Afih (pronounced "ah-fee-ay") is a village down the road from us; Amis ("Ah-meece") and Bunun ("Boo-nun") are two of the 15 recognized tribes of Taiwan. We live in an Amis village, and most of the cultural influences we see and hear are Amis. Outside of the rural areas you get into the Chinese culture and population. Where we live people speak Chinese and Taiwanese and Amis...hard to explain the difference but we can converse in Chinese, but are lost for most Taiwanese or Amis (or any other tribes language, for that matter).
There is a strong push in Taiwan, especially the east coast as it is a pristine area still, to adopt less intrusive agriculture methods. Of course rice is the main staple, and a group of people are attempting to implement organic crops. The cost to the consumer is not affected greatly. Thinkers in Taiwan are realizing that they have destroyed the west coast, polluted and laminated with concrete and are not willing to do the same to the east. And now that the level of income, subsidies and government support for agriculture has attained a higher level, people are out of the survival mode and into the forward thinking mode. So, here is a brief look into oe aspect of that movement:
http://titvweekly.titv.org.tw/news.php?id=1097
