Taiwanese Plains Aborigines

Plains aborigines (Chinese: ; pinyin: píngpuzú; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Pêⁿ-po͘-cho̍k) are Taiwanese aborigines originally residing in low land regions, as opposed to Highland aborigines. Plains aborigines consist of eight individual tribes, rather than being a single tribe. It is part of the Austronesian family. Plains aborigines have been labelled by Japanese and Han Chinese as "plains savages" or the term Pepohoan (; Píngpǔfān; Pêⁿ-po͘-hoan) from Hokkien and "cooked savages" (; shúfān; se̍k-hoan). Beginning from the 17th century, plains aborigines have been heavily influenced by external forces from Dutch, Spanish and Han Chinese immigration to Taiwan. This ethnic group has since been extensively assimilated with Han Chinese language and culture; it has lost its cultural identity and it is almost impossible without careful inspection to distinguish plains aborigines from Taiwanese Han people.

Plains aborigines have not been officially recognised by the government of the Republic of China, apart from the Kavalan tribe. It was not until the mid-1980s that plains aborigines started gaining interest from historians and anthropologists, leading to increased public attention to this group. Various anthropological studies have emerged in recent years arguing that circa 85% of Hoklo and Hakka Taiwanese are actually descendants of plains aborigines through intermarriages with Han immigrants. This is still an ongoing debate and has been used as political leverage to promote Taiwanese independence and Taiwanese ethnic consciousness. An increasing number of Hoklo and Hakka Taiwanese are beginning to search for plains aboriginal bloodlines in their genealogy, and many are starting to claim themselves as plains aborigines. This ethnic group is currently continuing to fight for its identity, rights and recognition as Taiwanese aborigines. In 2016, the Tsai Ing-wen administration granted official recognition to the plains aborigines.

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