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Visited the Wanchin Church, a 150-yo Spanish-Filipino style Basilica, & its surrounding Catholic areas in Pingtung over the weekend. The establishment of Catholicism in this area is interestingly intertwined w/ the race relations & colonial/settlement history of Taiwan. 1/
The Wanchin community & its nearby areas have been a Catholic stronghold in Taiwan for more than a century. Many catholic churches in the south has its historical connections to this small town in Pingtung. Philippine-imported statues of Mary could be spotted on the streets. 2/
For missionary work in the 1860s, the Kaohsiung-based Spanish Dominican priest, Fernando Sáinz, particularly looked for Makatao areas. He considered the Plains Indigenous people to be more receptive to missionaries than the Hoklo/Hakka settlers & the mountain-dwelling Paiwans. 3/
At the time, the Makataos had already been forced out from their coastal homeland by the incoming settlers. The exodus led some Makataos to resettle in foothill areas like Wanchin, competing & trading w the Hakkas. They faced the pressure to assimilate. 4/
https://www.shs.edu.tw/works/essay/2016/11/2016111017380863.pdf
https://www.shs.edu.tw/works/essay/2016/11/2016111017380863.pdf
Threatened by the encroachments of the settlers & the attacks from the highland Paiwans, the Makatao embraced Sainz as a protector, allowing the mission to be founded in 1861. At the beginning, Sainz walked from Kaohsiung to Wanjin weekly, facilitating the trips in two nights. 5/
The church was considered by the neighboring Hakkas as intruders in their relation with the Makataos. Malicious arsons, vandalism & robberies were frequent. Notably, Sainz was kidnapped by nearby Hakka settlers in 1867 & successfully held to a ransom. 6/
http://www.takaoclub.com/bankim/road_to_bankimcheng.htm
http://www.takaoclub.com/bankim/road_to_bankimcheng.htm
To avoid the Hakkas, Makataos came into closer contacts with the Hoklo communities further away & adopted Hoklo clothing, tradition & language over time. Wanchin gradually became a Taiwanese-Hokkien speaking enclave in a Hakka area while the locals converted to Catholicism. 7/
At the time, the Makatao area of Wanchin (Bankimsing) became a buffer zone between the Han settlers & Paiwan. British explorer Edmund Grimani travelled to Wanchin in 1877 & left behind a picture that portrays the coexistence of Plains & Highlands Indigenous & Han performers. 8/
The cultural hybridity is also reflected on religious practices here, including the famous Han-influenced Mazu-style inspection tour for Virgin Maria. A mural also depicts their Plains Indigenous root & identity, which has long been hidden due to centuries of stigmatisation. 9/
The highland Paiwan first came into outside control under Japanese colonial rules. Interestingly, the establishment of an island-wide official lingua franca, Japanese, enabled Catholicism to be spread from Wanchin to these Paiwan communities. It flourished rapidly in the 50s. 10/
The neighboring Kaviyangan Paiwan community is where the first highland Indigenous Catholic Church was established in 1953. Now there is Lady of Fatima Parish Church, a magnificent Paiwan-inspired basilica decorated w/ Paiwan wood-carvings & glass beads- quite impressive. 11/
With various cultures or political systems coming into domination in different parts of this island, interactions & assimilations took place, sometimes willingly, yet most times painfully. The stories of Wanchin reflect the complexity of Taiwanese settler society & its identity.
