The "World" of the Tao

The Tao population as of 2000 was 3,872 Yami people. This was approximately 1% of Taiwan's indigenous population. They originally recognized the Yami aka Tao people as a Taiwanese aboriginal people, native to tiny outlying Orchid Island in Taiwan. The Tao are an Austronesian people linguistically and culturally closer to the Ivatan people of the Batanes islands in the Philippines than to other aboriginal peoples on the main island of Taiwan. The Tao people are traditionally good at making balangays (native canoes), which is a symbol of their tribe.



Tao people making a balangay.

Almost finished product of the balangay.

The finished balangay.

In the early days, the Tao people maintained a subsistent economic lifestyle on the island: they planted sweet potatoes and taro along the mountains, while capturing fish and shells on the sea. They also fed animals such as hogs, sheep, and chickens. But all these were just ways to be self-sufficient. Tao people are both producers and consumers. The traditional Tao diet includes wetland taro, taro sweet potatoes, fish, birds and other animals. They also supplement their diet with foods such as coconuts, Lintou, and other kinds of fruit in addition to the two meals. 
The “gift exchange” system is still rooted in the life and rituals on Orchid Island. This custom is a natural result of the “mutually beneficial” inter-personal relations of the Tao, but not motivated by self-interest. However, in recent years, there have been signs indicating that the Tao people have been more and more involved in the trade of goods and the market economy. Moreover, their growing dependence on commercial products and application of currency will also put pressure on the Tao’s traditional material culture and subsistent economy. Guanghong Yu points out that the Tao people may lose their economic independence in the next two or three decades. When modern Tao people are more and more influenced by the wave of currency value and the market economy, it won’t take long for the following wave of capitalism and the global system to reach the “island of humans.” Or, we should say that the wave of currency value and the market economy will flood the Tao people out of Orchid Island – just as other mountain aborigines were forced to leave their mountains after the collapse of their traditional economies and social structures. The only difference will be that for the Tao, it is not “down from the mountain,” but “off of the island!”