Austronesian peoples around the world have historically used the sea as a pathway for migration, settling down and taking root on different islands and lands, thus nurturing diverse and profound cultural landscapes. Starting from Taiwan, this connection extends south to the Philippines and Indonesia, sails east to the islands of the Pacific, and reaches as far as Australia, New Zealand, and beyond. We live, sing, and grow on different lands. However, if you listen carefully to each other’s languages and songs, you will find many familiar sounds echoing one another—those identical or similar vocabularies and intonations are not coincidence, but a common thread woven by history. This connection has existed for a long time, traversing the ocean, and has been preserved in our language and being.
Culture is the same way. The pace of hunting, the rhythm of seafaring, the strength of moving wood, the breathing during circle dances—these are not deliberately preserved, but are simply how we live. These memories within the body form our shared cultural heritage. Despite the rapid changes of modern life, where languages and skills are under pressure to be forgotten, our connection endures as long as the body still remembers and the languages are still spoken.
This is why the CIP is hosting the 2025 World Indigenous Traditional Games.
This is not about returning to the past, but about meeting in the present and walking toward the future together.
Taiwan is considered an important origin of the Austronesian language family. To gather here is not merely to meet; it is to retrace the origin of our ocean memory and to reconfirm the truth that we are inherently linked.
Welcome home!
#Connecting the World’s Indigenous Peoples
#Let the World See the Strength and Beauty of Indigenous Peoples
December 10–12, 2025
Pingtung County Lai Yi Senior High School • Kaohsiung Lotus Pond Area