SCMP reports:To ensure details of the event remain a surprise until the last minute on August 8, design and production teams as well as the cast had to sign a confidentiality agreement before they were allowed to work on the programme. Any breach could result in jail sentences of up to seven years, according to a media report.
But snippets of details about the much-hyped show have started to trickle out.
Indigenous people from Taiwan are expected to give a four-minute performance at the ceremony. The 100-odd performers, singers and dancers from major aboriginal communities on the island will showcase their cultural rituals, including the Bunun tribe's world-famous eight-note harmony of the Rice Harvest Song and the Tau tribe's hair dance.
Indigenous legislator Kao Chin Su-mei, who was contacted by the Games organising committee to arrange the presentation, will shepherd the troupe to Beijing on July 28 for rehearsals with mainland troupes inside the "Bird's Nest" stadium. Ms Kao Chin declined yesterday to reveal details of the performance, saying that she was not supposed to say anything according to the agreement with Beijing.
However, she stressed that indigenous people could seize the opportunity of the Olympics' opening to proudly present their unique culture to the world.
Sources said members of the opening-night performance committee were expected to go to Taiwan next Friday to discuss details and logistical support.
Taitung county commissioner Kuang Li-zhen has applied to the island's Mainland Affairs Council for permission to go to Beijing to take part in the opening because a number of performers are from Bunun and Tau tribes in that eastern county. "This is the best time to promote Taitung's indigenous culture and attract tourists to visit Taitung," she said.
[Taiwan]
34 comments:
I found the article a bit confusing. The show is supposed to be about Chinese unity. Why are foreigners invited to perform? And if the point is that the Taiwanese aborigines are being asked to perform as "Chinese", why are they doing it???
...it's also a great opportunity for Taiwan's indigenous peoples to find their niche in the pecking order of China's ethnic peoples. On a scale of modernity...where do they stack up? I want to see a bunch of Han people dancing around in their... "traditional Han" costumes to demonstrate their exotic authenticity.
ooooh, called me overly suspicious but do I smell a cheap PR stunt seemingly offered in good faith as a chance to promote these indigenous peoples to an international audience but with a hidden agenda of subtly demonstrating that China has such cultural diversity? I wonder how they will be introduced and what part of the ceremony they will perform.
Hmmm..... a chance to showcase their unique culture or a chance to be presented as one of China's happy, smiling and oh so pliant minorities, there to amuse the Han?
A 7-year sentence? That seems a bit harsh.
Soo.. China is going to make olympic games into the ethnic show..
I dont get it. Independent non- chinese people from Taiwan are going to dance in chinese Show together with chinese acteurs as "chinese ethnics" whose goverment will take their Land into own empire?
1: are those performers nuts?
2: now feels other Taiwan about?
aside that this remind me a little bit about "Negro Villages" of native Belgian Congonese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_zoo
What the hell are these people thinking? I hope this is just a rumor.
Taiwan has a huge international identity problem already, the last thing we need is to get more mixed up with the Chinese. I can see it already the Beijing Game announcer going “and now harvest dance by the Bunun tribe from Taiwan province…”
I'm sure all of us can't be wrong, and right after getting halfway through the post, the same thoughts that all of you addressing here came to mind. I'm sure China is going to take the chance to make it appear or infer that the people from Taiwan are part of China, such as, "Look, and now we will have performances by the many ethnic tribes of China"
I think Kao Chin Su-mei is linked to James Soong, is that right? I feel the KMT patronage network among aborigens is still very active.
Remember, many indigenous groups in Taiwan are fiercely loyal to the KMT and may be following orders from higher ups.
I was meeting with a woman who considers herself an Atayal artist and we got on the subject of traditionalism vs. Modernity. She then agreed that indigenous peoples are second class citizens in the ROC. She agreed that the ROC's national "high culture" was discriminatory and that indigenous peoples' identity and authenticity in the ROC hinges on their performance of being traditional vs. the modern Han as imagined by the ROC. She agreed the ROC constitution creates a perpetual and systemic form of ethnic and cultural discrimination... and she agreed that as long as the ROC constitution remained intact, indigenous peoples on Taiwan would face continued colonization from a monolithic education system and obstructions to mobility.
