Maori students in New Zealand plan to visit ‘ancestral lands’ in Taiwan

The students will visit three indigenous Taiwanese tribes in August with the Hawaiki Project, a program aimed at developing a network for cultural exchange among Polynesian tribes in Southeast Asia

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/23
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Poster for the Hawaiki Project

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) –In New Zealand, some young Maori students are planning a trip to Taiwan this August to learn more about their own cultural heritage and to build cultural bridges between the two countries.

Ten young Maori students from Ngāti Manu will be visiting Taiwan for a 12 day trip for cultural exchanges with indigenous groups on the island. The trip is being promoted as a chance for the young students to visit their “ancestral land” and possibly catch a glimpse something familiar in the cultures of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples.

The trip to Taiwan this summer is part of the larger Hawaiki Project, a proposed program aiming to educate young indigenous people about the ancient connections to other Polynesian peoples living along the ancient Hawaiki migration route, which stretches from Taiwan east into the central Pacific, and southward all the way to New Zealand.

The project director Marareia Hamilton is quoted as saying that many people believe that Maori and indigenous Taiwanese groups are cousins, and that “it all began” in Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]

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