One for all, and all for one
"It could be said that 'holistic community development' reveals the basic nature of our traditional Amis culture," says Tsai Yi-chang. Whether for harvesting crops, hunting, building bridges and roads, or going into battle, tribal life required solidarity.
"In the past no one was afraid of earthquakes and fires, and they weren't worried about having to replace their thatch roofs every three years either," Tsai points out. Three days after a fire, the new building would be up again with the help of your neighbors. A little incident would become an "excuse" for everyone to get together and have a good time.
"The Amis have always been a society in which people help each other out and share," says Tseng Kuo-fan, the former village head of Tatung Village in Kuangfu Rural Township, who worked with Tsai promoting holistic community building. Unfortunately, with all the best intentions, past governments built cement dykes along the rivers, and filled in the swamps. As a result, the fish pools dried up. The thatched houses, out of sanitary considerations, were replaced with reinforced concrete residences.
With this wave of "modernization," the traditional festivals of the "balakau culture" were replaced with "pig-slaughtering culture." Because the slaughter of pigs was so brutal, underage children were not permitted to come near, which made it just that much harder to pass along the culture. At the same time, sturdy concrete buildings will stand for a century, and so neighbors have fallen out of the habit of helping each other and have thus lost an opportunity to gain a sense of interconnectedness.
In 1995, in response to the government's call to move industry to the East Coast, Tsai prepared to take his lead pipe processing company back to his hometown. In his boredom as he was waiting, Tsai took up a camera and started to take pictures all around the tribal village. Much to his surprise, it awoke his long dormant love of the old ways.
"In comparison to other tribal villages, Fataan is affluent and has a high level of culture," says Tsai. "It even has a 'strivers' row' lined with impressive houses."
It's just that behind these large homes were stories of untold suffering. Particularly in the 1970s, people of his clan left to build the North Link Rail Line, or to work on fishing boats far out at sea, or even to build highways in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia. After being away from home for so many years, you would trade up for a fancy house, but you would discover that your children had picked up bad habits and your wife had fallen out of love with you. People became more calculating and lost some of the tribal people's innocence and happy-go-lucky qualities.
"With the promotion of 'holistic community building,' I began to think about how tribal people could use their local and traditional culture and develop their native talents so that they wouldn't need to leave home to make a living."
Tsai points out that when you stay in the tribal village you can see your children grow up. At the same time, it's the only way to give the village a new lease on life. When the Council for Cultural Affairs began to promote "holistic community development" all around Taiwan, Tsai grabbed hold of the opportunity and threw himself into this difficult social undertaking.
The method of raising fish in balakau, three-storied tanks, bears witness to the wisdom of Fataan's ancestors. Taking good care of these balakau shows the discipline of a family and maintains its honor.