Horští nosiči – Takisvilainan Salizan (2021)

The author of the book, Salizan Takisvilainan, publishes his records from field research and the life of a porter. In his work, he takes readers to places that are little known and romantic even for the inhabitants of Taiwan. He writes about the life and work in the high mountains, traditionally inhabited by the island's indigenous people, and about the history of the indigenous ethnicity. In the first part of the work, he guides readers along old mountain trails and shows them the current life of mountain workers; in the second part, he stops at individual monuments in the mountains and recounts the events they commemorate. In the third part of the book, he focuses on the search for and restoration of traditional homes of the indigenous people from the mountains. The author himself belongs to one of the largest indigenous ethnic groups, the Bunun. His journey led from childhood on a mountain slope, from a family where only the indigenous language was spoken, to a city in the lowlands and gradually back again. His works reflect the feelings of young people from the Bunun ethnicity towards their homeland and land. However, this seemed insufficient to Salizan, so he returned to the land of the indigenous people and continues to delve deeper into the culture of the Bunun ethnicity. He familiarizes himself with both the contemporary life and the ancient history of the indigenous people in Taiwan and shares his findings.