Homeland of the Tao

The Tao have modernity become a global notion and essential to people all around the world. In Taiwan, the indigenous communities have only dealt with the phenomenon of modernization for a few decades.

The remote location of Orchid Island from Taiwan became of great interest to the government in the 1970s as land was appropriated to be used to store nuclear waste on the Tao’s homeland. At first the government pretended to build a fish canning factory that would help the locals acquire jobs and to give them opportunities to earn money but the factory was promoted as an inalienable source of income that may bring better technologies and increased infrastructure to the island.

The Tao homes are made of wood or bamboo. Other materials used to build homes were logs and grass for the roofs sometimes.