The skulls of four Paiwan warriors that were taken by the Japanese during an 1874 punitive expedition known as the Mudan Incident and which are currently housed at Edinburgh University in Scotland are soon to be returned to Taiwan, the Mudan Township Office said.
In a statement yesterday, the office said that according to historical records, the skulls of 12 Paiwan warriors were taken from the Shimen battlefield in Pingtung County by the Japanese in 1874 and taken to Japan and the US.
Four of the skulls eventually ended up in the collection of Edinburgh University, which has indicated in recent years that it would be willing to return them, the office said.
Photo: Taipei Times
Following a series of meetings between local Paiwan groups and the Council of Indigenous Peoples, a delegation including Mudan Township (牡丹) Mayor Pan Chuang-chih (潘壯志), tribal and spiritual leaders, and historians traveled to the UK to inspect the skulls, and a traditional ceremony to mark their return is now being planned, the office said.
A person with knowledge of the matter, but who wished to remain anonymous, said the four skulls were expected to be returned to Taiwan on Sunday.
After their arrival, they are to be sent to the Tainan branch of the National Museum of Prehistory for DNA profiling so that more information about their identities can be discovered, the source said.
The Mudan Incident refers to an 1874 punitive expedition launched by the Japanese in response to the massacre of 54 shipwrecked Ryukyuan sailors by Paiwan warriors three years earlier.
After a major battle with the Paiwan at Shimen in today’s Mudan Township, the Japanese gained the upper hand in the fighting and the Paiwan retreated to the mountains to fight a guerrilla war.
After many Japanese soldiers began coming down with illnesses in the unfamiliar climate, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire and the war came to an end.
The Shimen battlefield site now hosts a memorial park.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
The US military is confident that it would win a war against China if a conflict broke out in the Taiwan Strait, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Charles Q. Brown said at a forum on Saturday. During an interview at the Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, Colorado, on Saturday, CNN reporter Jennifer Griffin asked Brown about the possible outcome of a US-China war in the Taiwan Strait. “Can the US win a war against China if Beijing tries to take Taiwan, from your military perspective?” Griffin asked. “I’m fully confident in our forces. You should be too. We