Pa mai: The 100 tribes of Bai (Baiyue)

Emperor Qin was responsible for the buried Terracotta warriors and army in modern day Xian. Photo / Supplied

Many indigenous tribes lived in Southern China about 400BC.

Some were called Baiyue or The 100 Tribes of Bai.

At the time the Qin Dynasty was in charge of Middle China exerting pressure to become the pre-eminent dynasty of all China with civilised societies and sophisticated cities.

Emperor Qin was responsible for the buried terracotta warriors and army in modern day Xian, which we have visited.

The Qin people wore long, groomed hair, and had clear complexions. They had silk clothes and gilded garments. This is in contrast to the Baiyue who had full facial moko and body tamoko, both men and women.

They were largely hunter gatherers, sailors and fishermen, traders of goods and food and were nomadic warriors.They had their own languages and were deemed by the Qin as southern barbarians. It is said that this was the origins of us as Pacific peoples, we as Māori.

Many wars with successive Chinese dynasties ended with the Han dynasty finally ousting the Baiyue from Southern China over several hundred years.

Being skilled sailors, voyagers, hunters, traders and horticulturists it wasn't hard for the Baiyue to migrate to Taiwan to resettle there.

From Taiwan, having established vast communities there, it was an easy step out to occupy and or colonise nearby islands and lands including Luzhon, the modern Phillipines and Vietnam - Viet nam meaning the equivalent of Baiyue, Viet meaning 100, that is the 100 Tribes of Bai.

From Taiwan it was easy for explorer tribes to visit farflung places such as Korea and Japan to the north, Papua and Indonesia in the south and Madagascar to the west. Regular trade routes were with Persia and other Arabic nations as well as with India and most of Southeast Asia and Indo China.

As related earlier, Maui and his brothers were part of these trading voyages and developed huge status and mana during this era and epoch of our evolution.

Most of the Taiwanese tribes still have extant communities and populations and we have very similar customs and practices such as karakia, pōhiri, whaikōrero and hakari.

But our nomadic "tribe" of Polynesians with warrior spirit and wanderlust ventured further afield taking our Austronesian language, culture and customs onward to explore the mighty Moananui a Kiwa, the Pacific ocean and all its landfills and land forms, including Te Ika a Maui me Te Waka a Maui. Ika means "fish" throughout Asia while Waka or Vaka means "canoe" throughout much of southeast Asia but further north is "baaka" or "banga".

As Takitimu we use the term "Te Hononga Mareikura" as our matriarchal web of whakapapa which binds us together.

It will be of no surprise then that in our migration into the Pacific we have many matriarchal landfalls with societies that still practice female leadership, succession and land tenure.

One modern day equivalent here in Aotearoa is that Takitimu women are our leaders, owning land and able to speak on our numerous paepae. But that's another story.