Savungaz Valincinan

Savungaz Valincinan (born 5 April 1987) is a Taiwanese indigenous activist, politician, and television host. She is a member of the Bunun people. She is the owner of Lumaq cafe in Taipei, and served as the host for the fourth season of the Taiwan Indigenous Television program Lima Help. She ran for political office during the 2024 Taiwanese legislative election for the Highland Aborigine Constituency.

As an activist, Savungaz was active in the Sunflower Student Movement as well as in campaigns against the construction of a nuclear waste facility on Orchid Island, the , protests against the development of the Taitung Miramar Resort, as well as protests in support of the Bunun hunter Tama Talum. She served as the general convener of the Indigenous Youth Front as well as the secretary-general of the Association for Taiwan Indigenous Peoples' Policies (ATIPP).

Name Savungaz used the Han name Li Pinhan prior to exclusively using her Bunun name. Her Bunun-language name is Savungaz Valincinan; Bunun uses the Latin script. It is transliterated as using Chinese characters. Savungaz argues that the usage of Chinese characters fails to correctly express the popular pronunciation of the traditional names of Indigenous Taiwanese people, with the meaning of Chinese characters leading to the misuse and misunderstanding of their names. According to Bunun naming systems, the child takes the name of the family elder, which in her case was her grandmother. This name was mocked on by its host Hello Hor, who called it "trash" for being long and difficult to pronounce.

In 2026, Savungaz changed her legal name to "Savungaz Balincinan". According to Savungaz, "Balincinan" is closer to the pronunciation than "Valincinan".

Early life and education Savungaz was born to a Han Chinese father and a mother from the Bunun tribe of Indigenous Taiwanese people. She was raised in the city of Taipei and embraced her Bunun heritage later in life, Additionally, she changed her name to reflect her maternal Bunun ancestry starting in university. In 2011, Savungaz and a Truku student established an Indigenous student club at NCKU.

Savungaz runs a cafe in the city of Taipei called Lumaq, translating to "home" in the Bunun language.

She served as the host of the fourth season of the Taiwan Indigenous Television program Lima Help , alongside American actor Justin Caleb Cooper .

Activism Savungaz is a member of the Indigenous Youth Front and the 2012 protests against the development of the Taitung Miramar Resort on Amis land.

She was among the protesters during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in Taiwan, connecting the challenges faced by African Americans in the United States with the discrimination faced by Indigenous Taiwanese.

Savungaz was among the 2021 activists who called on local governments to recognize the exclusive writing of Indigenous Taiwanese names in Latin script. Activists argued that the script better adhered to the pronunciation and served as a method for the preservation of Indigenous Taiwanese languages. The Ministry of the Interior rejected a petition calling for such on the grounds that Taiwanese people would be unable to read the names properly.