Shitiping Taluan: Amis Elders Pursue the Dream of Paddy Fields

Shitiping in the Port Tribe, an Amis settlement on the East Coast of Hualien, lies along the 63.5 to 65.5 km section of Provincial Highway 11. Besides blue seas and skies and an endless expanse, it also has green terraced paddy fields stretching without end at the foot of the Coastal Mountain Range.

Taluan, in the Amis language, means "a work hut in the field" - a place where farming families store tools and crops and take a rest while farming. But beyond farm work, Taluan also carries a romantic symbol.

/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Body; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:”; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:’Calibri’,’sans-serif’; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:PMingLiU; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:’Times New Roman’; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-font-kerning:1.0pt;}

Shitiping is the traditional territory where the Amis have lived for generations, with an inseparable bond to the land and the ocean.