Truku (太魯閣族 in Mandarin Chinese) also Romanized spelling as Taroko – recognized since January 15th, 2004, as the 12th Taiwan indigenous group is related by language and culture to the Seediq of the Atayal language group of the Taiwan Northern Central Range (see Atayal, Seediq, Taroko regions – Map of Formosan Languages). Their population is about 24,000.

Atayal (泰雅 in Mandarin Chinese), also pronounced as Tayal and Tayan, number about 81,000 meaning genuine person and brave people. In Tayal pronounced dah-yen.

Location

XiuLin, Hualien County, Taiwan

Taroko National Park

Taroko National Park established on November 28th, 1986, is important to environmental protection movements in Taiwan. The national parks are to “protect the natural scenery, historic relics and wildlife; to conserve natural resources; and to facilitate scientific research, and promote environmental education.” Located in Hualin County, the park with its marble palisade facing the ocean at Chingshui is where verdant cliffs raise up to peaks at 3,800 meters above the sea – giving the name Formosa in the 16th century. See: Images of Taroko

Buluowan Visitors Center

Buluowan (布洛灣) is a Truku ceremonial site on an elevated terrace above the Liwu River in the Taroko National Park. Today is provides for a visitors center with a park ranger station, galleries for craft practitioners, theater, sculpture and natural botanical gardens. See: Images of Buluowan

Further Information

• Culture.TW: Taroko (Truku) tribe: keepers of their ancestral wisdom
• Digital Museum of Taiwan Indigenous Peoples
• Council of Indigenous Peoples
• Atayal Information

Return to: Taroko Weaver Profile Home