Research on Seediq Bale

Dec 28, 2020

One day I was discussing the movie with a friend and mentioned Seediq Bale. After returning home, I watched the movie and the documentary "The Rest of My Life" on a whim. Coincidentally, I bought the "Wushe Incident: Taiwan History and Culture Reader", which can be revisited while reading.

I'm interested in this piece of history/movie, from the bookcase:

Seediq Bale Wei Desheng Original Script Yan Yunnong Novel
Director Bale Wei Desheng
Comics - Bale Qiu Ruolong
Film · Bale Written by Huang Yijuan and You Wenxing
The Truth - The historical truth of "Sedek Bale" and the record of the filming Guo Mingzheng
True Color Bale "Sedek Bale" Actor Charm Photo Book
Dream Bale: Seediq Bale Film Snapshots
Seediq Bale: The All-Time Record Wang Qingtian
Hearing the Voice of the People: Special Exhibition of the 80th Anniversary of the Wushe Incident
See the truth again: Seediq and Wushe incident - 66 questions and answers, face-to-face interviews with the survivors of the Wushe incident Guo Mingzheng
Seediq Balai Seediq playbook Written by Wei Desheng Translated by Ivanawi
Yu Sheng Maizuru
movie Seediq Bale
Documentary GAYA: The Wushe Incident and the Seediqs in 1930
Documentary rest of life

Before and after the movie was released, related books were published continuously, which was the plan of director Wei Desheng. Because of the experience of "Cape No. 7", when I decided to make this film, not only did the shooting scene of Wushe remain as a tourist attraction, but also cooperated with the publishing house and published 6 related books. From the script, actor introductions, director's notes, full shooting records, to the restoration of history, all are carefully recorded. After the film, other books were published, such as "The Truth Again" and the documentary "The Rest of My Life."

You may think that only Taiwan and Japan will study the history of this period of Japanese rule. In fact, many foreign scholars have participated in the research. The author of this book, Bai Ruiwen, is one of them. In the preface of the book, he was interested in this piece of history because of Maizuru's "Remaining Life", so he went to Wushe to explore the history. After that, he also carried out academic research and published a book on the Wushe incident. This book is close to 600 pages and is a collection of research results from different scholars. Including writings from the Japanese government, writings from the Seediq people, analysis by other scholars, and discussions of literature, film, music, and documentaries to present this very complex history.

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What attracted my interest in this history? Perhaps history is not black and white, but has layers. The particularity of the Wushe incident is not simply to say that the Japanese oppressed the aborigines and made the Seediq people to resist; the same Seediq people helped the Japanese in the crusade, and they were bad people, so the incident was simplified. So Wei Dao is very careful in the paragraph.

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Maybe you thought that the Wushe incident was just one time, but there was actually a genocide after that, and was later moved to Kawanaka Island. The old man is no longer willing to take away this history. I remember the clip of the documentary "The Rest of Your Life". When Mona Ludao's granddaughter and Ma Hong Mona's daughter wanted to tell this history, she had to report it to her mother, which shows that she was serious about oral narration, because this piece of history impact on them.

Watching the movie "Seediq Bale" again, I always feel that there is still something to be desired. <Sun Flag> is a bit sensational. If you take what Teacher Guo Mingzheng said, this is a last resort, and history is not like this, but Wei Dao has tried his best to respect the historical facts. At the very least, this film has made more people aware of this history, and it has also started more people to write the history under the Japanese Occupation.

The book introduction says it is an introductory book, but I don’t think so: if you don’t have a basic understanding, you can’t understand the academic research included in this book. Just looking at those annotations and bibliography, it already makes people feel that they are basically university-level. Therefore, it is recommended to watch the movie "Seediq Bale" first, then see "The Truth Again: The Seediq Clan and the Wushe Incident", and then read this book.

As for Wuhe's "The Rest of Your Life", I didn't like it as much as Mr. Bai did, so I gave it away soon after reading it.

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The film "Seediq Bale" has several actors from the Qingliu tribe. Teacher Zeng Shengqiu, who plays Mona Ludo's father, is one of them. One of the lines of the documentary "The Rest of Your Life" is to "worship ancestors" in the birthplace of the Seediq people with his son. There is a clip in which Mr. Zeng sits on the top of a certain mountain, resisting his excitement and singing "Who am I" in Seediq. These few minutes of footage brought out the pain of the Seediq people.

Another passage tells that the skeleton of Mona Ludao was finally recovered, and the government of the Republic of China decided to bury him in Wushe. In government newsreels, Mona Ludao was called Mona Dao, and he was called a hero who rebelled against Japanese rule. A short clip shows how the government uses this to exaggerate nationalism.

This documentary is very good, so it won the Golden Horse Award for Best Documentary. The director is Tang Xiangzhu, the live sound engineer of the movie "Sedek Bale". "Wushe Incident" also has an article about this work.

Foreign language: Director Tang Xiangzhu is the one who really wants to take the Jinma Datong electric cooker!

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Book introduction: "The Wushe Incident: A Reader of Taiwan History and Culture"

https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010873679