Ilan people's style of living is deeply related to the that of the Pingpu. "Their paternal ancestors were Chinese, but not their maternal ancestors," he says: when Han Chinese first came to Taiwan to clear the land for farming, many bachelor pioneers took aboriginal wives, so there are many blood bonds between the Hans and the aboriginals.
「有唐山公，沒唐山媽」，他說，早年漢人來台開墾時，許多「羅漢腳」均娶原住民為妻，因此漢人與原住民之間，有許多血緣上的關係。