The Siraya People Get Their Name Back After 350 Years

In September 2017, a photographer took a picture of the Talavan family at a park in Tainan. The family stood on a simple bridge made from water pipes and bamboo. The bridge moved under their feet when they walked. Cheng-hiong Talavan was 85 years old. He said yes to the photo. His daughter Uma, his grandchildren, and other family members held hands and walked on the bridge together. They wanted to show that three generations of the family worked together to bring back their culture.

Nine years later, on July 30, 2026, something important happened. The Siraya people became the 17th official Indigenous group in Taiwan. This was the first time a plains Indigenous people got this status. Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai said yes to this. The government made this official before Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples' Day on August 1.

The Siraya are an old people. They spoke a language called Sinckan. Long ago, Dutch people came to Taiwan and wrote down this language. The Siraya had a special culture. The word "Taiwan" itself comes from the Siraya language.

But many years of rule by other countries almost erased everything. In 1683, China took control of the area. The government made Siraya people stop speaking their language. They had to learn Chinese and take Chinese names. Later, Japan ruled Taiwan. The Japanese divided Indigenous people into two groups. The Siraya were in the plains group. The government said they were "like Chinese" and did not give them special help or rights.

For a long time, the government did not say the Siraya were Indigenous. The government said they had mixed with Chinese people too much. But there was another reason. If the Siraya got official status, they would get special help and seats in government. The government did not want to give these things to more people.

Things began to change in the 1990s. Taiwan became more free. Indigenous people started to fight for their rights. The government changed some rules. In 1994, the government stopped using a bad word for Indigenous people. In 1995, people did not have to take Chinese names. In 1996, the government made a new office to help Indigenous people. But the Siraya still did not get official status. The government said their land was flat and good for building.

The courts helped. In November 2022, the Constitutional Court said the government was wrong. It was not fair to say the Siraya were not Indigenous. The court told the government to make a new law. In October 2025, the government made the law. Then in July 2026, the government said the Siraya were official.

The Talavan family was very important in bringing back Siraya culture. Cheng-hiong Talavan started a group in 1999 to save Siraya history and culture. He spent his whole life helping Siraya people remember who they were.

The Sinckan language was lost. But old papers from the 1600s and 1700s had the language written down. Dutch missionaries had written it. In 2006, people at a big university said they could read 80 percent of these old papers.

Cheng-hiong's daughter Uma and her husband Edgar Macapili worked to bring back the language. Edgar was from the Philippines. He was a musician. He learned to read old languages. He looked at old papers word by word. The Dutch had written the language in a strange way. He did not know how the words really sounded. It took Edgar more than seven years. He made a big book with more than 3,000 Siraya words.

Edgar said the Sinckan language was like the mother of his own language. It had a family connection. It was very pure and did not have many foreign words.

After Edgar made his book, people could make school books. In 2016, children started to learn Sinckan in school.

The Talavan family made children's books and songs in Sinckan. They taught the new words to young people. Cheng-hiong's grandchildren, Euphony and Lici, learned Sinckan from when they were small. They work to bring back Siraya culture.

The group that Cheng-hiong started also writes poems. Most poems are in Chinese or Taiwanese, but they use some Sinckan words. This helps children learn the language.

Some people did not like the plan for official status. They said the government wanted to make a new, lower group for plains Indigenous people. They said this was not fair. They wanted the same rights as other Indigenous people.

Many Siraya people wanted official status. About 10,000 people in Tainan said they were Siraya. Now they can put this on their papers.

In August 2026, people could register as Siraya. A mother and daughter were the first. Their names now say Siraya on their papers.

To register, people had to show that their family was Siraya a long time ago, when Japan ruled Taiwan.

A teacher named Jolan Hsieh, who also has a Siraya name, studies Indigenous people. She said that official status is just the start. The real work is to help the Siraya people and the government have a good relationship again.

Another Indigenous group got official status in 2007. They said 15,000 people were in their group. But only 900 people registered by 2015. The Siraya may have the same problem.

Other plains Indigenous groups also want official status. Nine groups are waiting to ask for it.

A big museum said it will show Siraya culture in 2027.

Taiwan's President said this was important. He said it was fair and right to recognize the Siraya.

One Talavan family member wrote: President Lai Ching-te, who supported the Siraya's push for recognition during his earlier roles as Tainan's mayor and as vice president, called the moment historic. Writing on Facebook on August 1, observed as Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples' Day, he described the recognition as "an important milestone in the pursuit of historical and transitional justice for Indigenous peoples." One Talavan family member, under the username @miss5langs, articulated the significance of the recognition in a post on Threads, writing in Chinese and English. In English, the message read: "The recognition of the Siraya's Indigenous status is not intended to exclude anyone or create division, but rather to ensure that the names once obscured by history can finally be seen again. I also hope that, through this [identity] restoration, more people will be willing to learn about the true history of Taiwan, understand the paths the Pingpu peoples have walked, comprehend why their languages and cultures have disappeared, and realize that these peoples did not suddenly appear — they have always been here. Even though I now live abroad, I will still proudly tell those around me: I am from Taiwan, and I am Siraya. This is not for any benefits, nor is it for any label — it is simply because this has always been my name."

Now children in Tainan learn Sinckan in school. They sit at desks and speak a language that almost disappeared. Teachers who learned from the Talavan family teach them. For the first time in more than 100 years, Sinckan is not just in old papers. It is alive in schools. Children are learning to say their name.