Wu He (“Dancing Crane”) began creative writing in 1974, with the publication of his award-winning short story “Peony Autumn.” A handful of assorted works of short fiction followed, continuing until 1979, when he began a thirteen-year period of reclusion. Throughout the 1980s, Wu He left publishing and mainstream society behind and delved deep into the tribal societies of Taiwan’s aboriginal peoples, living on native reservations. He returned to creative writing in the early 1990s with a string of brilliant works of fiction, including the novels, Meditations on Abang Kalusi and Remains of Life, based on his experiences living with aboriginal tribes. Remains of Life gained critical attention, not only for its radical, stream-of-consciousness style, but also for its literary excavation of the long-forgotten Musha Incident (1930), where six aboriginal tribes revolted against the Japanese in a bloody head-hunting ritual during the height of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. Remains of Life has been heralded among the most influential fiction works in contemporary Chinese literature and has been awarded more than a dozen major literary prizes. In fall 2004, at a reading and panel discussion with Professors Michael Berry, K. C. Tu, and Robert Backus, Wu He spoke to UCSB students about the disappearing aboriginal culture in Taiwan and his experience writing Remains of Life.