The Saisiyat (;

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

Pha̍k-fa-sṳ Pha̍k-fa-sṳ () is an orthography similar to Pe̍h-ōe-jī and used to write Hakka, a variety of Chinese. Hakka is a whole branch of Chinese, and Hakka dialects are not necessarily mutually intelligible with each other, considering the large geo ...

: ''賽夏族(Sòi-hà-tshu̍k)''), also spelled Saisiat, are an indigenous people of Taiwan. In 2000 the Saisiyat numbered 5,311, which was approximately 1.3% of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

's total indigenous population, making them one of the smallest aboriginal groups in the country. The Saisiyat inhabit

Western Taiwan The regions of Taiwan are based on historical administrative divisions. However, most of the definitions are not precise. Division into two regions * Eastern and Western Taiwan: the Central Mountain Range separates Taiwan into east and west. :* ' ...

, overlapping the border between

Hsinchu County Hsinchu is a County (Taiwan), county in Regions of Taiwan, north-western Taiwan. The population of the county is mainly Hakka people, Hakka; with a Taiwanese aboriginal minority in the southeastern part of the county. Zhubei is the county seat ...

and

Miaoli County Miaoli is a county (Taiwan), county in western Taiwan. Miaoli is bordered by Hsinchu County and Hsinchu City to the north, Taichung to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the west. Miaoli is Regions of Taiwan, classified as "central Taiwan" by t ...

. They are divided into the Northern Branch ( Wufong in the mountainous Hsinchu area) and the Southern Branch (

Nanzhuang Nanzhuang Township is a rural township in Miaoli County, Taiwan. Geography It has a population total of 9,029 (January 2023) and an area of . Demographics The population consists of Hakkas, Hoklos and the indigenous Saisiyat and Atayal ...

and Shitan in the highlands of Miaoli), each with its own

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

. Their language is also known as Saisiyat.

Names

Saisiyat are sometimes rendered as Saiset, Seisirat, Saisett, Saisiat, Saisiett, Saisirat, Saisyet, Saisyett, Amutoura, or Bouiok.

History

A series of major conflicts between the

Kingdom of Tungning The Kingdom of Tungning, also known as Tywan, was a dynastic maritime state that ruled part of southwestern Taiwan and the Penghu islands between 1661 and 1683. It is the first predominantly ethnic Han state in Taiwanese history. At its z ...

and the Saisiyat people left the Saisiyat decimated and with much of their land in the hands of the Kingdom. The details of the conflicts remain mysterious however historians agree that the outcome was negative for the Saisiyat. The first Aboriginal victim of the

White Terror White Terror may refer to: Events France * First White Terror (1794–1795), a movement against the Jacobins in the French Revolution * Second White Terror (1815), a movement against the French Revolution Post-Russian Empire * White Terror (Rus ...

was Jih Chin-chun, a Saisiyat man executed in 1952.

Culture

The Saisiyat people hold a festival called Pasta’ay every two years.

Saisiat Global Flood Account

In the ancient times, human beings were created by god and lived in the original land. Then a flood happened suddenly and human beings were dispersed everywhere without knowing what would happen. Then, a man sat on a weaving loom and floated to Airubia Mountain. There was a god called Otspoehobong (Oopenhaboon) on the mountains. The god grabbed the man suddenly. Fearing that the flood would cause human beings to be extinct, the god killed the survivor, pounded his flesh, chanted an incantation, and threw the flesh of the dismembered corpse into the sea. The flesh turned into human beings. They were our ancestors named Siasiat by the god. Then the god cut his intestines and threw into the sea. The intestines turned into human beings. They were the ancestors, of Taiwanese... Then it threw his bones into the sea. The bones also turned into human beings. They were ancestors of the indomitable Atayal people.

References

External links