Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines — Attraction in Taipei

Today we visited the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines. One thing that has struck me as we have traveled is the similarities between indigenous peoples around the world.

In rural China, we saw homes that looked very much like the hogans of the Navajo in New Mexico and Arizona. Today we saw carved stone pillars that looked very much like the totem poles of the US Pacific Northwest and Southwest British Columbia.

Other unfortunate similarities between indigenous peoples around the world are disenfranchisement, loss of traditional lands, loss of hunting and fishing rights, the list goes on. In fact, in Tainan, we saw an exhibit in the Tainan Art Museum that was a joint project between a First Nations of Canada group and an Indigenous people of Taiwan group highlighting the similarities between the struggles of indigenous people in both countries.

Another observation I have is that indigenous groups are almost always displaced by the dominant culture. As a Canadian/American the narrative is typically that the European colonists are the main or only people that oppressed indigenous groups. This may be the case in much of the Americas, a lot of Africa, and parts of Oceania, but certainly not in a lot of Asia. In China the Han are the dominant culture and some minority groups like Tibetans and Uyghurs are highly disenfranchised. In Malaysia, the Malay ethnicity is the dominant culture and the Dayak, Iban, and other cultures feel oppressed. Here in Taiwan the Japanese colonists and later the Han Chinese became the dominant cultures, forcing the indigenous peoples to move and/or change their lifestyles.

I didn’t mean for this post to get too heavy, but it is interesting, and a bit sad, to see indigenous cultures around the world under stress.

Susan loves handwoven fabric so I think that is another factor that gives us more insight to indigenous groups, their culture, and customs. We love learning, visiting, and experiencing the richness that these...

Early history of Taiwan Island is, in every aspects, set apart from the early history of warring kingdoms in what is now Chinese heartland. Its earliest settlers were sea-faring, Malayo-Polynesian aboriginals, who are more related to the Malagasy tribes than the Han Chinese. Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines in Taipei is a good place for first-time visitors to Taiwan to shed a light on these people, particularly before visiting their settlements or festivals or even eating at a tribal restaurant. It's well-endowed with tribal artifacts and even has a fun interactive Paiwan dancing game platform, which is a good chance to get some tones of an aboriginal rhythm.

The only drawback is that, the English videos about the contemporary life of the Aboriginals, are not up to date. It's from 1999 and while it is informative, the more present picture would be surely welcomed given the changing political-economic circumstances.

You can buy a combination ticket with the National Palace Museum for a discounted price. I forgot to do this when I visited NPM but the staffs at Shung Ye got my seperated ticket discounted anyways. (Even though they didn't speak...

I was seemingly the only visitor until about one hour later when another female visitor joined me along the gallery at the basement. There were four stories to explore in this building, which was air-conditioned and spacious. Admittedly, i was more intrigued with some of the charming souvenirs that were for sale at the ground floor shop more than anything else. I got myself a pretty necklace made with colorful glass beads. The entry fee was TWD150. I learned from this short excursion that Japan occupied Taiwan since 1895 (to 1945). Prior to this, I had no idea that Taiwan was colonized for so long. It is then of little wonder that Taiwanese hospitality standard is by and large comparable to...