Hu Tai-li (胡台麗), a prominent Taiwanese anthropologist, passed away on May 8 at the age of 72.
Culture Minister Lee Yung-te stated that Hu dedicated her life to rural industrialization and social changes in Taiwan through ethnography and films. During the martial law era, she started doing research on former Kuomintang soldiers who came from China in 1949 and produced many ethnographic films. During her lifetime, she made great contributions to the preservation and record of Taiwan’s multiculturalism. "Her passing is a great loss to the Taiwanese society," said Minister Lee.
Graduated from the History Department of the National Taiwan University, Hu entered the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York and obtained her Ph.D. degree in anthropology. She served as a research fellow and documentary filmmaker at the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica in Taiwan; a concurrent professor at National Chin-Hua University, and the president of Taiwan International Ethnographic Film Festival. Additionally, she was invited by various museums in Taiwan to serve as a member of an advisory committee on projects related to indigenous peoples and was the former director of the board at the Taiwan Museum Foundation. It is known that her contributions to Taiwan’s indigenous peoples and multiculturalism were significant and profound.
To encourage dialogue and foster mutual understanding between different ethnic groups in Taiwan, Hu directed and produced many films, such as "The Return of Gods and Ancestors: Paiwan Five Year Ceremony (神祖之靈歸來：排灣族五年祭)," "Songs of Pasta'ay (矮人祭之歌)," "Voices of Orchid Island (蘭嶼觀點)," "Passing Through My Mother-in law's Village (穿過婆家村)," "After Passing (穿過後)," and she also published several books.
MOC stated that Hu's legacy of dedication to the research and preservation of Taiwanese people's lives through filmmaking and curating will be cherished forever by future generations.