She was completely and totally pro KMT due to the patronage systems of the KMT and rivalries with other Atayal groups in the area... along with traditional values of loyalty.
Maybe China has plans to expand its ethnic group list from 56 to 70, to scoop up Taiwan's Aboriginal groups? Or, maybe 71, to make a spot for the Taiwanese people, who are not really "Han", whatever that means.
Anonymous wrote: "I found the article a bit confusing. The show is supposed to be about Chinese unity. Why are foreigners invited to perform? And if the point is that the Taiwanese aborigines are being asked to perform as "Chinese", why are they doing it???"
A Brit friend of mine, who is married to an Atayal woman, was punched in the head by her uncle after suggesting that he (meaning the uncle, not the Brit) was not Chinese.
If the Taiwan aborigines wanted to be labeled as a Chinese ethnic minority, by performing in the Olympic ceremony showcasing various Chinese ethnic peoples, then they should shut up next time somebody calls them Chinese. Don't see any KMT legislators fuming about this as when some did when President Ma referred to Taiwan as the "ethnic Chinese" nation in his inaugural speech.
Hopefully not most aborigines are like those performers who are willing to sacrifice their heritage for fame and money.
I thought Taiwanese indigenous peoples were already one of the 56 ethnicities. "Taiwanese Aborigines" is the term used by the CCP to identify them as a single ethnic group based on the Stalinist criteria...which includes common area, customs and psychology. Whereas in Taiwan they have 14 official tribes based mainly on the Japanese concepts of linguistic relationships.
That's correct, aboriginals in Taiwan are already grouped together as one of the 56 nationalities in the PRC definition.
They're officially the gaoshan (high mountain) 高山族.
Do everyone how aboriginal legislator Kao Chin Su-mei became famous...? Just a quick reminder for those who don't: she played the role of a mainland girl in Lee Ang's Wedding Banquet.
Enjoyed the anecdote about the Atayl uncle-in-law up above. I'd venture to guess Kao Chin Su-mei might feel the same way.
Oh, and to respond to the second anonymous poster above...
There's a significant movement amongst some "Han nationalists" on the mainland to restore usage of traditional Han clothing (usually defined as Tang or Song dynasty clothing).
http://www.haanen.net.cn/bbs/
"There's a significant movement amongst some "Han nationalists" on the mainland to restore usage of traditional Han clothing (usually defined as Tang or Song dynasty clothing)."
LOL!
I love selective ethnonationalism. Wouldn't that negate the 5000 years of continual Chinese culture/history myth? I mean to be authentically Han, you'd need to be dress like a Soong/Tang dynasty person... I mean... that might suggest a much later Chineseness. Why don't they choose the clothing popular 5000 years ago...? And what about the Qing collars that used to represent Chinese nationalist "high cuture"? Not authentic enough? And then... what about the revolution to destroy all that? Hahahahahahahaha!
"That's correct, aboriginals in Taiwan are already grouped together as one of the 56 nationalities in the PRC definition.
They're officially the gaoshan (high mountain) 高山族."
That's sad for at least a couple reasons. The only reason many of them lived high up in the mountains was they were pushed off their lands. Hence, the resentment many felt at being labeled 山地人. Plus, these 14 groups are quite distinctive from each other.
The Atayal anecdote, I think, speaks to how much many Aboriginals in Taiwan dislike the Taiwanese - they would rather be associated with Chinese, or anyone else for that matter, than Taiwanese after 400 years of being bullied, cheated and liquored up.
Patrick,
There is also a wish by many ordinary Aborigines to be "normal/regular" people. In many communities Aboriginal elites, scholars and traditionalists, have stepped in and focused on traditional customs and material culture, which seeks to increase difference. Not all aborigines wish to be traditional and may not feel it is essential to being an Aborigine. Many have become Han and wish to stay that way... as members of the advantaged group and feel the efforts of the Aboriginal elites will negate all they have "achieved".
There is also a wish by many ordinary Aborigines to be "normal/regular" people.--
WUT? WAIT!
But my best, they are normal and regular people. POINT.
