After 30 Years of Cultural Revival, the Siraya Reclaim Their Indigenous Status in Taiwan

This story written by Oiwan Lam originally appeared on Global Voices on August 12, 2026.

Indigenous Siraya were officially recognized via executive decree as Taiwan’s 17th indigenous group on July 30. They are also the first plains tribe group to obtain Indigenous status after the passage of the Plains Indigenous Peoples Status Act in October 2025. 

Like other Indigenous tribes in Taiwan, Siraya society was matriarchal, and its people, belonging to the Austronesian, spoke a distinctive language known as Sinckan, which was recorded through romanization by missionaries during the Dutch colonial era (1624–1662). 

Siraya people settled in the southwestern plain areas of Taiwan’s main island long before the Qing Dynasty took over Dutch Formosa in 1683, when some of the tribes were forced to relocate to the southeastern coast.

The tribal group practiced Animism and had unique ritualistic practices to worship the spiritual interconnectedness of the human and natural world. However, their culture and language almost vanished as a result of more than three centuries of forced assimilation, first under the Qing dynasty, followed by Japanese imperial rule, and then military dictatorship under the Kuomintang (KMT) of the Republic of China (ROC).

It has taken more than 30 years for the Siraya to rediscover, reconstruct, and revive their language and culture.

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Comparing the mountains and the plains Indigenous groups

Under Qing colonial rule (1684–1895), the Indigenous peoples in Taiwanwere divided into two categories: The “raw” or “uncivilized barbarians” (生番), who resided in the mountainous areas and resisted the Qing administration, and the “mature” or “civilized barbarians” (熟番), who resided in the flatland, paid taxes, and submitted to the government. Siraya people were categorized as mature barbarians.

The Qing government forced them to abandon their mother tongue; submit to Manchu rulers by shaving their hair; learn the Chinese language; and adopt Han surnames, rituals, and culture.

During the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945), the Japanese administrators continued dividing the Austronesian Indigenous peoples into two major categories: First, the plains Indigenous or Pingpu (平埔) peoples, who, along with Han settlers, were considered natives; second, the mountain Indigenous or the Takasago peoples, which consisted of nine unique ethnic groups. The Pingpu and Takasago peoples were geographically segregated by a military line built by the Japanese for administrative purposes, with the mountainous regions placed under military control. 

After the KMT, the ruling party of the Republic of China, fled to Taiwan from mainland China upon the defeat of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, it adopted Japan’s colonial division, distinguishing Indigenous groups as “mountain compatriots” (山胞) and Pingpu peoples. But only those living in mountainous areas were registered as Indigenous peoples, while Pingpu tribes were treated like ordinary Han.

Under KMT military dictatorship (1949–1987), through education, administrative measures, and public shaming, the Pingpu tribes were forced to assimilate into Han’s culture. On the other hand, the mountain regions were designated as “restricted zones” which required special permits to enter. Thus, the KMT maintained exclusive access to the tribal communities and established patronage relations with Indigenous elites through public appointment and business licenses to sustain their single-party dictatorship with manipulated local elections.

The KMT government began to legally register Aboriginal land in Taiwan as Aboriginal Reserve Land in 1968, which granted the Indigenous tribes user rights and restricted the selling of land to Han Chinese. However, legal loopholes resulted in land seizure by developers, corporations, and local governments. It was only after Taiwan began democratizing in the early 1990s that Indigenous peoples had the space to protest for their rights. 

Indigenous rights movements since democratization

Since that democratization, waves of Indigenous rights movements emerged and brought series of substantial policy changes — the derogatory term “mountain compatriots” was replaced with “Indigenous peoples” in 1994, the mandatory Han surname registration system was dropped in 1995, a cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples was established in 1996 to coordinate related affairs, the collective rights of the Indigenous were codified in 1997, and Indigenous peoples’ right to education was codified in 1998.

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However, Pingpu descendants’ claim for Indigenous status had been deferred as their ancestral lands are flatlands with developmental potential. Some insisted that the Pingpu have been assimilated into Han Chinese through intermarriage, and some were worried that an influx of new Indigenous members would expand the pool of privileged citizens, as Indigenous peoples in Taiwan are entitled to reserved seats in the legislature, as well as social and educational benefits through affirmative action. 

It was only in 2022, through a landmark Constitutional Court ruling, that the Indigenous rights of Pingpu were recognized, which was later codified in the 2025 Plains Indigenous People Status Act. The Siraya people are the first among Pingpu to have successfully claimed their Indigenous status — a journey that took more than 30 years. 

Like other Pingpu tribes, Siraya’s struggle began with land rights, as they were excluded from registering their ancestral lands under the Aboriginal Reserve Land policy. Their protests later evolved into legal battles and cultural movements among the Pingpu Indigenous tribes, including Siraya.

Among the Siraya activists, the dedication of the Talavan family stands out, having devoted three generations to reviving Siraya’s culture and language. The first generation, 85-year-old Cheng-hiong Talavan, founded the Tainan Pepo Siraya Culture Association (TPSCA) in 1999 to reconstruct Siraya people’s historical legacy and preserve their culture through oral history and collection of relics. His daughter Uma Talavan and her husband Edgar Macapili, who is a member of the Bisaya Indigenous people in the Philippines, decoded the Sinckan language through word-by-word translation of a Sirayan translation of “The Gospel of St. Matthew” written by early Dutch missionaries into English, Dutch, and Bisayan (an Austronesian language similar to Sinckan). The couple managed to recover 4,000 Sinckan vocabulary words and used the language to write children’s books and educational songs. The third generation, Euphone and Lici Talavan, have devoted themselves to revitalizing Siraya culture and spreading awareness. 

One Talavan family member, under the username @miss5langs, highlighted the significance of the recognition of Siraya’s Indigenous status via a post on Threads:

In addition to Siraya, Kavalan, Ketagalan, Taokas, Pazeh, Papora, Babuza, Hoanya, and Makatau groups are classified as Pingpu, and they are also working to apply for official recognition of their Indigenous status.

[VP]

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