Friday, March 18, 2011

Bunun Indigenous Writing System



David on Formosa has a good blog post on his visit to the Bunun community of Kalibuan (Wangxiang, 望鄉部落). In it he mentions that the Bunun had developed their own writing system. You can see an example of this writing system by clicking on the link to a good PDF document on the Bunun. However it seems that the Bunun did not write down their entire language but rather devised a notation system to mark their lunar calendar.
Src: formosatribal.com

(Does anyone have pictures of original documents or artifacts or stone carvings with this calendar? We'd like to get a copy rather than only have the above reproduced versions.)

Development of indigenous writing systems can be very important for national identity. The Koreans developed Hangul. The Vietnamese specifically chose to use a Latin script instead of Chinese characters in order to keep a distinction between Vietnam and China. China has coveted this land to the south but lost a war with the Vietnamese and so China was not able to annex Vietnam.

The Manchu peoples had their own writing system, traces of which can be found in carved inscriptions of west Taiwan from the time of Manchu empire outposts on Taiwan. However, as the Manchu people began shifting to Chinese characters, they lost a key cultural distinction and have not been separate from China since then.

Many factors contribute to a distinct identity. Language is one. Written script can be another. For Taiwan to free itself from the vise grip of its covetous neighbor and her tentacles already extended into Taiwan society, we must employ every means possible.

Elevating all the languages of Taiwan to a level of national respect, using them in schools, and adopting a romanized or indigenous scripts in the place of Chinese characters can all help to remove traces of the neo-colonialist/imperialist impositions of Chiang Kai-shek and his followers.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

A new Paiwan musical theater:

米靈岸全球首演 Miling'an's World Premiere

www.milingan.org

Introductory Video米靈岸預告


Get your tickets online here.

Here is some information from the artistic director:


Ticketing Contact票務聯絡人:Kay余筱蓉小姐 電話(02)2910-2305 傳真(02)2916-0049 信箱:hitai1230@gmail.com 0930-047-609


親愛的朋友,我是米靈岸音樂劇場的藝術總監 胡健。


除夕夜,籌備了兩年的「米靈岸音樂劇場」正式在兩廳院上網售票。

米靈岸是個心願,守護人類與古老生命源頭的連結,在全球自然災變的此時,聽聽「米靈岸」,也許我們會在仍然有靈力傾聽大自然生命脈動的古老文明裡,找到「出口」。

「米靈岸」排灣語意:「口傳神話故事」之意。在這個星球上,幾乎所有原住民的文化裡,都沒有文字,一切來自遠古源頭的生命教育傳承都靠「米靈岸」,一種結合語言、吟唱、儀式性的神秘故事。

「米靈岸音樂劇場」是我們探索到的一個無語言、文化隔閡的說故事手法。價值過千萬的5.1環繞音響工程,完美地詮釋來自古大武山頂天雷的轟天憾地。

尋找「米靈岸」的路,我走了十六年,芮斯走了一輩子。

今年只有一個心願:「米靈岸,座無虛席」。

「米靈岸音樂劇場」4月15~17在華山文化園區共演4場。衷心地希望您可以用實質的購票行動來支持我們,並把米靈岸分享給身邊的親朋好友。



祝賀喜樂平安!



Dear Friends:



This is Allia Hu, the producer and artistic director of Miling’an Musical Theater(www.milingan.org ).



Miling’an is a Grand National Musical Theatre work supported by the National and Culture Art Foundation (www.ncafroc.org.tw ) of Taiwan. The world premiere will be done on April 15~17, 2011 at Huashan Creative Park in Tapei.


Milingan is a brilliant work combining the very ceremonial energy from a living ancient civilization call PAIWAN and the various non-proscenium creative ideas. We are especially seeking for exciting natural environment like forest, ruins…etc, where we can have very strong and close interaction with both the participants (audience) and the domestic civilization.

The above are some links to the website and preview of the production :



Your sincerely,



胡健 (Allia Hu)



米靈岸音樂劇場(Miling'an) 藝術總監 (Artistic Director)

Cell: 886-933236035 / Tel: 886-2-29102305