-- In many communities Aboriginal elites, scholars and traditionalists, have stepped in and focused on traditional customs and material culture, which seeks to increase difference. Not all aborigines wish to be traditional and may not feel it is essential to being an Aborigine.--
thats normal social development 1 inside of all societies or group of people. French, Americans, Chinese are not different so are native Taiwanese.
--Many have become Han and wish to stay that way... --
never saw that one. but i saw many of them became Taiwanese. Chen did right to start a integration of their culture into official national idiology and culture. after all they are the sourceand begin of Taiwan.
Ps. little tip for you: stop to think like an middle age racist and start to respect other cultures andpeople.
"Plus, these 14 groups are quite distinctive from each other."
I know next to nothing about this issue. Yet, it seems plausible to me that the grouping of all of these groups under one ethnicity is a mix of past ignorance of minority cultures coming head-to-head with the contemporary need to group them as a sub-group of China for nationalistic reasons.
How serious was anyone in China about minority culture before the 40s? As for Taiwan, were the Aborigines there anything else but something to push off of good lands? The interest in minority cultures seems to be a modern thing. Since the Taiwan aborigines were not in lands governed by the PRC after the war, PRC people had no chance to study them with care. But they felt they needed to include them in their Chineseness due to political reasons. So they persist as one ethnicity. To label them as several ethnicities now would be to adopt Taiwan's own interpretation of minority culture. It would also be to admit that the other smiling minorities of China may have more diversity than PRC people have wanted to admit. Better to keep them grouped in easily definable categories that the Chinese government can package and market.
What do you think?
anon 9:05,
I am not coming in with a POV, but rather adding perspective to the above argument. Notice the quotes.
This comment is based on research conducted by several scholars on the subject and I can recommend some great articles written by some very talented "middle aged racists":
Rudolph, Michael (2003). "Religion and the Formation of Taiwanese Identities" in Paul R. Katz and Maury Rubinstein (Ed.) The Quest for Difference Versus the Wish to Assimilate:Aborigines and Their Struggle for Cultural Survival in Times of Multiculturalism. New York: Palgrave MacMillan
Stainton, Michael (2006). "Hou Shan/Qian Shan Mugan:Categories of Self and Other in a Tayal Village" in Yeh Chuen-Rong (Ed.) History, Culture and Ethnicity: Selected Papers from the International Conference on the Formosan Indigenous Peoples. Taipei: SMC Publishing Inc.
Hsieh Shih-chung (1994) Tourism, Formulation of Cultural Tradition, and Ethnicity: A Study of the Daiyan Identity of the Wulai Atayal , in Harrell& Huang, Steven and Chun-chieh (Eds.) Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan. Boulder, Co: Westview Press
Thomas,
Contemporary Chinese nationalism necessitates conflating ethnic "others" into a greater Chinese nation, in which they are theoretically equal, but in practice Han is the dominant "big brother" culture. Sun Yat-sen's ideology was developed around a social-darwinist thinking that was popular at the end of the 19th Century and was a modernist project. Han were the apex of modernity and all other groups were in need of modernism and change as dictated by the nationalist elite.
If this sounds like colonialism to you... BINGO!
Dru Gladney has a great study on the Hui Muslims struggle with the state as the state continually needs to dictate who is and isn't "ethnic".
Presenjit Duara looks at the bifurcated history of the Chinese nation in Saving History From The Nation. Duara makes a clear case for why their is a maintained inequality between official "Han" and "other".
anonymous 9:05
You seem to misunderstand the post. It is obviously referring to the existing pejorative.
Is it possible to walk the length and breadth of China within a single day?
One place you could do just that is at the Chinese Ethnic Culture Park, south of the Bird's Nest and within the Olympic Green.
http://www.chinataiwan.org/english/News/dn/200807/t20080716_698551.htm
----------------
You seem to misunderstand the post. It is obviously referring to the existing pejorative.
i did understand it very clear.
i think anon 6:47 AM misunderstood whole definition of culture and ethnic. and he used wrong ethic-table to describe his/her point.
there is a big difenrece in being a "modern aboriginal" with acsepted cultural and ethnical history and being "Han-chinese- aboriginal".
