Meaning of Orchid Island | Babel Free

Definitions

An island of Taitung County, Taiwan, in the Pacific Ocean (Philippine Sea), home of the Tao (Yami) indigenous people.

Examples

“Orchid Island is a rocky, mountainous bit of land thrown up from the sea by volcanic action eons ago. It has barely more than ten and a half square miles of area, with little arable or level land. Yet it is home to some 2,600 people. There really are orchids on Orchid Island, although they are found at higher elevations not usually seen by visitors—also sizeable trees and numerous birds and butterflies. Almost everything is green from the combination of a tropical climate and heavy rainfall. The people of Orchid Island are Yamis, members of the smallest of the Taiwan aborigine tribes. They are handsome people. with black hair, brown eyes and complexions deeply bronzed from exposure to sun and wind.”

Free China Weekly

“While 2020 will be remembered by many as a year of travel bans and cancelled vacations, the indigenous Tao people of Orchid Island will remember it as the year unprecedented numbers of visitors descended on their once tranquil home.”

“A ship transporting cargo from Taitung to Orchid Island sank early Tuesday after it was struck by a large merchant vessel off Green Island, but all nine crew members were safely rescued, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA).”

“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.”

CEFR level