Vita

🗣️ Most people don't know that Polynesians originated from Taiwan. It's easy to repeat propaganda about Taiwan being “part of China since ancient times” when nobody knows the history of Taiwan. Much harder when you learn the people of the Pacific set out from Taiwan way before China existed as a country. A big reason nobody knows it is centuries of colonization. Dutch, Qing, Japanese, then the KMT Chinese. Taiwan's indigenous peoples were assimilated and written out, and their history wasn't taught, even in Taiwan. Then the KMT spent decades selling Chinese nationalism, which didn't leave room for an exploration of Austronesian history. And the Chinese government has every reason to keep it buried, since a Taiwan with indigenous roots going back before China existed makes their "province of China" claim look stupid. It took Taiwan becoming a democracy for these stories to be told at all. Freedom of speech, freedom of information, the freedom to learn our own history. Under martial law none of this could be said out loud. My grandparents and parents never learned this. I am sharing all that I am learning with my mom and dad now and they’re in their late 70s. 🌺 Last month in Honolulu, Taiwan's Council of Indigenous Peoples, Kamehameha Schools, and the Polynesian Voyaging Society signed a Declaration of Austronesian Kinship and Pacific Unity. More than 100 people in the room, four hours, presented in Hawaiian, Paiwan, English, and Mandarin. Taiwan's indigenous languages hold nine of the ten branches of the Austronesian family. The tenth became Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan, Tahitian, Tagalog, Malagasy. Always appreciate the coverage @keverington provides in articles like this and wanted to amplify it. What's interesting is the Polynesian Voyaging Society mentioned in this article is the same organization Disney hired to add authenticity to Moana. What would a Moana prequel look like? Any plans for an origin story that goes back 3,000 years before Moana’s story began? That would be Taiwan. 🌈The more you know.