Past, Present and Future: Shitiping, Gangkou Village

After the massacre of Manchu soldiers in Cepo' Incident, remaining clansmen of Makota’ay moved to the plain between Coast Mountains and the Pacific Ocean near the outlet of Hsiu Ku Luan Creek and developed the life and cultural wisdom of Pangcah. The population of the port tribe is now about 500 people, most of the tribal people work and live in the city so only the elderly, children and a little young people stay to maintain tribal life. Port tribes are divided into several settlements of the port makota'ay, the big harbor laeno, the lion mountain, the stone ladder tida'an, the stone staircase molito, the stone staircase harbor, the stone gate and so on. As of today, Makota’ay strictly follows seral (age hierarchy), ilisin (yearly festival）, and misacepo’ (sea festival), making it an important cultural heritage of Pangcah in the east coast.  

Located at the outlet of Hsiu Ku Luan Creek, Makota’ay has gone through fallow, water outage, and population migration for 30 years. Water terraces along the coast are deserted and waterways are fragmented. After 20 years of fallow, clansmen gathered to discuss the solution and finally reached an agreement to work with Forestry Bureau, Council of Agriculture and the Bureau of Agriculture, Hualien County. In 2010, Forestry Bureau started to promote the “Ecological Conservation and Rehabilitation of Important Agricultural Wetlands”; in 2011, Sumi Dongi from Pangcah gathered clansmen to restore water terraces and irrigation ditches in Fengbin Township, resulting in the featured produce “sea rice” and a gradually complete mini industrial chain. Starting from 2016, Taiwan Good Food Association gathered the strength of professionals and clansmen in the hope of finding a way of using the second crop season and tried to grow glutinous rice and grains. The initial results were satisfactory. In the future, agricultural development will continue under the collaboration between the tribe, the government, and the non-government organization.

Gangkou Village is at the southern end of Shiti (literally stone steps/ladder in Chinese) Bay, a big area of sea erosion terrain with protruding coral reefs, canals and cliffs out of erosion are everywhere. Among those erosion rock formation, pot holes are the most interesting scenery, which is the best place to observe pot holes in Taiwan.

As a result, there are many tropical fishes under the sea and all sorts of seaweeds, seafood, and shellfishes growing in the tidal area.   Above the rocky reef seashore grows the only woods in Hualien county and is a great area to observe special plants and animals. For example, Coleus Formosanus, a kind of small plant which is shorter than 10 cm that blossoms bluish-purple color along the stalk, only exists in Malaysia and Orchid Island, Green Island, and here in Shitiping.It usually blossoms from the spring to summer seasons. So please look for these small plants when you are here.

Among the plants growing along the seashore, Pandanus Odoratissimus, yellow hibiscus, and scaevola aemula are the most popular. They are all plants that requires minimal sunshine and water, and could live in salty environment. Especially Pandanus Odoratissimus is under protection due to it is the only feed and habitat to the big-headed stick insect ( Megacrania Tsudai) which is near distinct. In addition, the Phoenix Hanceane that grow on pebbles is a plant living since the ice age. The pot holes on the protruding coal reefs are full of sea creatures such as sea urchins, sea snails, and sea weeds which are delicatessen to the local inhabitants. 

Cultural And Life

The major inhabitants here is the Pangcah and the Han people is the second largest population. As a result, the major language used here is the Pangcah language while Mandarin is the second language. There religious rituals, singing, dancing, and life style are very similar to those of the Gangkou village which is 2 KM away. The Fishing festival in June and their Ilisin (Harvest Festival) in late July are the most important festivals. They had been trying to maintain and revive their traditional culture, so there are many clubs and studios focusing on different traditions such as weaving, shaman dancing, conventional cuisine, and traditional wine brewing…, etc. Pangcah has a tradition of oral history, called "pakongko". The seniors tell the stories to the young children, not only to pass down the tribal culture and customs, but also to closely contact the tribal relationship between the elderly and young people. And the "storytelling" person, in the tribe is well-respected, for example, tribal leaders who must have the ability to tell the story in order to pass the tribal spirit. But now, the elderly only pakongko in wedding, funeral or celebration.

The most unique feature of the port tribes is the active artistic activity where a lot of art workers live here, such as visual creation artists, pottery art creators, drifting wood art workers, music performers, etc. Therefore, a lot of the art studios station in the port tribes, including: lit fire studio, necklace studio, Rara Dongi studio, Sawalian Cultural Space, etc, who spare no effort in traditional culture of heritage and the promotion of contemporary art.

│ Rice, umbrella sedge, and Limnophila rugosa │
Rice, umbrella sedge (Cyperus alternifolius) and Limnophila rugosa grew together in the paddies. The rice would be planted closer to the water source while the umbrella sedge would be planted at the farthest end of the filed. After the rice was harvested and dried, right before the coming of the summer, it was time to harvest the umbrella sedge and sun dry them during the hottest season. After the second harvest of rice, around December, most people would weave the dried umbrella sedge into utilitarian objects such as mats while there is nothing much to be dune in the field. Under the umbrella sedge grows the Limophila rugosa which is the essential material in traditional wine brewing. 

In the future, it is hoped that people from the port of tribes , especially young people, not only to  pass down the important culture and the industry,  but also can return to revive the tribe. By keeping the art activities happend and activate the indusrtry, the Gangkou Village of Fengbin area will be very impressive that based on artistic living attitude and farming life.