Gaoshan

族About this people

The term Gaoshan — literally "high mountain" — is the official classification used on mainland China for the Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan, who comprise over a dozen distinct indigenous nations with their own languages, traditions, and self-designations (including Amis, Atayal, Bunun, Paiwan, Rukai, and others). On the mainland, a small community of a few thousand Gaoshan-classified individuals lives primarily in Fujian province, descended from Aboriginal people who crossed to the mainland at various historical periods.

The Austronesian language family, to which all Formosan languages belong, is the same family that spread across the Pacific and Indian Ocean to encompass Hawaiian, Malay, Malagasy, and hundreds of other languages. The Formosan branch of this family is linguistically the most diverse, suggesting that Taiwan was the point of origin from which Austronesian peoples dispersed across the seas.

Gaoshan cultures vary significantly across the different nations. Common elements include weaving (particularly Paiwan and Rukai glassbead craft and embroidery), woodcarving with serpent and human figure motifs, and agricultural festival cycles tied to millet cultivation and hunting. Traditional architecture uses stone slabs in the south and wood construction in the north. The small mainland Gaoshan population maintains cultural awareness through community associations and cultural events, though active practice of traditional crafts and languages is limited on the mainland compared to Taiwan's indigenous cultural revival movements.