Abstract
This paper discusses the decolonization process of Taiwanese aborigines. China, which governed Taiwan after World War II, was unaware of the existence of Taiwanese aborigines. Thus, they merely acted on the understanding that the people of the plains in Taiwan welcomed the government officials of the mother country. While a few aborigines had started a movement for decolonization after the 228 Incident of 1947, the movement was quickly suppressed. The following then happened in the 1950s. The administrator excluded all of the Chinese Communist Party, which was considered to be an “enemy.” Furthermore, unitary policies evolved in Taiwan, such as national language education and the policy to make the mountains like the plains. Additionally, the aborigines’ traditional religion began to be replaced by Christianity. Taiwanese aborigines were minorities, and the Han race was predominant in Taiwan. Because of these religious and policy-related changes, it became difficult to maintain and pass on the aborigines’ original culture.
