Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Liuqiu Island
Liuqiu (Chinese: 琉球嶼; also known by other names) is a coral island in the Taiwan Strait about 13 kilometers (8 mi) southwest of the main island of Taiwan. It has an area of 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and approximately 12,200 residents. It is administered as a township of Pingtung County in Taiwan Province, Republic of China. As of 2019[update] the township's chief is Chen Lung-chin.
Liúqiú is the pinyin romanisation of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name 琉球. Other romanisations include Liouciou, Liuchiu, Liu-chiu, and Liu-ch'iu based on the Wade-Giles system for Mandarin and Ryūkyū from its Japanese pronunciation. The original Liuqiu appears in the Book of Sui and other medieval Chinese records as an island kingdom somewhere in the East China Sea. It was written by different authors with different homophonous characters and appears to have transcribed a native name. That kingdom has been variously identified with states on Taiwan Island, Okinawa, and the Penghu Islands. The name Liuqiu Islet (琉球嶼; Liúqiú Yǔ) was first used during the Ming Dynasty. Since "Ryūkyū" is also the name of the nearby Ryukyu archipelago including Okinawa and a historical kingdom there, the island has also been nicknamed "Little Liuqiu" (小琉球; Xiǎo Liúqiú) as opposed to "Big Liuqiu" (大琉球) for the Ryukyu Islands or Taiwan – since the early 20th century. Transcriptions of the nickname include Xiao Liuqiu, Siaoliouciou, and Sio Liu-khiu.
The island was previously known in English and other European languages[which?] as Lambay, Lamay, or Lamey Island. It is thought[by whom?] to be a transcription of a name from one of the Taiwanese aboriginal languages. Other indigenous names were Samaji and Tugin.
It was occasionally also known as Golden Lion Island, a calque of its old Dutch name Gouden Leeuwseylant. The city's tourism department ascribes the name to Vase Rock's supposed resemblance to a lion, but it actually honours the slaughtered crew of the Gouden Leeuw.
The Siraya, the Taiwanese indigenous peoples who also lived in nearby Pingtung County on Taiwan Island, are thought to have been the island's original inhabitants.
In 1622, the Dutch ship Goude Leeuws or Gouden Leeuw (Dutch for "Golden Lion") hit the island's coral reefs. Its entire crew was massacred by the island's natives. In 1631, the Dutch yacht Beverwijck wrecked on the same reefs and its fifty-odd survivors battled for two days before also being slaughtered to a man. Hendrik Brouwer, the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, personally ordered his lieutenant on Taiwan Hans Putmans to "punish and exterminate the people of... the Golden Lion Island as an example for their murderous actions committed against our people." A 1633 expedition under Claes Bruijn discovered it was undermanned for the task and accomplished little, aside from finding the large cave on the island used by its natives as shelter in times of trouble. A larger expedition under Jan Jurriansz van Lingga in 1636 corralled the locals into it, sealed its entrances, and filled its air with burning pitch and sulphur for eight days. By the end of the "Lamey" or Liuqiu Island Massacre, about 300 were killed and 323 were enslaved, the men being sold to plantations on Taiwan and Indonesia and the women and children being used as wives or domestics on Taiwan.
The first Han inhabitant is variously described as a Fujianese fisherman surnamed Chen, sometimes said to have arrived by accident during a storm in the same year as the massacre, or as Li Yuelao, who supposedly "discovered" and developed the island after Koxinga overthrew the Dutch in 1662. The few remaining native inhabitants were picked off by further slave raids and assaults until 1645, when a Chinese merchant who leased the island from the Dutch removed the last 13 indigenous inhabitants. It was resettled by the Chinese, who erected a prosperous fishing village, but only had about 200 inhabitants at the end of Qing control in 1895.
During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan following the First Sino-Japanese War, the island was administered as a village of the Tōkō District of Takao Prefecture.
