A cartoon series adapted from a popular book by renowned Paiwan aboriginal writer Ahronglong Sakinu will premier July 17 in Taiwan, according to the Public Television Service.
Targeted at elementary school children, the show is Taiwan’s first TV animation series based on an aboriginal literary work, PTS said July 12.
Ahronglong Sakinu’s “The Sage Hunter” brings together stories from the author’s childhood experiences of learning to hunt in his native Paiwan village in southeastern Taiwan’s Taitung County. The Government Information Office has listed the book as recommended reading, and the English translation has been used at Harvard University.
Although designed for a young audience, the cartoon provokes viewers of all ages to rethink mankind’s attitude toward nature, through the words and deeds of aboriginal elders educating their children, according to PTS.
“The piece is full of aboriginal wisdom regarding nature,” PTS General Manager Kuang Hsiang-hsia said. Preliminary screenings at an indigenous village in Pingtung County stirred great pride among children in their aboriginal heritage, PTS noted.
“The joy experienced by aboriginal children growing up and learning in the context of their own culture is a model for the education of today’s urban children,” Kuang added.
The work also aims to help protect vanishing aboriginal cultures and values that are of great relevance to today’s modern world, PTS said. It will be broadcast every Sunday at 4 p.m. (THN)