Laipunuk Expedition 2006 | Steven A Martin |

LAIPUNUK EXPEDITION | Dr. Steven A. Martin | 7:30 | Nei Ben Lu 內本鹿 Taiwan | Bunun Culture | Taiwanese Indigenous People | Taiwan Aborigines | University Filmworks
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This 19-day expedition across Taiwan's Central Range took place in the winter of 2006.
There were six participants in our group: Two Bunun youth (Haisul and Viliang), our Chinese guide (Shito), two highly experienced Bunun explorers (Biung and Nabu), and myself (Steven).Objectives of the research included visiting and documenting the stone ruins of a Bunun house at Takivhalas, once built and occupied by the Istanda family (please see ethnographic videos and publications based on Langus and Biung Istanda on my website, links provided below).
Our team set out to re-discover the long-lost Bunun-Rukai Marriage Trail, which once connected eastern and western Taiwan indigenous groups, namely the Bunun of Laipunuk and the Mantauran/Rukai ethnic groups across the Central Range. The "Marriage Trail" referrers to the practice of marriage exchange between ethnolinguistic groups, whereby a young girl leaves her original family and joins a new tribe. In this short video, I have pieced together a series of clips, appearing in chronological order, beginning at Takivhalas, Laipunuk, and ending at Ten Thousand Mountain God Lake (Ghost Lake). From Ghost Lake, one steam flows east toward Taitung County and the Pacific, while another flows west toward the Taiwan Strait.
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The 2006 Laipunuk Expedition was coordinated at the Bunun Cultural and Educational Foundation (Bunun Village), Taoyuan Village, Yanping Township, Taitung County, Taiwan.