lanyu

name

1. A rural township of Taitung County, Taiwan, primarily made up of Orchid Island (Lanyu).

   “Chile's Easter Island and Lanyu Township in Taitung County forged sisterhood relations Friday through the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Lanyu Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Saturday.”

   “Lanyu Township is the only place in Taitung County that hasn't started receiving applications of the financial relief subsidy program, leading to complaints from residents about being second-class citizens.[…] At present, the only township in the county that hasn't begun processing applications is Lanyu Township, much to the dismay of residents.”

2. Synonym of Orchid Island.

   “It was discovered that many species, especially those considered endemic to southern Formosa or Lanyu (Botel Tobago), are synonymous with certain generally widespread species of the Philippine Islands, especially of Luzon and the northern small islands.”

   “Pointing to the great pains the government has taken to assure that every community in Taiwan has at least one telephone, Lien said that in one case, the Taiwan Telecommunications Administration spent NT$13 million (US$325,000) to have a telephone booth installed in a remote village on Lanyu (Orchid Island) off the coast of eastern Taiwan.”

   “A volcanic island covered with a carpet of tropical rainforest, Lanyu lies about 65km southeast of the city of Taitung, making it the southernmost outpost of Taiwan. Lanyu's status as a far-flung outpost isn't merely geographical, but cultural as well, as the island is by far the least Chinese part of Taiwan.”

   “The waste site in Lanyu, also known as Orchid Island, or Ponso no Tao, has been among the highest-profile causes taken up by Indigenous Taiwanese, who were the main inhabitants of these islands until four centuries ago, when colonial settlers began arriving from mainland China, Europe and, later, imperial Japan.”