From Takow to Kaohsiung

Namasiya (那瑪夏) District, Kaohsiung City

Being somewhat isolated and inaccessible in the mountains of southern Taiwan, aboriginal Maya Township had managed to maintain its independence and, with that, its traditional name, long after most others had lost theirs.

Thus, even after 17th-century Dutch colonial activities based in not-so-far-away Tayouan (Tainan); Han-Chinese territorial expansion throughout the 17th-century Zheng-family’s Tongning Kingdom and 18th- & 19th-century Qing dynasty; and even the ultimately complete rule over Taiwan by the Japanese, this area had managed to retain its indigenous name of Maya, albeit transliterated into Chinese as 瑪雅 (Mdn. Ma-ya).

This ended in 1957, however, when the KMT-led ROC government decided to bring order and civilization to the “Mountain People” (山地人), which included changing the township’s name to Sanmin (三民; “Three People[‘s Principles]”; see here), based on the political philosophy proposed by “Father of the Nation”, Dr. Sun Yat-sen. Furthermore, its three villages were renamed after each of the principles: Minzu (民族; “People’s Nationalism”), Minquan (民權; People’s Rights) and Minsheng (民生; “People’s Livelihood”).

Despite some Han-Chinese immigration, most inhabitants were still Aborigines (though the previously predominant Tsuo 鄒 ethnicity had been reduced by epidemics and replaced somewhat by Bunun 布農 people). Thus 50 years later, when legal changes under the DPP-led central government allowed them to campaign to change the township’s name, members of the local council voted unanimously to rid themselves of the Sanmin moniker (see Taipei Times).

Instead, from January 1, 2008, the county township (later reorganized as a city district) would be known as Namasiya (那瑪夏) and its three villages as Nanisaru (南沙魯), Maya (瑪雅) and Takanuwa (塔卡努瓦). “Namasiya” was the original Tsou ( or Kanakanvu) name for Nanzihsian River (楠梓仙溪) (now officially 旗山溪 Qishan River) and, therefore, the land around it. In addition, it sounds similar to a Bunun expression meaning “Tomorrow will be better”.



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