Haocha

After the war, more and more people in the old Dalai village converted to Christianity and began regular worship on February 5, 1950. At first, the worship took place at the house of Paljius (Pastor Lin Jianer). Due to the increasing number of believers, the house of Paljudasgiljgiljaw, who had moved away, was purchased as the church’s first place of worship. The construction began in September 1952 and was completed on December 25 of the same year with thatch as the building material. As the number of believers grew and the church could no longer accommodate them. Kavuaran Ke Yishun donated his own land for the building of the new church. The construction started in January 1957, using wood and stone slabs as building materials. It was completed at the end of June of the same year, and the church was dedicated on July 15. This was the second church. 

The third church began construction on December 7, 1965, with red brick walls and lead roofs. It was completed on April 24, 1966, and was dedicated for the third time on August 2. The bricks and tiles of the church were completed by the tribesmen because in the past when traffic was not well developed, everyone in the village participated in voluntary labor participated. Each household transported bricks from the bottom of the mountain to the mountain on foot every week.

Ali settlement is located in the west corner of Ali Village, northeast of Kaligutsan (Mount Jingbu), west of Mount Yadini, on the left bank of Adel River, on a steeply sloping slope with an altitude of about 1200 meters. The Zhiben traversing trail from the Japanese occupation and today’s provincial highway 24 pass under the settlement, and is currently the settlement located on the highest point among the Paiwan and Rukai people. There are two settlements, Swabaliu and Swaumouman, north of Swabaliu.
 At present, the police station, elementary school, and village office are all located above the latter. Ali is Adel community, the Japanese call it shiyader, while in the Rukai language it is called Adithi, which refers to the people around the sharp fog-headed peaks.

In the image, the settlement on the left is the lower Dawu settlement, also known as the little mountain alley of lower Dawu. It is located southwest of Wutai village, on the flat platform on the right bank of the upper reaches of north Ailiao River, with an altitude of about 460 meters. The name “little mountain” may have come from the terrain where the settlement is located. Shiderao, or as it is transliterated as "Delau", is the main settlement. In the 6th year of Taisho (1917), due to disputes with other communities and got severely criticized by the chief, the settlement was formed by relocating the Wutai community. There were only 10 households in the 6th year of the Showa era (1931).
The settlement on the right is upper Dawu, also known as Dongchuan Alley. It faces Little Mountain Alley across the stream. The settlement is distributed on a flat platform with an elevation of about 500 meters. It got its name from being located on the east bank of the stream. In the 6th year of the Showa era (1931), there were in total 50 households with 270 people. It was the settlement closest to the central mountain range at that time, and traveling in and out was extremely inconvenient.

The Wutai settlement is located in the northeast of what is today’s Wutai Village, that is, on the gentle eastward slope of Mount Jingbu on the left bank of the North Aliao River, with an elevation of about 800 meters. Since the middle to late Japanese occupation period, it has become the administrative center of the region with a township office, police station, health center, and schools. In the Rukai language of Wutai community Wutai is called Vudai, Taibabao, or written as Budai. The original meaning of the name is unknown but since the Chinese character is written as “fog platform”, it was thought that the name comes from the year-round fog in the area. As a fact, job’s tears grow luxuriantly here, and this plant is named Budai in Rukai language. 

The original meaning of Ira (Yila village), or Kurgul or Kurag in the Paiwan language, is unknown. The "Takasago Survey Book" from the Japanese occupation period pointed out that this settlement lived in the Tabataban settlement about 270 years ago, and because of the increasing population, the reduced arable land, lest it not possible to maintain the survival of a community in the future. At that time the three sons of the leader each chose a place to move to. One of the three sons and some tribesmen moved to the old settlement site to form the current settlement. At resent, the settlement is located on the left bank of the north Ailiao River, north of Mount Tianliangjing, below the east side of Provincial Highway 24, on the slope of the gently sloping river bank with an elevation of about 300 meters, is the westernmost settlement of the whole township. It was formed in 1955 by the relocation of the old settlement. The old settlement is located above the south side of the current site, on a slope with a slightly higher terrain of about 330 meters.

