The significance of fan Dao

For the men among the aborigines, the whole course of life is inseparable from Fan Dao. After the baby boy is born, the elders will give him a knife. Only 12 years old is qualified to carry a knife. When going out for hunting, logging and self-defense, you should carry a knife and never leave your body until the last moment of your life. Fan Dao is an essential tool for aboriginal people to fish, hunt and live. They can live in the mountains for dozens of days with 1 box of matches, 1 bag of salt and 1 fan knife. Indigenous people have to learn the skills of using fan knives since childhood. For example, when cutting trees, they pay attention to the strength, radian and direction distance of the knife. Generally, it is cut at a 45-degree angle. If you cut two knives on one side and cut 1 knife at the corresponding position on the other side, the tree with thick legs will fall down. In the tribe, people who are good at making knives are often regarded as warriors, thus winning the respect of others. Usually, Fan Dao is a part of Gaoshan men's "clothing", which symbolizes the master's heroic spirit and social status. Fan Dao is also essential in various wedding celebrations and sacrificial activities. For the Atayal people, it is one of the necessary dowries; In paiwan's wedding, there must also be a ceremony in which the groom cuts off the rattan with a knife; There is also a popular way of proposing marriage among the Amis. The suitor goes into the mountains to cut acacia wood and carry it back to the woman's house. Whoever carries the heaviest weight and runs the fastest will win. Gaoshan compatriots cherish personal knives. Because the island is rainy and foggy, and the humidity is extremely high, it will be stained with plant juice and animal blood and grease after use. Therefore, after each use, the knife body will be washed with clean water, dried with cloth and hung above the fire pit to prevent the knife body from rusting.

Fan Dao also occupies a place in Taiwan's history. Fan Dao has always been one of the most important weapons in previous battles against foreign invasion. During the period from 164 1 to 1643, 58 Gaoshan tribes revolted on the island and used swords, guns, bows and arrows to resist the Dutch colonists. 19301On October 27th, the Atayal people of Wushe in Nantou County launched the famous "Wushe Uprising", hacked to death 137 Japanese invaders including "Zhou Taizhong" consultant Guan Ye, and seized more than 30 rifles/kloc-0, with more than 20,000 bullets. Although the uprising lasted for 40 days and finally failed under the joint "encirclement and suppression" of a large number of Japanese military police, planes and poison gas, the sword has since become a symbol of the resistance of the military and civilians in Taiwan Province Province to foreign aggression.

After the beginning of World War II, the Japanese army incited and induced some aborigines to join the so-called "Taiwan Province Volunteers" to serve as cannon fodder for Japan in view of their bravery and adaptability to jungle life. Many Fandao joined the Japanese combat troops in Nanyang with their masters, most of them were Atayal, and most of them joined paratroopers and other special combat troops, so Fandao was also called "Gaosha Dao" (formerly known as Gaosha Dao by Atayal) or "Brave Dao". After some of them were captured by the US military, they were once considered as knives specially developed by Japan for paratroopers. In recent years, this disgraceful history of "mercenaries" has been picked up again by some Taiwan independence elements with ulterior motives. 20011/Lee Teng-hui used this history to present a knife to the aboriginal "legislator" candidates when he went to Taichung County to help with the election, claiming that he would use it to cut off the "political chaos". Taiwan independence's face was obvious.

With the modernization of life on the island, the traditional skills of making and using fan knives of Gaoshan people are also in danger of disappearing. But at present, many people of insight in Taiwan Province Province have realized this and are trying to collect, sort out and preserve this traditional culture. At present, there are still several companies in the island that use traditional techniques to make knives.

Some old shops, such as the "Tonglan blacksmith shop" with a history of more than 300 years in Tongmen Village, are still making fan knives by hand in the traditional way, and their products are well known. Visiting its production process and buying Fandao as a tourist souvenir has become a fixed item of local tourism.