page_title: Bunun people
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bunun people / History
caption_attribution_description: 中文（台灣）‎: 鳥居龍藏所攝著正裝的布農族人
context_page_description: The Bunun, also historically known as the Vonum, are a Taiwanese indigenous people and are best known for their sophisticated polyphonic vocal music. They speak the Bunun language. Unlike other aboriginal peoples in Taiwan, the Bunun are widely dispersed across the island's central mountain ranges. In the year 2000, the Bunun numbered 41,038. This was approximately 8% of Taiwan's total indigenous population, making them the fourth-largest indigenous group. They have five distinct communities: the Takbunuaz, the Takituduh, the Takibaka, the Takivatan, and the Isbukun.
context_section_description: Until the coming of the Christian missionaries in the beginning of the 20th century, the Bunun were known to be fierce warriors and headhunters. The Bunun were one of the "high-mountain peoples" (along with the Atayal and the Taroko) who traditionally lived in small family units in Taiwan's Central Mountain Range and were hostile to all outsiders, whether they be Chinese immigrants or surrounding aboriginal peoples. Whereas most other aborigines were quite sedentary and tended to live in lower areas, the Bunun, along with the Atayal and Taroko were constantly on the move in Taiwan's Central Mountain Range, looking for new hunting grounds and practicing slash-and-burn agriculture. Their staple foods were millet, yam, and game.
  During the Japanese rule (1895–1945), the Bunun were among the last peoples to be "pacified" by the Japanese government in residence. After an initial period of fierce resistance, they were forced to move down from the mountains and concentrated into a number of lowland villages that were spread across the Island. As a result, the family unit became less important and life centred on individual village units. The Japanese government restricted hunting practices (mainly to control the use of firearms) and introduced wet rice cultivation. The Bunun Aboriginals under Chief Raho Ari (lāhè· āléi) engaged in guerilla warfare against the Japanese for twenty years. Raho Ari's revolt was sparked when the Japanese implemented a gun control policy in 1914 against the Aboriginals in which their rifles were impounded in police stations when hunting expeditions were over. The Dafen Incident began at Dafen when a police platoon was slaughtered by Raho Ari's clan in 1915. A settlement holding 266 people called Tamaho was created by Raho Ari and his followers near the source of the Laonong River and attracted more Bunun rebels to their cause. Raho Ari and his followers captured bullets and guns and slew Japanese in repeated hit and run raids against Japanese police stations by infiltrating over the Japanese "guardline" of electrified fences and police stations as they pleased. Many Bunun were recruited as local policemen and during WWII, the Japanese army had Bunun regiments.
  Throughout the 20th century, several waves of missionaries of various denominations spread across Taiwan. They were particularly successful with the aboriginal inhabitants of the island and after the last missionary wave in the 1940s, that originated in Japan, a majority of aborigines were converted to Christianity. Today, most Bunun either belong to the Catholic Church or to the local Presbyterian Church.
  After the arrival of the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang in October 1945, difficult days began for the aboriginal population. The "one language, one culture" policy of the Nationalist government prohibited to use of any language other than Standard Mandarin, for official use as well as in daily life, and indigenous cultures were systematically discriminated against and encouraged to assimilate into mainstream culture. Bunun culture was eroded by the joint pressure of their new faith as well as the government's sinification policies. The situation improved only recently after two decades of democratic reforms.
caption: Bunun in 1900. Photograph by Torii Ryūzō.
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