This chaple was built around the 1960s. In the early postwar period, under the influence of the changing customs policy during the Japanese occupation, traditional Haocha rituals gradually declined. As a result, some ceremoniy related spaces, such as spiritual houses or shrines, gradually lose their meaning due to the loss of support for activities. Since Christianity was introduced into the Haocha village in the 1950s, the beliefs of many Haocha people have changed with a very high percentage of residents believing in Christianity. With Presbyterian first entered Haocha preaching in 1950, the Catholics also came to spread the gospel in 1952, and then in 1956, Seventh-day Adventist missionaries entered the tribal mission, the initial preaching of the gospel was challenged by primitive beliefs and the opinions of tribal leaders. After that, churches such as the Presbyterian Church, the Sabbath Church, and the Methodist Church appeared one after another in the settlement. Most of these churches were rebuilt from the vacant houses of the migrants. During this period, the traditional beliefs and spatial views of Haocha people changed drastically.

Haocha was originally called Kochapongan, and it was recorded as "Jia Zhebangan" or "Jiapogan" in Qing Dynasty documents, and it was recorded as Koetapongan in the Dutch indigenous household records. After the Liberation of Taiwan, the place was renamed “Haocha” or transliterated as “Guchabu’an”. It is the center of the original settlement of the Rukai people in the west and includes Wutai, Ali, and other settlements, which all stemmed from it. Regardless of the historical background or cultural tradition, they all occupy a very important position.

The image shows the water source (Drakerale) behind the old Haocha village. The water source is the lifeblood of the village and comes from Mount Jingbu, which can be reached by crossing a small saddle behind the school. The water source is about 1,000 meters above sea level and is a deep pond with a waterfall. The water is clear and sweet. According to Chen Yonglong's research, the old water source was not only the place where water is collected,  but also where the tribesmen set out strict rules on how water is used. They carried out the order of their washing in the upper or lower sections of the stream based on the level of cleanliness and dirt from daily life. For example from up to downstream, the sequence was drinking water, bathing, laundry, a place for washing blood during women's menstrual period, a place for cleaning prey, and soaking enemy’s heads. They also have separate time for women and men to use the water. For example, women use the water for laundry, bathing, and washing menstrual blood in the morning while men use it in the afternoon. The same space becomes a different social space under the time division.

After being moved away from old Haocha, Lidaku was the first old man to have returned to rebuild his hometown. He was a living dictionary that witnessed the rise and fall of the Haocha village in the past century and is a typical representative of the Rukai tradition and modern society.

Lidakuu was born in old Haocha in 1902. His father and grandfather were both outstanding sculptors of the tribe. He had been educated since childhood, and with his natural artistic talent, he was able to take his father’s place at the age of fifteen after his father passed away. Like most traditional Rukai carvers, Lidaku did not learn as an apprentice. His woodcarving skills stemmed from actual life experience and self-exploration. In addition to the large-scale wood carvings commissioned by the nobles, the themes of his creation related to the life and religion of the Rukai people.

Whe the mountain trail was in good condition, before the Morakot typhoon disaster hit on August 8, 2009, it took around 3 to 4 hours walk along the right bank of Ailiao River  to reach the old Haocha village from new Haocha. After the typhoon in 2009, the trail leading to old Haocha was cut off. After several explorations and investigations by the tribesmen, the old trail was repaired, the falling rocks were removed from the road, and ropes were erected on the cliff, which made the trail passable again.

At present, to get to old Haocha you need to go through the Taiwan Indigenous Peoples Cultural Park in Majia Township, arrive at the end of the Haocha industrial road, and walk along the south Aliao River for about 3.4 kilometers to reach the flooded area of ​​the new Haocha village. Continue for another 1.3 kilometers to reach the old hiking entrance and then  follow the traditional route to old Haocha. The difference in altitude is about 830 meters. Some sections of the road are cliffs, which are extremely dangerous, and the whole journey takes around 7 hours to complete.