Rural township · Taiwan

Lanyu Township 蘭嶼鄉

Lanyu Township (蘭嶼鄉) includes Orchid Island, Little Orchid Island and nearby islets off southeastern Taitung. The main island is volcanic, with mountainous terrain, tropical trees and narrow coastal plains below Hongtou Mountain (紅頭山).

Location of Taiwan, the surrounding province-level areaView province guide

Get to know Lanyu Township

Rocky shoreline on Orchid Island · 兰屿岩石海岸. Shown locality: Orchid Island, Lanyu Township. Source-recorded photograph date: 2013-08-13.
Rocky shoreline on Orchid Island · 兰屿岩石海岸. Shown locality: Orchid Island, Lanyu Township. Source-recorded photograph date: 2013-08-13. · Shang Ming Wang · CC BY-SA 2.0
Photo adjustments

Full-frame source proportionally resized and converted to WebP for display. No subject alteration. Source-supplied marks and edits remain; cards may crop the view.

Administrative area
Rural township · 鄉
Part of
Taitung County
Chinese name
蘭嶼鄉
Local areas
Rural township guide

Tao settlements and boats

Tao people (達悟族), also known as Yami, build plank boats from boards made from different tree species. Fishing for flying fish in spring and summer is part of island culture. The six communities include Yeyou (椰油), Langdao (朗島), Dongqing (東清), Yeyin (野銀), Hongtou (紅頭) and Yuren (漁人). Traditional houses partly below ground survive at Yeyin.

Named coastal places

The county tourism guide identifies Mother Hen Rock (母雞岩) at Langdao and a snorkelling area at a cave entrance in Yeyou. It also associates the Blue Cave (藍洞) with Kaiyuan Harbour (開元港). These names locate different stretches of the island’s coast alongside its villages.

Sources for this guide

蘭嶼鄉 - Wikipedia · Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0

台東自由潛水 | 台東觀光旅遊網 (https://tour.taitung.gov.tw/zh-tw/discover/diving) · Taitung County tourism authority

Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-30.

Explore Lanyu Township

Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.

Places to explore around Lanyu Township

Rocky shoreline on Orchid IslandRocky shoreline on Orchid Island · 兰屿岩石海岸 Source-recorded photograph date: 2013-08-13.

Orchid Island蘭嶼

Orchid Island, or Lanyu, is the homeland of Tao communities whose culture is closely connected with the sea. Traditional plank boats and partly sunken houses reflect this relationship with the coastal environment. These are…

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More in Taitung County

Taitung City臺東市 →Chenggong Township成功鎮 →Guanshan Township關山鎮 →Beinan Township卑南鄉 →Luye Township鹿野鄉 →Chishang Township池上鄉 →Donghe Township東河鄉 →Changbin Township長濱鄉 →
Sources & geographic information

Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.

Some facts checked against 蘭嶼鄉 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Photo: Orchid Island · Shang Ming Wang · CC BY-SA 2.0. Full-frame source proportionally resized and converted to WebP for display. No subject alteration. Source-supplied marks and edits remain; cards may crop the view.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.