Qualla: Donggang, Pingtung

Donggang, Pingtung: Introduction

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pbdragonwang, CC BY-SA 3.0. Every April, something remarkable happens to the price of bluefin tuna in Donggang. Fishing boats return heavy with southern bluefin — one of the most coveted fish in the world — and the restaurants lining the harbor fill with people who have driven from Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung specifically to eat it here. For a few weeks, this unassuming port town at the southern tip of Taiwan becomes a culinary destination that rivals anywhere on the island. The rest of the year, Donggang simply gets on with being what it has always been: a fishing town that has fed Taiwan for more than three centuries.

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Image: Pbdragonwang | CC BY-SA 3.0

Donggang, Pingtung: Koxinga's Port

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pbdragonwang, CC BY-SA 3.0. Donggang's origins trace to the 17th century, when the Chinese admiral Koxinga — who had just driven the Dutch from Taiwan — opened it as a commercial harbor. For the next two hundred years, it served as one of Taiwan's most important western ports, funneling goods between the is...

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Image: Pbdragonwang | CC BY-SA 3.0

Donggang, Pingtung: Three Treasures of the South

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Hhaithait, CC BY-SA 3.0. Ask any food writer in Taiwan what defines Donggang's kitchen and you will hear the same three words: bluefin tuna, karasumi, and sakura shrimp. Southern bluefin tuna season runs from April through June, when boats working the deep waters off the southern tip of Taiwan bring in f...

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Image: Hhaithait | CC BY-SA 3.0

Donggang, Pingtung: When the Plague Boat Burns

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 東港東福殿城隍廟葉逸齊, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every three years, Donggang stages one of Taiwan's most dramatic religious events. The King Boat Ceremony, organized by the Donglong Temple, lasts for eight days and concludes with the burning of a large wooden boat on the beach. The ceremony is dedicated to Lord Wen — whose name...

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Image: 東港東福殿城隍廟葉逸齊 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Donggang, Pingtung: Between Sea and Lagoon

Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Danielx.chen, CC BY-SA 3.0. Donggang sits in a narrow zone between two bodies of water. To the west, the Taiwan Strait stretches toward mainland China. To the south, Dapeng Bay's enclosed lagoon offers calmer water and a different kind of life — windsurfing, cycling along the bay's perimeter road, looking f...

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Image: Danielx.chen | CC BY-SA 3.0