User:Mariah1160/sandbox

The Yami people are more respectfully referred to as the Tao people. The Tao populace have fought for years to reclaim their original name in place of the name given to them by foreign anthropologists. The Tao are a Taiwanese aboriginal peoples who inhabit Orchid Island. Their ancestors migrated to the island from the Batanes Islands located in the northern area of the Philippines approximately 800 years ago. Despite speaking the Malayo-Polynesian language of other Taiwanese aboriginals, they possess a wide array of contrasting cultural traits including the use of fishing and cultivating tuber crops for survival. The 1895 declaration making Orchid Island a research zone contributed to the Tao’s preservation of culture and rejection of outside influences.

Approximately 5,000 Tao people currently occupy Orchid Island, half of which travel to the main land for work. They are members of Taiwan’s remaining two percent of Austronesians, living amongst a group of the Han Chinese. The Tao people exist in a patrilineal society devoid of chiefs. Most of their culture and religious observances revolve around catching and preserving three types of flying fish. They also regard the building of their fishing boats as the manifestation of divinity.

In 1982, a nuclear waste storage facility was built on the island. The plant receives waste from Taiwan’s three nuclear power plants. Since the establishment of the storage facility, the Tao people have continually protested its existed and demanded its destruction due to the health issues created by radiation from the nuclear waste. In addition to their struggles regarding the nuclear waste plant, the Tao people have struggled to establish an efficient government separate from Taiwan. The Tao people have worked hard to establish a distinct governing body that draws a clear line between members of the Taiwanese government and themselves.

Etymology:

In the language of the Tao people, "Tao" simply means "people." Torii Ryuzo, a pioneering Japanese anthropologist, was the first to refer to these Taiwanese aborigines as the Yami people. After utilizing the name in a scientific report following his initial visit to Orchid Island in 1897, the name became the common nomenclature for the island populace. In recent years, the Tao people have rejected the outsourced name. However, much to their dismay, they are still more widely recognized as the Yami people.

New lead section
The Tao people are a Taiwanese aboriginal peoples native to the tiny outlying Orchid Island of Taiwan. These indigenous peoples have been more commonly recognized as the Yami people, following a Japanese anthropologist's coining of the name. However, as a collective, these Orchid Island inhabitants typically prefer Tao people as their group identifier. They are part of the Austronesian family, and designated members of the Taiwanese aborigines. Despite being linked to both Taiwan and the Philippine's indigenous populations, the Tao people remain quite unique in their customs and cultural practices.

Composed of approximately 3,100 individuals, the island populace relies heavily on fishing for survival. The Tao people's emphasis on fishing and ocean culture reflects their intense connection to the sea as being about much more than survival; they use fishing and the building of boats as an extension of themselves, and as a way to honor their spiritual beliefs. Their ways of life have been threatened by the continued emigration to the mainland of Taiwan in search of jobs and education. As a result, the continuation of past traditions has been hindered.

In addition to threatened cultural practices, the Tao people have been advocating for the removal of the nuclear waste plant imposed on their land by the Taiwanese government in 1982. Due to growing health concerns and the mutation of their fish, the Tao people have worked to establish a clear governmental division between themselves and the Taiwanese government.