Sul Blog di curiosità Messynessychic Victoria Linchong descrive , anche attraverso immagini di repertorio, un aspetto dell’isola di Taiwan poco noto ai piu, e cioè che l’isola ospita una popolazione indigena con una cultura ricca e particolare.

Unless you are Taiwanese, you probably don’t know that Taiwan is inhabited by indigenous Pacific Islanders. Currently, there are 16 recognized tribes on the island, comprising 2.4% of Taiwan’s population of 23 million people, comparable to the native population in the United States (2%). Archeological evidence shows that indigenous people have been on Taiwan for at least 8,000 years. At some point between 3,000 and 1,500 BCE, groups of indigenous people set sail from Taiwan and settled all the Austronesian islands, from Madagascar all the way to Hawaii. The indigenous people of Taiwan are the ancestors of the Maori.

La popolazione nativa di Taiwan ha una struttura che si potrebbe definire matriarcale: al matrimonio i mariti vengono “assorbiti” dalla famiglia delle mogli, le eredità seguono linee matriarcali e le donne spesso raggiungono i vertici delle strutture sociali delle tribù.

A metà del XIX secolo Taiwan passò sotto il dominio del Giappone: la popolazione indigena resistette al dominio nipponico, che per soggiogarli impiegò sia la repressione armata, sia strumenti di propaganda, quali le cartoline (di cui l’articolo riporta diversi esemplari)

Most of the postcards that the Japanese produced featured the indigenous people on Taiwan. Under influence from Western anthropology, Japanese scholars were sent out to study and photograph indigenous people. These photographs were used to produce thousands of postcards. By then, the majority of the population was Chinese, but you would never know this from Japanese postcards. The postcards promote a colonist legend of Taiwan as an isolated island of savages benefiting from the civilizing effect of Japanese rule.