HUALIEN, Taiwan, July 22 (Xinhua) -- With songs and dances performed by 1,000-strong men and women dressed in traditional costumes, aborigines in east Taiwan's Hualien County have started to celebrate their annual harvest festival.

Performers presented scenes of hunting, fishing and agricultural harvest during the opening ceremony held Friday at an athletic arena in Hualien, which is home to six indigenous peoples out of the 16 officially recognized in Taiwan.

This year's festival is themed on Alufu, meaning "lover's bag" in Chinese. It is a local specialty bag originally designed to carry around small items while working.

Alufu is usually given as gifts by mothers to their children or by girls to their lovers. This year's festival aims to promote this token of love for inheritance among the aborigines.

Hsu Chen-wei, magistrate of Hualien, encouraged visitors at the opening ceremony to put Alufu on those they like to express their affections. "I believe Hualien will see many more new couples," she joked.

The festival is a highlight of the eventful and busy summer for the aborigines as Hualien is a popular destination for tourists in Taiwan and elsewhere thanks to its long beautiful coast along the Pacific Ocean, its picturesque mountains, and the unique indigenous cultures.

Besides agriculture, the aborigines now are widely seen in the tourism industry, working at hotels and restaurants, driving taxis, and presenting performances with local characteristics.

Mi Mi, for example, is known for her aboriginal name in the Amis, a major indigenous people in the county. Working as a dolphin trainer at a local oceanic park, Mi Mi and her Amis colleagues entertain visitors and also try to raise their awareness of protecting dolphins by not throwing rubbish into the sea.

"We Amis people are born by the sea and we devote ourselves to protecting it," she said.