For some
years, Sandimen in Pingtung County has been known as an excellent
place to seek out and purchase art works and handicrafts produced by
Taiwan’s indigenous Austronesian minority. A bastion of the Paiwan
tribe, this compact hillside town is home to artists and artisans who
work with wood, stone, leather, fabric and other materials. It's also
a great place for sampling aboriginal culinary specialties.
The Paiwan
number almost 98,000; the tribe is Taiwan’s second largest
aboriginal ethnic group. Sandimen can be considered the northwestern
outpost of the Paiwan, who also inhabit townships in Taitung County,
on the other side of the Central Mountain Range. Reaching the busiest
part of the township involves a short but steep drive up from
Shuimen, a lowlands community separated from the mountains by the
Ailiao River.
Many
tourists park, then browse the souvenir shops which line the main
road. A few may wander into the backstreets, where they’ll
hopefully follow the bilingual signs to, or simply stumble across,
Sha Tao Zazurite Art Studio. In addition to being one of the area’s best
glass-bead workshops, this store is the home base of a renowned
indigenous dance troupe.
If visitors
feel hungry, there’s a good chance they’ll buy a portion of
sliced pork or some sausages from one of the town’s stone-barbecue
stands. Rather than cook on a metal grill over charcoal, these
vendors place choice cuts on a slate slab heated from beneath.
Because the juices don’t immediately drain off, the meat is basted
as well as roasted. For hardcore carnivores, the results are
exquisite.
Visitors
who like to head beyond Sandimen toward breathtakingly scenic Wutai
know there’s a better eating option a minute or two further along
Highway 24, the road which links these two indigenous townships to
Freeway 3 and Pingtung City. It’s called Qiu Yue’s Restaurant,
and in keeping with the township’s creative leanings, it was
originally an artist’s workshop. Located
just inland of the km24 marker, Qiu Yue’s takes its name
from and is managed by Ms. Li Qiu-yue. Surprisingly, given the role
she plays in the local community, Ms. Li isn’t Paiwan. She’s not
even an aborigine. Like approximately four-fifths of Taiwan’s
population, she’s a descendant of migrants from mainland
China’s Fujian province. In addition to being an industrious promoter of local culture
and a gracious host, Ms. Li is the wife of a prominent Paiwan
carver-illustrator, and the mother of an up-and-coming artist.
Her husband
is Sakuliu Pavavalung. If that name seems very different to others
you’ve come across while reading about Taiwan, it’s because it’s
a true Austronesian name. Sakuliu means “arrowhead” in Paiwan.
The majority of native people still use the Han Chinese surnames
foisted by the authorities onto their parents or grandparents soon
after World War II. Sakuliu, however, is one of a growing number of
aborigines who’ve taken advantage of a special law to “fully
restore” his tribal name. A parallel movement is demanding that certain Austronesian place names be restored.
Sakuliu, a
man of many talents, created many of the decorations which now adorn
the restaurant. Among them is a set of alluringly asymmetrical chairs
he made two decades ago. Each is hybrid of iron and wood, but the
blend of materials is isn’t so much an artistic statement as a
reflection of that period’s economic realities. “Back then, iron
was cheaper than now, and the government was very strict about
people taking large pieces of wood out of the forests,” Ms. Li
explains.
A master
potter to boot, Sakuliu can often be seen at the restaurant, when
work isn’t calling him to other parts of Taiwan. These days he’s
much in demand. If you’ve flown between Taiwan and New Zealand
recently, you may well have come very close to one of his largest works...
To read the
rest of the article, which includes a description of some of the dishes on
the menu and the restaurant's address, click here - or pick up the November/December issue from a visitor information center.
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