This cultural and geographical divide remains visible today. Taiwan’s high-speed rail can’t pierce its central mountains, so it only shuttles tourists up and down its western cities. In the east, there is a sensation of open space. The mountains are bigger, the palm trees taller. Because it faces the vast Pacific rather than the narrow Taiwan Strait, the water is deeper and darker blue. Carved wooden totem poles, geometric mosaics and Indigenous food traditions all testify to the fact that long before Han Chinese and Japanese settlers arrived, Taiwan was home to Amis, Truku and Puyuma Indigenous people.
