Barring natural disasters, life in Juiyen is cosy. Nestled in the mountains' embrace, residents enjoy grilled fish for breakfast under the blue sky. (Yu Wen-fang)

Though the memory of the Chichi Earthquake of 21 September 1999 is fading, many people are still hard at work rebuilding their homes. The path to reconstruction has been especially long for the residents of a few Aboriginal villages--the earthquake so devastated the land on which they sat that the villages have had to be relocated in their entirety. Six years after the quake, these projects remain incomplete.

Juiyen Village, located in a remote mountainous section of Nantou County's Jen-ai Township, is a case in point. Villagers have been bitterly disappointed by the extent to which this project in the "City in the Sky"--the legendary birthplace of the Atayal people--has been constrained by geographic and human factors.

Through the collective effort of a number of groups, Juiyen's new infrastructure was completed in 2004, and work on the village's relocated housing finally got underway at the end of 2005.

After all these years, the people of Juiyen can see the light at the end of the tunnel. But further difficulties await. Though the ground has now been broken on their new homes, the efforts to reestablish their society and culture are only just beginning.

The winter sun may not be strong enough to drive the chill from the mountain air, but that doesn't stop Tiemu and his neighbors from having their breakfast outside. This morning, the mountain village of Juiyen looks peaceful and content, like a veritable utopia.

On Tiemu's lawn, some people are getting a fire going and passing around stools. They clean three fat river fish, rub them with salt, and grill them, washing the fish down with mouthfuls of Whisbih, a tonic drink. When they spot a new face, they warmly invite the stranger to join them.

After polishing off the meal, most smile contentedly or begin humming a song. But the 52-year-old Mrs. Ku is deep in thought. "There's a groundbreaking ceremony today," she says, "and I don't know whether to go. If I go, I won't be able to go to work in the cabbage fields. That's NT$1,000 I won't earn."

"Of course you're going," says the youthful Tiemu. "You have to sign your contract yourself." Though Tiemu is one of the few villagers who isn't taking part in the relocation, he is very familiar with this morning's groundbreaking and with the contract-signing ceremony. "If you don't go sign the contract," he reminds his neighbors, "you won't get a home to live in."