" Seediq Bale " stills
text | Li Xiang
For a long time, literary and artistic films and youth films have been almost synonymous with Taiwanese movies , and "Sediq Bale" has subverted it to a great extent. It breaks people’s stereotypes about Taiwanese movies. This four-and-a-half-hour long, so-called "epic" film uses a large number of brutal war scenes and bloody footage to recreate the anti-Japanese struggle of Taiwan's aboriginal people in 1930 - the "Wushe Incident". This incident was the last violent act of resistance in Taiwan during the Japanese colonial era, killing 134 Japanese and causing the dismissal of the Japanese Governor in Taiwan.
"Baptism of Civilization" Stirs Resistance
Seediq Balai is the transliteration of Taiwan's aboriginal language, which means "real Seediq" in Chinese. In our textbooks, Taiwan's ethnic minorities are collectively called the Gaoshan ethnic group. In fact, the Gaoshan ethnic group is subdivided into 14 ethnic groups including the Amis, Atayal , and Seediq people. In Taiwan, they are collectively called "aboriginal people." The aborigines are known as the mothers of Taiwan's history. Before the Han people such as the Hakkas and Hokkiens immigrated to Taiwan, these aborigines had lived and thrived on the island for 8,000 years.
The aboriginal people caused quite a headache for the Japanese colonists. Although they only accounted for 2% of Taiwan's population, most of them were physically strong and had firm and primitive national beliefs. They were an ethnic group that was difficult to conquer and "civilize". The Seediqs, in particular, are tough and good at fighting. In 1910, in order to conquer the "wushe" area where the Seediqs lived, the Japanese authorities dispatched more than 1,000 police and used artillery to achieve their goal. The Wushe area is rich in forest resources. The Japanese built light railways and roads here, gradually developing this area. Around 1930, Wushe had developed into a mountain town and was regarded as a "model territory" by the Japanese authorities. Official dignitaries often came here to inspect. Local young people and tribal leaders from Wushe were also sent to Japan to visit and receive the "baptism of civilization."
Stills from "Sediq Bale"
The Japanese colonists intended to develop in Taiwan for a long time, and gradually transformed their suppression and prevention strategies into "educational assimilation". They set up public toilets, cemeteries, health clinics and other facilities in mountainous areas; they guided aborigines to grow rice, raise silkworms, and afforestation to replace the aborigines' old hunting life; they used aborigines to engage in mountain forest reclamation and construction; and they set up extensive "education for Tibetan children" "Institute" to popularize Japanese; dispatch police to strictly manage tribes; prohibit mountain people from tattooing, burying in houses, hunting enemy heads and other primitive customs.
On the surface, the Japanese approach seems to be to bring "civilization" to the "barbaric" tribes, but wishful thinking of "charity" goes against the original living habits, customs and beliefs of the indigenous people, and will inevitably arouse resistance.
The Sediq people have adhered to the instructions of their ancestors for thousands of years and followed the four seasons to engage in traditional production activities such as hunting, farming, and weaving. After the Japanese rule, Aboriginal hunting had to apply to the Japanese police station to receive guns and ammunition, and the cultivation of weaving raw materials was also controlled. The aborigines who lost their traditional livelihoods could only work as laborers and maids for the Japanese. Some Japanese bullied the aborigines out of a sense of superiority, or took advantage of the aborigines' poor calculations to take advantage of their wages. Men in the tribe were often requisitioned by the Japanese to cut trees. The Seediq people regard the forest as a sacred place and the camphor tree as their patron saint. Cutting down the camphor tree makes the people feel frightened and angry. On the way to transport the camphor trees out of the mountain, in order to keep the trees intact, the Japanese police did not allow the trees to be mopped away and required the indigenous people to carry them on their shoulders.
Sediq Woman
Marriage problems also sow the seeds of anger in the hearts of the indigenous people. When Japan first came to Taiwan, in order to understand "Tibetan love" and facilitate its rule, Japanese police were encouraged to marry the daughters of tribal leaders and dignitaries. These policemen often already have wives in Japan, and the aboriginal wives who marry nearby are called "neiyuan wives." Japanese law does not recognize domestic wives, and aboriginal women are often abandoned, including the sister of Mona Rudo, the leader of the Seediq Mahpo Society. She married Japanese inspector Kondo Gisaburo, but her husband's whereabouts disappeared a few years later. She is the sister of the leader, but she is always in trouble and eventually abandoned, and everyone in the tribe hates her.
