Connecting Taiwan to its past

This article was written by Yu Sen-lun and published by The Taipei Times on July 13, 2003. It explores the current trend in Taiwan in which both academics and the general public become increasingly interested in the study of Austronesian culture. In Yu's words: "An increasing number of linguists and anthropologists now believe that thousands of years ago, as far back as 10,000 years ago, there were people dwelling in and developing their culture in Taiwan." It seems that Taiwan's history did not simply begin 400 years ago, when large groups of Han immigrants from the Chinese Mainland started to arrive on the island.