Taipei Medical University has long collaborated with indigenous tribes in Hsinchu County on cultural preservation and communication projects.


 

Their most symbolic traditional produce is millet, and in recent years the restoration efforts have generated positive results. In March 2019, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences held a two- week long special exhibition, Ps’urux gaga kinhmgan trakis Tayal (Reconstructing the millet traditions of the Tayal people), to show this story in three indigenous tribes.

TMU has made alliances with the Smangus, Cinsbu and Tbahu groups and established partnerships focusing on restoration of millet and promotion of culture. Director Yih-Ren Lin of the Graduate Institute of Humanities in Medicine points out that millet is a key cultural symbol of the indigenous tribes, and although it has declined due to market and cash crops, the millet culture is reawakening as tribal autonomy becomes increasingly important.

Each indigenous group plants specific strains of millet based on geographical and ecological conditions, and each strain has its own tribal name. One millet strain has different names, uses and legends in different tribes, and each tribe has different rituals for sowing, growing and harvesting millet.