Abstract
In the development of indigenous communities, the reconstruction of collective memories serves as the foundation for maintaining community awareness and local revitalization. It is also regarded as an important indicator for the progress of decolonization and the integration of ethnic spirit. This paper highlights the mopped-up histories and memories of the Atayal people in the front mountain of Jianshi, Hsinchu, more than 110 years ago. In face of this issue, historical textual analysis helps the interpretation of the news regarding the assault of the Atayal people in Hsinchu reported by Taiwan Daily News. It shows how the policy of the Japanese police guard-line suppressed, differentiated and offered amnesty for the tribes. Theoretical discussion of the politics of memories informs us why landscape renovation was able to lighten up memories of struggles and guided the indigenous people to gradually adapt themselves to the realities of colonization—the mountains were nationalized and the assimilation policy had started. The paper analyzes these aspects in the following steps: First, it examines the background and process of the officially established tourist attraction “cherry blossoms of the Neihengping Mountain.” Second, this paper scrutinizes the process through which the meaning of the cherry blossoms in the Cherry Blossom Mountain was given and spread. That is, it explores how the Japanese colonial government deconstructed the memories of the bloodshed region by recreating a tourist attraction in it. Third, it contextualizes the news coverage of the assault in Taiwan Daily News and collects the responses of Mekarang and other tribes to offer a counter perspective. Fourth, it analyzes the identification divergence between the multi-ethnic communities formed in Mekarang alert area, the people in Mekarang tribes and the officials after 1917. Fifth, it investigates the fragmented memories of the resistance against the police guard-line by the locals in Meihua Village and their contemporary significance.