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The Thao of Taiwan

The Thao of Taiwan, numbering approximately 850 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a people whose ancestors followed a legendary white deer from the Jianan Plain to Sun Moon Lake, later relocated to Ita Thao village after a hydroelectric dam flooded their sacred Lalu Island, recognized in 2001 as Taiwan's tenth indigenous group. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Min Nan Chinese is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Thao

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: East Asian Peoples
Country: Taiwan
People Cluster: Taiwan Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Min Nan Chinese (nan)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 850
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 5% or Greater but Less than 10% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG007542
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Pray for the Thao of Taiwan

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Min Nan Chinese
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Chinese, Min Nan Speakers

Media Resources in Min Nan Chinese:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film
JESUS View Film
Magdalena View Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Min Nan Chinese:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
Wycliffe Malaysia ✓ ✓
Today's Taiwanese Version ✓ ✓ ✓

2 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Min Nan Chinese bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Thao are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Thao:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Thao of Taiwan

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."
readRomans 16:5

Pray for houses to be meeting places for Christians and that God will advance the gospel and grow His Church through natural familial and community relationships.

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
read2 Corinthians 12:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties, having hope because Christ's power is made perfect in their weakness.

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.
readActs 17:29

Pray that God will send out laborers to tell people of the one true God and, as the good news is shared, bring about repentance and belief as they turn from idols and follow Jesus.

Thao Across Countries (ROP3 - 110007) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

1 people group

Photo People Group ID Name ▲ Country Population Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Thao PG007542 Thao Taiwan 850 No Longer Unreached Min Nan Chinese Protestantism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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