Today we have a special treat for you!
Canadian born Rich Matheson’s photography has been published in many national/international magazines, newspapers, and websites. He has lived in Southern Taiwan with his Taiwanese Aboriginal wife and two children for the past 20 years. Rich has been shooting and selling photographs professionally since 1998. His work can be seen at www.thetaiwanphotographer.com
Please continue reading for a brief explanation of Rich’s photo essay on Indigenous tribes in Taiwan, which he has kindly shared with our readers today.
Stay tuned for more feature articles from talented Canadians in Taiwan!
As of March 18th, 2014, Taiwan gained two new Indigenous tribes bringing the number of tribes to sixteen. The Council of Indigenous Peoples (CIP) of the Executive Yuan concurrently recognized the Hla’alua and Kanakanavu Peoples as the fifteenth and sixteenth tribes in Taiwan, a process that began in 2011.
Long lumped with the Tsou tribe, and often differentiated as ‘Southern Tsou’, the two tribes with distinct language and dress, met requirements demonstrating unique ethnological classification, distribution, history, culture, social organization, and traditional rites and ceremonies.
The Hla’alua live in Taoyuan District (about 80 percent) and Namasia District (about 20 percent) and have a population exceeding 500. A major Hla’alua ceremony is the Beishenji (Shell Deity Ceremony).
The Kanakanavu live mostly in Namaxia District and number over 500. They were probably the first people to inhabit the Nanzixian (Kanakanavu) River valley some 300 years ago but have since been become minority to the Bunun Tribe who were displaced by the Japanese a hundred years ago in an attempt to pacify and control the Indigenous tribes. A popular Kanakanavu ceremony is the River Ceremony.
-Rich Matheson
