It is a rugged three-hour drive from Nei­wan in Hsin­chu County’s Heng­shan Township to ­Smangus in the mountains of Jian­shi Township. As we hike the Giant Trees Trail, beneath the cool green canopy of the ancient trees that tower into the sky, we hear cicadas chirping, and cast the intense heat of summer to the back of our minds. We are reminded that we are in the last place in Taiwan to be connected by road to the outside world: “God’s village, Smangus.”

After you pass through the entrance to Smangus, you can explore the path of sustainability followed by this unique Aboriginal community.

A change in fortunes

Smangus, perched at an elevation of 1,500 meters, was once one of Taiwan’s most remote and independent indigenous communities. A Christian village of the Atayal people, it only got electricity in 1979 and a paved road to the outside world in 1995.

This type of community generally faced a future of population outflow and general decline. But following the discovery by local residents in 1991 of groves of giant ancient trees about 4.5 kilometers from the village, homestays began to spring up to take in travelers. When the last section of road was opened to traffic in 1995, ­Smangus became a popular tourist destination overnight. However, what ultimately changed the fate of this Aboriginal community was the communal “cooperative” system (called Tnu­nan ­Smangus), that began to be implemented in 2000.

“When visitors came, everyone wanted to compete for their business. Villagers who had previously lived in harmony began to have disputes, and cracks appeared in people’s relationships,” says La­huy ­Icyeh, director of the Education and Culture Department of the Tribal Council. When ­Icyeh Su­lung, who was village chieftain at the time, saw all this, he became worried for the community’s future, and felt there was a need to find a new model that could restore unity. Thus the idea of establishing a “co-op” started to ferment in ­Smangus in the late 1990s, and at the start of the new millennium, under the leadership of the old tribal chief, members of the community set about putting the system into effect. In 2001 they began cooperatively supplying food and beverage services to tourist visitors, sharing the income among everyone involved. The next year, this concept was extended to accommodations.

In 2003, funded by the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, some members of the community went to Israel to visit kibbutzim, the world-famous collective communities. This journey undoubtedly encouraged the people of ­Smangus to move further in the direction of a co-op system. “The kibbutz members have a collaborative division of labor, share their earnings, and work together as one to contribute all their efforts to the community. In another part of the world, we personally witnessed a group that had genuinely developed a cooperative system. This gave us greater confidence in the future prospects of our hometown,” says current tribal chief Ma­say Su­lung.

The next year, building on the foundation of the cooperative, the people of ­Smangus took a step toward collective ownership of the land by introducing a unified plan for the most efficient use of the village’s land resources. La­huy ­­Icyeh says: “In the past, when indigenous people returned from the hunt, they would generously share the meat of the mountain boar with everyone. Now we are sharing the land, taking this culture of sharing to its extreme.”

The wooden statue of hunters in the village evokes the ancient traditions of the Atayal people.

The benefits of sharing

The Tribal Council, which is in charge of all matters large and small in Smangus, currently has nine departments, managing everything from tourism development, education and culture to the conservation of ­environmental resources. The jobs that are part of the daily routine for community members are assigned based on individual abilities and interests. To date, 80% of residents have joined the co-op, and perform all types of tasks including preparation of guest rooms, restaurant meals, guide services, and tending crops.

After 18 years of co-op activity, ­Smangus today, through a refined division of labor and integrated management of resources, has developed a tourism industry that brings in considerable income, enabling it to provide all kinds of welfare support to community members, thus achieving the goal of letting everyone live settled and contented lives. Not only have they resolved the problem of population outflow, which is common in Aboriginal communities, they have made it possible for tribe members who had left the village to return home to work.

Today, each co-op member receives a monthly salary of NT$20,000, regardless of what job they do. This is double the figure for 2004. A good welfare system further underpins the stability of residents’ lives, with all kinds of fees, including medical and educational, being borne by the collective. La­huy ­Icyeh says that the amount of benefits paid out has grown over the years. For example, the monthly child-rearing subsidy given to households with children under two years old has increased from NT$1,000, when this benefit was introduced in 2007, to the current level of NT$4,000.

Of course, discipline is an important link in upholding the cooperative system. La­huy ­Icyeh admits that there are still a small number of people in the community who have the mindset of eating from the communal pot without doing much work, so the need to set some rules appears inevitable. “For example, we don’t allow drinking alcohol while working, otherwise your annual bonus will be cut in half, or by even more if you do it again.” He emphasizes that last year’s annual bonus rose to NT$80,000. “We take the issue of drinking very seriously, and even spent NT$20,000 to buy breathalyzers, which we use for random tests.”

At a time when many people in Taiwan are unwilling to have children because of economic pressure, there is no such problem in well-managed ­Smangus. In this mountain village, each young couple has an average of three children, and at Hsin ­Kwang Elementary, the community’s only primary school, the roll has risen from ten students in six grades when the school was founded in 2004, to 24 today.

Sustainable development

With an eye to long-term development, ­Smangus has adopted various measures. For example, teams of men from the community regularly patrol the surrounding mountains to deter illegal logging and hunting. Planting trees is another major long-term task, for besides beautifying the landscape for tourists, more importantly it is a key link in soil and water conservation. Moreover, from 2010 ­Smangus began to seriously reassess the practice of allowing unlimited numbers of visitors. They began to upgrade guest room sizes and comfort, and as a result the accommodation capacity for tourists fell. But the price of guest rooms increased, so that overall income did not change. Currently guesthouses in the community can provide overnight accommodation for 240 people, as against 450 eight years ago.

In the 18 years since the co-op system was initiated, representatives from many Aboriginal communities have come to Smangus to see the village’s formula for success. But to date it remains the only indigenous community in Taiwan to follow this system.

“It will never be easy to get everyone to set aside their personal interests and devote all their effort to the future of the village. Nevertheless our co-op has been up and running for many years, and we are willing to provide our experience as a reference to others at any time. We unreservedly share relevant experience with visitors who come to view our operations,” says Amin ­Yosyo, director­-general of the Tribal Council.

Current village chief Ma­say Su­lung remarks: “Atayal people led the way, searching for a space for the survival of future generations in the mountain forests of central and northern Taiwan. Today, how could we not make every effort to meet the expectations of our forebears, and not struggle to unite together and defend our homeland?”    

The groves of gigantic ancient cypress trees 4.5 kilometers from Smangus are a major tourist attraction for the community.

Taking a breather on the trail to the giant trees, one has time to think about the past, present, and future of this indigenous community.

The people of Smangus guide visitors through their homeland.

The Smangus experimental branch of Hsin Kwang Elementary School has developed a rich curriculum in Atayal culture for students.

Once facing decline deep in the mountains, Smangus is now thriving thanks to the cooperative system they have put in place there.