"modern aboriginal" with acsepted cultural and ethnical history and being "Han-chinese- aboriginal".
Ethnic and cultural identities are fluid and constantly negotiated and re-negotiated. They can be deployed at different times and for different reasons.
The current designators in Taiwan and China for indigenous or "ethnic" peoples do not reflect this fact.
Han ethnic identity is, by character, easily entered as demonstrated by such anthropologists as Melissa Brown and Patricia Ebrey. Many Taiwanese identify themselves as Han, yet are actually, what Stevan Harrell calls, "ex-aborigines".
A great example, besides many former Siraya, might be Kao Chin Su Mei, who was happily Han until she found it beneficial to be "Aborigine", to which she has done in full costume to drive the image home.
There are several KMT members who are Han, and have successfully made the transition to Han, but have Aboriginal ancestors. The Plains Aborigines are another group, which has become too Han for the state to accept as "Aborigines"
I'm sorry, but it is not about blood or genetics or a clear "ethnic table". These identities are entered and exited.
Furthermore, the term "modern Aborigines" clearly locates a selected "other" in a messy trope of modernity vs. "savage", and I highly suggest reading Johannes Fabian's The Time and The Other before continuing further.
In Taiwan, "Aborigine" (capitals are deliberate as an essentialized ethnic group) lacks modernity as defined by the state and can only exist if they can demonstrate being traditional. This is a pejorative as it places them in a state of inferiority to state definition and gives the state a reason to "improve" them through a "civilizing project". This is why I chose the use the terms "normal/regular" in quotes. In the view of the ROC/PRC, they are "lacking" and are thus not in the eyes of modernizing state power, normal, regular or equal.
Many of the "ethnic" peoples in both China and Taiwan who have achieved becoming Han, do not want to go back to "other". The PRC has undertaken several projects to adjust people's ethnic status on histories, locations and other variables... thus taking people who consider themselves ethnically Han... and turning them into "ethnic", despite the lack of any clear boundary between the two.
Ethnic and cultural identities are fluid and constantly negotiated and re-negotiated.
well. thats is only a half of the truth. ethincal and cultural identities have core and margin. It takes very long time or massive force (like mainlands reeducation and assimilation politics).
there is a very big diference between being forced to change(assimilation, genozide, immigration) and changing by own will(integration, merge of cultures and identities.)
So i say those people dont became Chinese they are still Taiwanese.
Here nice exmpl: Change Taiwanese goverment language to another one (dutch/english/japanese or one of natives) and those people will not be furious because they lost "chinesiness". they will be still Taiwanese so long the core of taiwanese population will take that change in culture and language.
--Many Taiwanese identify themselves as Han, yet are actually, what Stevan Harrell calls, "ex-aborigines". --
there was a poll not long time ago wich showed that most children and teenagers in taiwan see themselfes as Taiwanese and not Chinese. "Han-chinese" was only minority. Chen's rule changed old sinisation (KMT time) pressure to free choice and people changed very quick their understanding what and nation and ethnic group they are.
about taiwanese culture. well thats a biggest fun when mainland start to tell forigners that Taiwanese are a same like mainlanders.
--In Taiwan, "Aborigine" (capitals are deliberate as an essentialized ethnic group) lacks modernity as defined by the state and can only exist if they can demonstrate being traditional. --
that is a very consorted view. You misunderstanding "ethnic group" and "nation". aside that what is so backward to be independent ethnic and not to have own state?
What? I'm sorry your English is not clear.
The fact is that you have groups of people who were not "Aborigine" until their contact with state power. The state defined them as "other", deduced they were "lacking" but could be "civilized" and thus enacted projects to carry out this "civilizing". Much of this "civilizing" was done in the name of nationalism and it is still in effect today. There are people who are considered "Aborigines" by the state, who do not wish to be identified as "Aborigines". There are also "Aborigines" who do not wish to be traditional. To receive official recognition as "Aborigines", indigenous peoples must demonstrate their traditionalism, which is often crystalized as how they are thought to have been at first contact with state power. This of course is a denial of their coevalness and denies indigenous peoples the same modernity, in they eyes of the state, as enjoyed by other peoples on Taiwan. This discriminative structure, combined with the organs for carrying out Chinese nationalism, which equates Han culture with modernity, engenders a rift in indigenous communities between assimilation (accepting Han cultural values to avoid discrimination) and demonstrations of ethnic pride. There have been several cases where scholars and Aboriginal elites have met resistance in indigenous communities when trying to revive traditional folk customs and languages as may community members are reluctant to give up their acquired Han identity/customs, which they have often proudly displayed as symbolic of their "upward mobility" in a national culture which has rewarded assimilation into the centralized state culture.
