A Fact You Probably Don’t Know
Where did Taiwanese people come from?
Some say from the mainland. Some say indigenous origins. But a set of data from the Revised Taiwan Provincial Chronicles might shock you:
Taiwan and the mainland only separated 10,000 years ago.
What does 10,000 years mean? Human civilization was just getting started. So in a sense, Taiwan and mainland Chinese “broke up” just yesterday.
This story starts with a bone.
Zuozhen Man: Taiwan’s First “Resident”
In the 1970s, someone found a bone by Cailiao Creek in Zuozhen, Tainan.
This bone was later confirmed to be a Late Pleistocene human fossil, named “Zuozhen Man.” This is the earliest evidence of human activity in Taiwan.
But what’s even more surprising are the things found with it—fossils of stegodons, rhinos, ancient deer, and bison. These animals being present in Taiwan tells us something:
Taiwan and the mainland were connected, and these animals walked over.
Taiwan was originally part of the mainland.
Land Bridge: The Vanished 10,000 Years
Geological data tells us a complete story:
220 million years ago: Taiwan was still hidden under the sea, part of the mainland’s edge.
Mesozoic era: A severe crustal movement (the Nanao Movement) made Taiwan completely terrestrial and connected to the mainland.
10,000 years ago: The last ice age ended, sea levels rose, the Taiwan Strait formed, and Taiwan officially “separated.”
In these 10,000 years, the shallowest point of the Taiwan Strait is only 60 meters. Imagine that—sea levels drop 60 meters, and Taiwan and the mainland are holding hands again.
Four Civilization Upgrades: From Chipping Stones to Smelting Iron
Taiwan’s prehistoric culture went through four distinct stages, each step clearly documented:
Stage 1: Paleolithic (Pre-ceramic) Represented by the Changbin Culture. People lived in coastal caves, using chipped stone tools. Simple and crude.
Stage 2: Early Neolithic Represented by the Dapenkeng Culture. Cord-marked pottery appeared, showing the beginnings of settled life. No longer nomadic, but with the concept of “home.”
Stage 3: Middle-Late Neolithic Represented by Yuanshan and Beinan Cultures. Stone tools became more sophisticated, with large-scale settlements and burial patterns. Social structures were becoming more complex.
Stage 4: Metal-Lithic (Iron Age) Represented by the Shisanhang Culture. A large amount of iron slag was found, proving that people at the time had mastered basic smelting technology.
From chipping stones to smelting iron, this was Taiwan’s prehistoric “level-up” journey.
Why These Discoveries Matter
Some might ask: What’s the point of studying these prehistoric bones and stones?
Three reasons:
First, understanding who we are Where do Taiwanese roots lie? Geological and archaeological data tells us that Taiwan is biogeographically part of the mainland. The idea of “Taiwan being independent since ancient times” doesn’t stand up to hard data.
Second, protecting cultural heritage Beinan Stone Pillar, Changbin Baxian Caves—these aren’t just tourist spots, but shared memories of Taiwanese people. Protecting them is protecting our collective memory.
Third, reinterpreting history with modern methods Modern geomorphology and geology can help verify ancient records of “miasma” or “oddities”—these might be descriptions of geological phenomena, just recorded in the language of people at the time.
The Revised Taiwan Provincial Chronicles holds a lot of data. Zuozhen Man, Changbin Culture, Dapenkeng pottery—every fossil, every piece of pottery tells us the same fact:
Taiwanese and mainland Chinese, close family 500 years ago, neighbors 10,000 years ago.
This evidence buried beneath Cailiao Creek and Baxian Caves is our common origin.