Pilin Yapu was born in the Mabanan community of Tai'an Township, Miaoli County. He graduated from the Department of Art Education, National Taichung Teachers College, and earned his Master's degree in Ethnology at the National Chengchi University. He returned to his Atayal roots in the 1990s and established the Atayal Liyung Peynux Cultural Association with Baunay Watan and Yuma Taru, working together to revitalise the Atayal cultural traditions. Meanwhile, using the skills he learned from the Full Shot Foundation's Local Documentary Filmmakers Training Scheme (commissioned by the Council for Cultural Affairs), he began to make documentary films that offer in-depth discussion on issues of Atayal culture from an indigenous perspective. He is now the principal of the P'uma Elementary School in Taichung, which is the first elementary school in Taiwan that implements indigenous experimental education.