"Barbaric Pride", hacked to death 134 Japanese
One day in 1930, a young man and woman in the tribe got married. A newly appointed Japanese police officer passed by on patrol, and Mona Ludo's eldest son, Dado Mona, was helping during the banquet. After killing the animal, when he saw the Japanese policeman, he picked up a bowl of wine and approached him enthusiastically, trying to pull the Japanese policeman's hand to invite him to drink. Unexpectedly, the Japanese policeman thought his hands were dirty and opened Dado Mona's hand with his cane. The resentful Dado Mona teamed up with his brother Basso Mona to beat the new policeman to a bloody head.
The Japanese army opened fire on the mountain tribes in Wushe
The old grudges reached their climax at this moment. A few days later, the young people in the tribe gathered around Mona Ludo and asked him to lead everyone to fight back against the Japanese. Mona Ludo looked at the fair faces of the young people - they all did not have Seediq tattoos in accordance with the requirements of the Japanese. According to tradition, only those with tattoos on their faces can get married and have offspring; those without tattoos will always be treated as children and ridiculed, and will not be able to visit their ancestors through the legendary "Rainbow Bridge" after death. spirit. As the movie poster says: "Children, with your fair foreheads, can you still cross the beautiful Rainbow Bridge?" In order to defend the tradition of the ethnic group and the honor of the ancestors, Mona Ludo decided to take action, even if he was exterminated, the heroic The soul will also gain final freedom. He told those young people: The Japanese are denser than the leaves of the forest, and there are more stones than the Zhuoshui Stream , but my determination to resist is stronger than Mount Qilai! If civilization wants us to grovel, then let you see the pride of barbarism! The
incident was scheduled for October 27, 1930. The Taiwan Governor-General held a Taiwan Shrine Festival to commemorate the death anniversary of a Japanese prince, and the Wushe area held a joint sports meeting. The sports meeting opens in a school. When all the Japanese, police and their families gathered together, Mona Rudo led more than 300 Seediq warriors from six tribes to raid and shouted at the same time: "The mainlanders (Japanese) will not even spare their children! The people of this island (Han people) will not be killed!” Under the attack order, 134 Japanese were hacked to death, 26 were seriously injured, and 215 were injured. Those killed included a large number of women and children.
On the other hand, Mona Ludo ordered his two sons to attack the Japanese police station, kill all the Japanese police officers and their families, cut off all Japanese telephone lines to the outside world, and seize 180 guns and 23,037 rounds of ammunition.
Leader of the Wushe Uprising - Mona Rudo (middle)
Nearly a thousand people were killed in the tribe in the uprising, and almost all were wiped out
The Japanese side was shocked when they heard the news. Major General Kamada Yahiko of the Army stationed in Taiwan mobilized more than 3,000 military police , armed with mountain cannons, machine guns and other superior force, went to Wushe to crusade. From October 28 to December 26, 1930, a total of 644 people died among the total population of 1,234 people in the six tribes participating in the uprising. The Japanese also took advantage of the feud between tribes and instigated tribes with experience in mountain warfare to encircle and suppress Mona Rudo. In April 1931, the pro-Japanese tribe Daozeshe attacked the survivors of the uprising and killed 214 other tribesmen. This is the so-called "Second Wushe Incident". After these two suppressions, less than 300 people of the rebellious tribe survived, and they were forcibly moved out of the Wushe area.
During the resistance, Mona Ludo led his troops to retreat to the Mahepo Grotto. Seediq old men and women hanged themselves one after another in order to save their husbands and sons from worries. The woods are full of corpses. Mona Rudo's wife hanged herself, and then Mona Rudo shot his two grandchildren and set them on fire together with his wife's body. He took a 38-style riding gun and went into the mountains alone, and committed suicide by drinking a bullet on the cliff. He was 48 years old. His body was discovered by the Japanese four years later. It was not completely decomposed and half of it was mummified. It was displayed as a specimen for many years. It was not until October 27, 1973, the 43rd anniversary of the Wushe Incident, that the Taiwan Provincial Government brought the body of Mona Rudo back to Wushe for burial.
Group portraits of heroes of the Wushe Uprising
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Japan ended its rule in Taiwan. Discussions about the "Wushe Incident" have finally been lifted, but it is still a topic that Taiwanese are unwilling to mention easily. Today, the Seediq people mainly live in Nantou County and Hualien County in Taiwan, with about 6,000 to 7,000 people.The generation of aboriginal people who grew up under the "education assimilation" policy of the Japanese colonialists had much more complicated feelings towards Japan than their parents; and the Seediqs killed many innocent Japanese women and children out of national hatred during the uprising. Today we see It is inhumane to come. For some Taiwanese people, it is difficult to review the "Wushe Incident" in terms of "love and hate" and "good and evil". It is full of entanglement and suffering.
