival" (also known as the "Celebration of Weeding Completion") is held.
◦ July: after the millet harvest has been gathered and stored, a "Millet Thanksgiving Festival" (also known as a "Sea Festival") is held.
The Puyuma "Monkey Festival" and "Great Hunting Festival," also known as the “Yearly Ceremonies,“ develop the fighting skills of the young men and include both a coming-of-age-ceremony and a ceremony to end the mourning of families who have lost loved ones during the past year.
The farming ceremony includes expressions of worship and gratitude to the gods and ancestors.
Every aspect of the hunting ceremony includes prayers for the gods and ancestral spirits to bestow kindness and provisions.
The Sakizaya mainly live in Hualien County, in the following settlements: Beipu, Meilun,
Desing, Zhubu, Yuemei, Shanxing, Shuilian, Jiqi, and Maliyun.
Their total population is between 5,000 and 10,000.
The Sakizaya economy is based on fishing and hunting.
Millet and upland rice are their most important crops.
Because of their early contact with the Kavalan Aborigines, they learned paddy-field cultivation and as such, their current paddy-cultivation skills go back a long time.
Every four years, the older people must plant a fence of thorn bamboos, something not found in other Aborigine settlements.
The Sakizaya are animists, believing in the omnipresence strength of the supernatural, and the inclusion of ancestral spirits among the gods and ghosts.
They believe that the location of the ancestral spirits is impossible to determine, and nobody knows where they actually are. Only the Shaman is able to communicate with the ancestral spirits.
The ceremonies of the early Sakizaya were centered on offerings of millet.
The festivals followed the growth progress of the millet, and included the Grain-Sowing Festival, Fish-Catching Festival, Harvest-Gathering Festival, Harvest Festival, and Harvest-Storing Festival.
Conducted according to age-hierarchy, the “Feeding of the Elders” blessing ceremony is unique to the Sakizaya.
The Truku of Hualien County previously immigrated to the Mugua River and Liwu River area. There, they enjoyed over 200 years of stable mountain life, building eight settlements.
From 1914 to 1936, under the Japanese occupation, they were forced to go down the mountain and move to Hualien County, settling in
the mountain townships of Xiulin, Wanrong, and Zhuoxi, as well as a part of Jian Township.
The Truku have a population of over 21,000.
The traditional practice of face tattooing is what most characterizes the Truku. It is a symbol of adulthood, beauty, and glory.
The Truku’s second distinguishing characteristic is their skill at weaving. The patterns and matching decorations are extremely ingenious and brilliant.
The most unique of their musical instruments are the xylophone and bamboo mouth organ.
The religious beliefs of the Truku involve the worshiping of their ancestral spirits. They place great importance on nature and the universe.
They have the concept of man being an integral part of nature.
In everything they do, they must first seek the permission of their ancestral spirits. These include determining all living norms, morals, taboos and festivals. This is expressed most clearly in the taboos involved in their daily living, which are very strict.
The main Truku festival is the Ancestral Spirit Festival, which takes place once a year, and is held on a larger scale once every two years.
Family festivals are held regularly, and involve asking the ancestral spirits of all historical eras (including those of other ethnic groups) to protect them, allow them to live peaceful lives, give them an abundant harvest and hunting gains, and provide wellbeing and happiness.
According to archeological research, prehistoric cultural sites abound in the East Rift Valley. Currently, two of these sites have been officially recognized, both of which are located in Hualien County.
One of these is the Saoba Stone Pillars Site, located in Rueisuei Township's Wuhe Terrace.
The other is the Gongpu Site, located to the south of Fuli Township's Shihpai Village Settlement.
The Saoba Stone Pillars are located in Wuhe Village, Rueisuei Township, in the middle section of the East Rift Valley, on the western slopes of the Saoba Wuhe Terrace.
They are one of Hualien County's important archeological sites.
Two large stone pillars, 5.75m and 3.99m tall, stand erect next to the old provincial highway.
They are currently the tallest prehistoric standing stones in Taiwan, and are very similar to the slate stone pillars of the Beinan culture. It is assumed that they belong to the Beinan culture.
In the remote past, the Kiwit Clan dwelled by the Taitung coast. One day, due to a very strong earthquake, the waters of the ocean flowed onto the land, and many people drowned.
Only a brother and sister survived, having floated to the top of Lawa Mountain, north of Cimei. After marrying, they had three sons.
When the ocean waters receded, the three sons descended down the mountain to seek out lands for cultivation.
The oldest son, Calao, was the first ancestor of the Kiwit Clan. He originally lived in Lahtar, but soon went down the Siouguluan River to Saoba, where he settled. After he grew old, he led his clan back to Lahtar, due to the poor, barren quality of the land,. The houses that were left behind then became the Saoba Stone Pillars of today.
The Gongpu Site is located on top of, and on the east slope of a small hill 200 meters south of Shihpai Village Settlement, Fuli Township, in Hualien County.
It lies to the south of the East Rift Valley's middle section, and on the front-most edge of the foothills located to the west of the Coastal Mountain Range.
An area of 700 meters in length and 250 meters in width, it has a commanding view, being surrounded by mountains and having a wonderful landscape.
These remains go back around 3,000 years. The most important of these stands erect on the
ground's surface, and reveals that the structures of the state stone walls of that time were to a certain degree related to the Beinan culture.
This slide show has been prepared and presented by a foreign English teacher who is new to the East Rift Valley. She recently visited the following sites:Chishang Lunchbox Museum
Antong Hot Springs
the Xiuguluan River
Hualien Tourism Sugar Plant, and
Matai’an Wetland Ecological Park
Antong Hot SpringsAntong Hot Springs
Xiuguluan RiverXiuguluan River
Hualien Tourism Sugar Plant, Guangfu TownshipHualien Tourism Sugar Plant, Guangfu Township
Matai’an Wetland Ecological ParkMatai’an Wetland Ecological Park
