Introduction to "The Indigenous Peoples of Taiwan"

The term "Austronesian Tribe" originated from "Austronesian" in linguistics and archaeology, which denotes a variety of peoples distributed all the way from the Pacific islands to Madagascar in Africa. The indigenous peoples in Taiwan belong to one of these groups. Many prehistoric artifacts excavated are similar to the traditional daily? utensils of the indigenous peoples, and thus the indigenous peoples can be seen as the successors descedants to prehistoric cultures. However, since further research concerning the relationship between the indigenous peoples and prehistoric cultures is required, the focus of this hall is on the societies and cultures of today's indigenous peoples.

Due to the immigration of Chinese , the indigenous peoples of Taiwan experienced unprecedented changes in their lives. As a result, their cultural heritages are in great danger. However, the understanding of the contemporary lifestyles of the tribes may encourage others to learn about the efforts of the indigenous peoples made to accept the new culture while maintaining their traditional ways of life, or blending the new culture with the traditional ones. We hope that we have succeeded not only in presenting the lives of indigenous peoples in the past, but also their efforts in preservation and innovation for the future.

Austronesian cultures areindeed diverse, rich and vibrant.Tthe exhibition is presented in such a way that each tribe is regarded as a topic. We introduce various aspects of the indigenous cultures, including tribal relation, diversity of tribal culture, architectural style, gender and families, ocean culture, societal norm, sacrifices and concepts in the supernatural and the afterlife, with respective tribes. After visiting all the exhibition halls, visitors will gain a basic understanding of the abundant cultural resources of the indigenous peoples.