I recently had the opportunity to re-visit Chashan Village (茶山部落, Cayamavana), located in the southernmost part of Alishan Township of Chiayi County (嘉義縣阿里山鄉). Its name in the Tsou language is Ca Ya Ma Vana, which means “plain along the midslope of a mountain”. When the Japanese occupied Taiwan (1895-1945), they shortened the name to Ca Ya Ma. Then, when the Kuomintang government came into power, they chose the name Chashan (which means “tea mountain”) as “tea mountain” in Japanese has a pronunciation similar to Ca Ya Ma. The Tsou were the first to move here and make up 60% of the population. They were followed by the indigenous Bunun tribe (now about 30% of the population) and Han Chinese (making up the remaining 10% of the population).
