The talented men and beautiful women of the Rukai Ali Tribe carry on their ancestral roots in the clouds
Bao Taide, a descendant of the headman family of the Rukai Adiri tribe; Gu Xiuhui, a Hakka girl from Hsinchu. The two met in a tribe above the clouds, and fell in love deep in the mountain forests of Wutai Township, Pingtung County. They retreated into the mountains for love for nearly thirty years. Even when Typhoon Morakot severely damaged the road linking the tribe to the outside world, forcing tribespeople to relocate to the Changzhi Lily Park area on the flatland, this talented couple insisted on their deep love for the mountain forests, staying at the farthest point of Provincial Highway 24, keeping their home and also guarding the mountain forests.
It has been nearly five years since Typhoon Morakot struck, and thanks to the persistence of Bao Taide and Gu Xiuhui, the Adiri tribe that moved to the flatland can still let its roots in the ancestral homeland continue to spread and grow strong.
Adiri, the Rukai tribe above the clouds
She hopes this craftwork, which is highly practical and culturally distinctive, can become the focus of work during periods when she cannot stay in the tribe during the flood season, and she also hopes it can become a new source of income besides the homestay and crops.
Gu Xiuhui believes that the cool weather of the Adiri tribe, the surrounding mountain scenery, and a tribe with more than 300 years of Rukai history mean its cultural assets are extremely rich. As long as the condition of Provincial Highway 24 continues to improve year by year, whether promoting ecotourism, growing distinctive crops or developing cultural and creative products, all can help the Adiri tribe develop a small but beautiful economic model.
After Typhoon Morakot, although most of the Adiri tribe's population moved to the Changzhi Lily Park area on the flatland, just as tribal headman Bao Jicheng said, "The ancestral homeland is not abandoned, the culture does not die, the Rukai endure forever." The ancestral homeland in the mountains is like a mother, with Provincial Highway 24 as the umbilical cord, tying the children in the Lily Park below the mountain. Bao Taide and Gu Xiuhui are the gardeners who stayed behind to run things in the ancestral homeland, continuing the roots of Adiri tribal culture.