Qualla: Dongji Island

Dongji Island: Introduction

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 白士李, CC BY 2.0. In June 2012, a fisherman named Wang Chiu-tang hauled up something unexpected from a trench near Dongji Island: a fossilized ivory tusk, dredged from 200 meters below the surface of the Taiwan Strait. The find was a reminder that this patch of ocean was once dry land, part of a coastal plain that connected Taiwan to mainland Asia during the last ice age. Dongji Island itself -- a small volcanic landmass in the southern Penghu archipelago -- sits in water that was once walked across by elephants. Today it is walked across by the handful of visitors who make the two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride from Tainan to reach one of Taiwan's most isolated inhabited islands.

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Image: 白士李 | CC BY 2.0

Dongji Island: Lighthouse at the Edge

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers, Public domain. The most prominent structure on Dongji Island is its lighthouse, built in 1911 during the period of Japanese colonial rule over Taiwan. The Dongji Island Lighthouse has stood for over a century at the island's highest point, marking the southern approach to the Penghu archipelago...

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Image: Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers | Public domain

Dongji Island: Gods and Coral

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit WU PEI HSUAN, CC BY-SA 4.0. Before the lighthouse, there was the temple. A shrine dedicated to Wang Ye worship was built on Dongji Island during the Jiaqing era of the Qing dynasty -- the early nineteenth century -- and restored in 1872. Wang Ye worship, a folk religious tradition focused on plague-averting...

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Image: WU PEI HSUAN | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dongji Island: A National Park in the Sea

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Tony kang peppy, CC BY-SA 4.0. In June 2014, Dongji Island was incorporated into the newly established South Penghu Marine National Park, a designation that recognized the ecological significance of the southern Penghu Islands and their surrounding waters. The park protects coral reefs, marine habitats, and th...

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Image: Tony kang peppy | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dongji Island: Island Weather, Island Time

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 吳華琳, CC BY-SA 4.0. Dongji Island's climate sits at the boundary between tropical and humid subtropical. Being a small island in the shallow Taiwan Strait, it experiences less dramatic temperature swings than either mainland Taiwan or the Asian continent to the west. Winters are dry and mild, with c...

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Image: 吳華琳 | CC BY-SA 4.0