In order to recover his own Aboriginal status, Mayaw had first to help his mother recover her own Aboriginal status on the household registration. This was because in the past, as part of the government's "benevolent government," when an Aboriginal woman married a Han Chinese her status would be "raised" to that of a Han Chinese and her original Aboriginal status was automatically lost.
為了恢復自己原住民的身份，馬躍還得先幫母親恢復戶籍上的原住民身份，因為過去政府「德政」，原住民女子嫁給漢人之後，她的身份將得以「升級」變成漢人，原住民身份自動消失。