Green Island, Taiwan

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Green Island, Taiwan

Green Island (; POJ

Pe?h-oe-ji

Pe?h-oe-ji is an orthography in the Latin alphabet created and introduced to Fujian and Taiwan by Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century....
: Le?k-tó) is a small volcanic island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. Its name is derived from the Latin name Mare Pacificum, "peaceful sea", bestowed upon it by the Portugal explorer Ferdinand Magellan....
, about 33 km (20.5 miles) off the eastern coast of Taiwan

Taiwan

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Taiwan Greenisland Sleeping Beauty Skerry

Green Island (; POJ

Pe?h-oe-ji

Pe?h-oe-ji is an orthography in the Latin alphabet created and introduced to Fujian and Taiwan by Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century....
: Le?k-tó) is a small volcanic island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls are called islets....
in the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Taiwan

Taiwan is an island in East Asia. "Taiwan" is also commonly used to refer to the country governed by the Republic of China and to the ROC itself, which governs the island of Taiwan, Orchid Island and Green Island, Taiwan in the Pacific Ocean off the Taiwan coast, the Penghu islands in the Taiwan Strait, and Kinmen and the Matsu Islands...
. In the 19th century it was known as Samasana Island and the Japanese called it Kasho-to. The island is 15.092 km² at high tide and 17.329 km² at low tide. Administratively, Green Island is Lutao Hsiang, a township

Township (Taiwan)

Along with County-controlled city, the Townships of Taiwan are the administrative subdivisions of Republic of China county. Taiwanese townships can be further classified into urban townships and rural townships ....
of Taitung County

Taitung County

Taitung County is a county in eastern Taiwan. The name means "Eastern Taiwan". Taitung is officially administered as a County of Taiwan Province, Republic of China....
and one of the county's two offshore areas (the other is Orchid Island

Orchid Island

Orchid Island is a 45-km? volcanic island off the southeastern coast of Taiwan island and separated from the Batanes of the Philippines by the Bashi Channel of the Luzon Strait....
, or Lanyu). Green Island is the ROC's fourth-largest island. It is accessible by airplane

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle which is able to flight by being supported by the air, or in general, the atmosphere, of a planet. Examples include balloons, airplanes and helicopters....
in eight to 12 minutes from Taitung City

Taitung City

Taitung City is the capital of Taitung County, Taiwan Province of the Republic of China. It lies on the southeast coast of Taiwan facing the Pacific Ocean....
. There are also ferries

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transport, usually a boat or ship, used to carry passengers and their vehicles across a body of water. Ferries are also used to transport freight and even railroad cars....
capable of carrying over 250 passengers.

Prisons

The island is primarily noted as the place of past and current prison

Prison

A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or internment and usually deprived of a range of personal Freedom ....
s and penal colonies. Green Island first served as an isolated spot and place of exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened by prison or death upon return....
for political prisoner

Political prisoner

A political prisoner is someone held in prison or otherwise detained, perhaps under house arrest, for his or her involvement in Politics....
s during the martial law

Martial law

Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice.Martial law is sometimes imposed during wars or occupied territory in the absence of any other civil government....
period of Taiwanese history

History of the Republic of China

The history of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China ended over two thousand years of Imperial rule....
during Kuomintang

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , also often translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is the founding and the ruling party of the Republic of China ....
single-party rule

Single-party state

A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election....
(especially during the White Terror

White Terror

In general, the term White Terror refers to acts of violence carried out by reactionary groups as part of a counterrevolutionary. In particular, during the 20th century, in several countries the term White Terror was applied to acts of violence against real or suspected socialism and communism....
). After their release, many of the prisoners jailed between the late 1940s and the late 1980s went on to establish the Democratic Progressive Party

Democratic Progressive Party

The Democratic Progressive Party is a major political party in the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan. It has traditionally been associated with the Pan-Green Coalition and De facto Taiwan independence movement, although it moderated its stance during its Republic of China presidential election, 2000....
, most notably Shih Ming-teh

Shih Ming-teh

Bo Yang

Bo Yang , also sometimes called Bai Yang , was a Chinese language writer based in Taiwan. According to his own memoir, the exact date of his birthday was unknown even to himself....
was also a prisoner here.

The place where most of the political prisoners (such as Shih Ming-teh

Shih Ming-teh

Shih Ming-te or Shih Ming-teh was a political prisoner for 25-and-a-half years in the Republic of China .He was arrested at the age of 21 in 1962 and charged with creating the "Taiwan Independence League" with the intention of overthrowing the Kuomintang government, Shih was sentenced to life imprisonment....
) were held was the Green Island Lodge (Lu Dao Shanzhuang), where conditions were reported to be very bad. Oasis Village was the main penal colony. The prison was later closed, its interior is now opened to the public for visit.

The Green Island Prison (Lu Jianyú) is also located on the island and has housed some prisoners that have been perceived to be amongst Taiwan's most dangerous criminals and gangsters. However, this has changed in recent years.

The island is the natural habitat for deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae . A number of broadly similar animals from related families within the order even-toed ungulate are often also called deer....
, goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep: both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae....
s, chameleon

Chameleon

Chameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, and the possession by many of a prehensile tail, crests or horns on their...
s, giant bat

Giant bat

In the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game, giant bats are magical beasts. They are, quite simply, enormous versions of regular, real-life bats....
s, and coconut crab

Coconut crab

The coconut crab, Birgus latro, is the largest land-living arthropod in the world and is probably at the limit of how big terrestrial animals with exoskeletons can get under the prevailing conditions....
s as well as indigenous and migratory birds.

In 1995, less than half of the registered 2,634 residents of the island actually reside on the island. The population is dwindling due to difficulty to find jobs on the island. There are two preschools, one kindergarten, two elementary schools, and one middle school on the island. To pursue any education at the senior high school level or higher, the islanders must move to the main island of Taiwan. Public service centres include one seniors' home, one library, and one community centre.

The island was originally inhabited by the Ami Taiwanese aborigines, who called it Sanasai. It was called "Fire-Burned Island (???, Huoshao Dao, or ???, Huoshao Yu) before renamed to Green Island in August 1, 1949 by Huang Shih-hung, the magistrate of Taitung at the time, who thought that the former name was unrefined.

The villages and the settlements they administer are:

Jhongliao Village

Jhongliao

Nanliao Village

Nanliao
Yugang

Gongguan Village

Gongguan
Chaikou
Lioumagou
Dahu
Zuoping

The following abandoned aboriginal tribal settlements also belong to Gongguan Village:

Youzihhu
Nanzihhu
Haicanping
Dabaisha

External links

(Chinese)
(English)
(English)

Green Island, Taiwan

Prisons

See also

External links