The united term "Taiwan Yuan Chu Min" or "Taiwanese Aborigines" did not occur until the 1980's when the ATA was fighting for indigenous people's rights.
Until you can offer some alternative sources to the ones I provided above and below I have to leave it at that.
I'll post my recommendations for others who may be interested.
For further reading on "nation" see:
Ernest Gellner-Nations and Nationalism
Eric Hobsbawm-Nations and Nationalism since 1780
and
The Invention of Tradition
Benedict Anderson- Imagined Communities
Edward Said-Orientalism
Max Weber
For Ethnicity see:
Charles F. Keyes-Ethnic Change
For Culture see:
Clifford Geertz-The Interpretation of Culture
James Clifford- The Predicament of Culture
On History see:
Hayden White-Metahistory
Paul Cohen-History: Event, Experience and Myth
Presenjit Duara-Saving History from the Nation
p.s.
Han and Chinese can be viewed as mutually exclusive
By Han I am discussing behavioral traits of Confucian/Han culturalism. Unfortunately, the ROC and the PRC have both tried to conflate Han and Chinese into concepts of the nation.
regarding "gao shan", yes the name was a relics of the less sensitive era more thasn 50 years ago.
also, back then the difference between these 9-13 tribes were not recognized. later (perahps during the past 10-30 years) researches have revealed than they are more different than that between Philippino and Hawaiian (see, eg, Jared Diamond's Gun Germ & Steel) - supported by linguistic, and genetic evidences.
Yes, without Gaoshan it would be 55, not 56 ethinicities.
Also Yes, to be correct it should be 64-68 (or more?) and the Han-perspective name should be changed to a more sensitive one.
However, the discrinimation is by all Han people, including the so-called Bensheng/Minnan-speaking Taiwanese who migratd there 100-400 years ago.
Also, note that because Bensheng are now the dominant majority and arguably chauvinism has been displayed by some, it is natural that the minorities will cling together as a result of insecurity. i.e. indigenous, hakka and waisheng.
What? I'm sorry your English is not clear.
my english is very clear.
--The fact is that you have groups of people who were not "Aborigine" until their contact with state power.--
whats about exsactly?
--The state defined them as "other", deduced they were "lacking" but could be "civilized" and thus enacted projects to carry out this "civilizing". --
You are talking about mainland and KMT ethno-political agenda. Actualy the position of Aboriginals inside of Taiwanese society was very changed after DDP won the Vote.
--Much of this "civilizing" was done in the name of nationalism and it is still in effect today. There are people who are considered "Aborigines" by the state, who do not wish to be identified as "Aborigines". --
yepp, sure. people like that exsist in everyone nation and ethnic group. but that doesnt change their ethno-sozial position inside of Taiwanese nation. aside that those people tend to swich back into aboriginal role if they get profit for being "aboriginal".
--To receive official recognition as "Aborigines", indigenous peoples must demonstrate their traditionalism, which is often crystalized as how they are thought to have been at first contact with state power. --
where have you got this "official recognition" info? Australian goverment?
---This of course is a denial of their coevalness and denies indigenous peoples the same modernity, in they eyes of the state, as enjoyed by other peoples on Taiwan. --
What do you mean with "modernity"?
