Center for Multi-cultural Studie

Implementation period of the project: June 15, 2021 to December 15, 2020

Project members: Project Director Shiung, Chung-Ching, Co-director Alak Akatuang

The origin of the project:

The Siraya tribe is an aborigine in the Tainan area, and it was also an important ethnic group in Taiwan's plains indigenous peoples in the past. When the Dutch came to Tainan for trade and colonization in the 17th century, they had close observation and contact with the Siraya people and left many written records. The culture and national identity of the Siraya people have been destroyed repeatedly during the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Japanese colonial period. It was not until the 1980s of the Republic of China that Taiwan’s local culture rose and the alpine aborigines’ self-conscious name rectification movement fueled the flames. Find your dignity and cultural identity.

Beitouyang Settlement, located in Jiali District, Tainan City, used to belong to the Xiaolong Society of the Siraya Tribe. In the settlement, there is the Lichang Palace dedicated to Alizu and the legendary ancient well dug in the Dutch era. After a large number of Han people entered Tainan in the 18th century, coupled with the land development and ethnic governance policies of the Qing government, some of the Siraya tribe in Beitouyang-Xiaolongshe, migrated to the Jibeishuo tribe.With the gradual increase of the surrounding Han population, the descendants of the Siraya people in Beitouyang are gradually becoming a minority, and it is not easy to maintain their cultural traditions. 

During Japanese-Governed Period, the Siraya people left in Beitouyang still retain the cultural tradition of believing in Alizu since ancient times. This settlement attracted the attention of scholars at that time because of the particularity of its terrain and culture. Under the leadership of Wu Xinrong, Kokubu Naoichi once investigated the settlement of Beitouyang, which opened the way of Siraya research. The academic research treatise The Village of Sacrificial Pots (祀壺之村) written later pointed out the significance of Beitouyang settlement in the academic history of Siraya. After the end of World War II, the household registration management policy of the national government worsened the cultural identity of the Siraya people. In 1999, under the support of the Tainan City Government, the Beitouyang Settlement revived the traditional Siraya night festival folk activities with reference to the night festival ceremony of Dongshan Jibeishu, and was designated as an intangible cultural asset in the category of folk customs in 2009. 

This research project is based on such a development context, planning and investigating the Feifan tomb in the Beitouyang settlement. First of all, based on the existing basic data, sort out the Fei-Fan tomb in the Beitouyang settlement in Tainan City. Secondly, study the form structure, historical evolution and the life background of the tomb owner of Fei-Fan tomb, and discuss the cultural landscape significance of Fei-Fan tomb in the overall settlement. Finally, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Cultural Assets Preservation Law" or "Measures for the Handling of Cultural Assets of Aboriginal Peoples", discuss the impact of reporting Feifan's tomb as a cultural asset in the future on stakeholders, and suggest feasible cultural asset preservation and maintenance. plan. Finally, in accordance with the relevant regulations of "Enforcement Rules of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Act" or "Regulations Governing the Affairs of Indigenous Peoples' Cultural Heritage," discuss the impact of reporting Feifan Tomb as a cultural asset in the future on stakeholders, and Recommend feasible solutions for preservation and maintenance of cultural assets.