In 1871, an Okinawan vessel shipwrecked on the southern tip of Taiwan, and the crew of fifty-four were beheaded by the Paiwan aborigines.
The traditional dress of Rukai people shares many similarities with the one of Paiwan tribe, which is probably because of the similarity of their geographical distribution and their hereditary aristocracy social structure.
The Thao/Ngan language is classified as a Paiwanic language, and a Formosan language which is a geographical subgroup of the much larger Austronesian language family.