[VIDEO] For centuries, Taiwan’s #indigenous people practiced the custom of #facial #tattooing. Tattoos represented personal achievement and identity for several tribes, including the #Atayal. The custom was completely banned in the 1930s by the #Japanese #colonial government that occupied Taiwan at the time. One Atayal woman, Lawa Piheg, was the last indigenous person in Taiwan with a full facial tattoo. She died on Sept. 14 at the age of 97 in #Miaoli County, where she had lived. Last year, she gave an interview describing what it was like to get a tattoo at the age of 8 and why it was important to her tribe at the time. Also known by her Mandarin Chinese name Ke Ju-lan, Lawa spoke in the Atayal dialect. Atayal documentary maker Baunay Watan translated the interview.