Hub AI
Liuqiu Island AI simulator
(@Liuqiu Island_simulator)
Liuqiu Island
Liuqiu (Chinese: 琉球嶼; also known by other names) is a coral island in the Taiwan Strait about 13 kilometers (8 mi) southwest of the main island of Taiwan. It has an area of 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi) and approximately 12,200 residents. It is administered as a township of Pingtung County in Taiwan Province, Republic of China. As of 2019[update] the township's chief is Chen Lung-chin.
Liúqiú is the pinyin romanisation of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name 琉球. Other romanisations include Liouciou, Liuchiu, Liu-chiu, and Liu-ch'iu based on the Wade-Giles system for Mandarin and Ryūkyū from its Japanese pronunciation. The original Liuqiu appears in the Book of Sui and other medieval Chinese records as an island kingdom somewhere in the East China Sea. It was written by different authors with different homophonous characters and appears to have transcribed a native name. That kingdom has been variously identified with states on Taiwan Island, Okinawa, and the Penghu Islands. The name Liuqiu Islet (琉球嶼; Liúqiú Yǔ) was first used during the Ming Dynasty. Since "Ryūkyū" is also the name of the nearby Ryukyu archipelago including Okinawa and a historical kingdom there, the island has also been nicknamed "Little Liuqiu" (小琉球; Xiǎo Liúqiú) as opposed to "Big Liuqiu" (大琉球) for the Ryukyu Islands or Taiwan – since the early 20th century. Transcriptions of the nickname include Xiao Liuqiu, Siaoliouciou, and Sio Liu-khiu.
The island was previously known in English and other European languages[which?] as Lambay, Lamay, or Lamey Island. It is thought[by whom?] to be a transcription of a name from one of the Taiwanese aboriginal languages. Other indigenous names were Samaji and Tugin.
It was occasionally also known as Golden Lion Island, a calque of its old Dutch name Gouden Leeuwseylant. The city's tourism department ascribes the name to Vase Rock's supposed resemblance to a lion, but it actually honours the slaughtered crew of the Gouden Leeuw.
The Siraya, the Taiwanese indigenous peoples who also lived in nearby Pingtung County on Taiwan Island, are thought to have been the island's original inhabitants.
In 1622, the Dutch ship Goude Leeuws or Gouden Leeuw (Dutch for "Golden Lion") hit the island's coral reefs. Its entire crew was massacred by the island's natives. In 1631, the Dutch yacht Beverwijck wrecked on the same reefs and its fifty-odd survivors battled for two days before also being slaughtered to a man. Hendrik Brouwer, the governor-general of the Dutch East Indies, personally ordered his lieutenant on Taiwan Hans Putmans to "punish and exterminate the people of... the Golden Lion Island as an example for their murderous actions committed against our people." A 1633 expedition under Claes Bruijn discovered it was undermanned for the task and accomplished little, aside from finding the large cave on the island used by its natives as shelter in times of trouble. A larger expedition under Jan Jurriansz van Lingga in 1636 corralled the locals into it, sealed its entrances, and filled its air with burning pitch and sulphur for eight days. By the end of the "Lamey" or Liuqiu Island Massacre, about 300 were killed and 323 were enslaved, the men being sold to plantations on Taiwan and Indonesia and the women and children being used as wives or domestics on Taiwan.
The first Han inhabitant is variously described as a Fujianese fisherman surnamed Chen, sometimes said to have arrived by accident during a storm in the same year as the massacre, or as Li Yuelao, who supposedly "discovered" and developed the island after Koxinga overthrew the Dutch in 1662. The few remaining native inhabitants were picked off by further slave raids and assaults until 1645, when a Chinese merchant who leased the island from the Dutch removed the last 13 indigenous inhabitants. It was resettled by the Chinese, who erected a prosperous fishing village, but only had about 200 inhabitants at the end of Qing control in 1895.
During the Japanese occupation of Taiwan following the First Sino-Japanese War, the island was administered as a village of the Tōkō District of Takao Prefecture.