Pingpu people protest gov't denial of aboriginal status

The protest, part of the "name-rectifying campaign" launched by the Pingpu group, was held at the Council of Indigenous Peoples under the Executive Yuan (Cabinet).

In addition to holding banners with protest slogans, the protesters also fired up the "bamboo cannons," which used to be one of Pingpu people's traditional weapons, as a symbolic gesture to attack the council.

The council issued a statement explaining why it cannot give recognition to the Pingpu people.

It stressed that Pingpu people have already separated themselves from other aboriginals in Taiwan after they chose to be assimilated into the society of Han people centuries ago.

Pingpu people and aboriginals have now become two separate groups of people, the council said.

According to some researchers, the Pingpu tribes in were speakers of Austronesian languages who may have migrated to the island 5,000 to 2,500 years ago.

The Pingpu tribes were widely distributed throughout western Taiwan in the early part of the 17th century. Because the Chinese settlers who first came to Taiwan lived in very close contact with the Pingpu tribes, the latter quickly became assimilated. Due to this assimilation and intermarriage between different tribes, the Pingpu gradually became indistinguishable from the local Chinese (or Han people), according to the researchers.

The government presently officially recognizes 13 indigenous tribes that represent 484,000 people, or about 2.1 percent of the total population of the country.

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