---This discriminative structure, combined with the organs for carrying out Chinese nationalism, which equates Han culture with modernity, engenders a rift in indigenous communities between assimilation (accepting Han cultural values to avoid discrimination) and demonstrations of ethnic pride. There have been several cases where scholars and Aboriginal elites have met resistance in indigenous communities when trying to revive traditional folk customs and languages as may community members are reluctant to give up their acquired Han identity/customs, which they have often proudly displayed as symbolic of their "upward mobility" in a national culture which has rewarded assimilation into the centralized state culture. --
again, i am talking about actual position of taiwanese natives called "aboriginals". (after DDP rule) you are mixing their position before DDP rule with DDP rule time. sorry but you should deside wich time do you want to talk about. because in a time of DDP ethnical politics toward aboriginals was changed. second of your misunderstand is that you do not clear borders in a goverment- and parties- and representants of ethnical groups- politics.
goverment do change after every Vote. Political party politics may will not be realised after the party lost or won Vote. and leaders of ethnical groups have own agendas and politics toward other ethnics, political parties and goverment.
--Also Yes, to be correct it should be 64-68 (or more?) and the Han-perspective name should be changed to a more sensitive one.--
The problem with "Han" is the failed and very unacseptable ethnical definition system(or whatever they use for it) used by mainland goverment and KMT.
"Actualy the position of Aboriginals inside of Taiwanese society was very changed after DDP won the Vote."
How?
Both KMT and DPP governments attempted to appropriate indigenous peoples and cultures as a means to a political ends and work them into their selected national narratives.
The KMT tried to cast them as a form of "Chinese", or into the trope of one group of successive waves of immigrants to validate their sojourn government.
But you seem more concerned with the DPP, as if this was a great watershed. I think more progress was made under Lee Teng Hui than anyone, and this is coming from a traditional DPP supporter.
The DPP used indigenous traditionalist imagery to attempt to create temporal distance from China and the Chen administration actively sought out and employed indigenous symbolism in an effort to compete with the myth of 5000 years of Chinese culture, that has been so selectively wielded by Chinese nationalists. What was the purpose of this symbolism?
As an example, let's look at the 2004 GIO slogan for tourism, "Naruwan, Welcome to Taiwan" In many ways this slogan represents the states desire to commoditize indigenous culture for tourism and satisfy the cosmopole's desire and fetish of that which is "exotic" while appropriating it into its national narrative. Why did they choose this slogan to represent all of "Taiwan", especially when indigenous peoples officially represent such a statistical minority? Furthermore, the government claimed it means, "Hello,Welcome" in an "Aboriginal language"..."like Aloha in Hawaii". Pure fiction! In reality, "Naluwan" is a common vocalization used in singing...esp. in Amis, but appears nowhere in the Amis dictionary. The trilled "L" sound is difficult for Mandarin speakers to pronounce and became "r". This example aptly demonstrates the DPP's often chauvinistic and misguided approach to indigenous affairs and further exploitative policies, which, in effect, do nothing to decolonize indigenous peoples and continues the pattern of state appropriation and definition of indigenous cultures. Of the DPP you could say.."they meant well".
To be officially recognized an "Aborigine", people must prove a blood line of descent, and/or traditional language, and/or traditional customs, and/or dwell in a traditional location. These are all traits which are fixed in a concept of "past"... lacking modernity. Ethnic Stereotypes that satisfy a non indigenous person's requirement and in some ways to satisfy an ethnic other's fetishized version of indigenality. The above criteria are incongruent with how indigenous peoples identify themselves and others.
Improved a lot?
The ROC Constitution is still in place, there is no Autonomy, the strong centralized state is still the supreme arbiter of indigenous people's affairs, the education system is still the strongest tool of Chinese nationalism and ROC socialization, there are still 98,000 barrels of waste on Lanyu (Despite Chen's promise to remove them by the end of his term). Aborigines are still imagined as labor, athletes, singers and dancers...and not professionals. There is still a great imbalance in indigenous villages as far as quality of state services and how those services are distributed. There is still the deterioration of the villages due to migration and social break down. There has been no effort to really address colonization.
Please... list your sources and definitions or move on.
We have further evidence that when thinking of China, one should imagine it as an alien world totally unready to deal with anyone who doesn't happen to be Han Chinese. According to the South China Morning Post, the authorities in Beijing asked nightclub owners in the Sanlitun night club district of Beijing to be somewhat selective in who they admit into bars and clubs during the Games.
http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/8858/chinese_multiculturalism_=_epic_fail
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