The indigenous Amis people are the majority community in Donghe, and their presence predates every colonial chapter in the township's recorded history. Archaeological artifacts from the prehistoric Dulan Site, found within the township's boundaries, push the human story back thousands of years. Under Qing dynasty administration, Donghe fell under the Pi-lam Subprefecture — a distant bureaucratic jurisdiction that had little practical effect on Amis village life along the coast. Japanese colonial rule brought more direct transformation: a local administrative office was established in 1920, and the area was reorganized as Toran Village under the Shinkō District by 1937. The current name Donghe was adopted after World War II. Through all these administrative renamings, Amis culture retained its anchor here. The language, ceremonial life, and community structures that Fafokod once named are still recognizable in the township today.

Donghe faces the Pacific directly, with no offshore barrier to slow the ocean down. The swells that roll in unimpeded from open water have made the coast around Jinzun Fishing Harbor one of Taiwan's premier surf spots. The Taiwan Open of Surfing has been held at Jinzun since 2011, drawing competitors and spectators to a stretch of coast that most of the island had barely heard of before surfing culture arrived. The geography shapes everything: the Haian Range — the Coastal Mountain Range — rises steeply just inland, compressing the township into a ribbon of coastal and basin land. Streams run north to south, funneled by the terrain. The climate is tropical monsoon, which means the Pacific delivers rain as generously as it delivers waves.

Travelers on Provincial Highway 11 — the scenic coastal road that threads through Donghe — have been making a specific stop for decades. Donghe Baozi are steamed buns with a soft, pillowy exterior and a filling of pork and bamboo shoots that has achieved something rare in Taiwanese food culture: genuine island-wide recognition. Tour buses pause here as a matter of routine. The buns are made fresh throughout the day, and the queue at the counter can be long in the morning, when the first trays come out of the steamers. It is the kind of food that becomes a landmark not because of any official recognition but because enough people drove this coast, ate one, and told someone else about it.

The township's geography divides naturally into two zones: the coastal fringe along the Pacific, and the basin areas where the streams slow and the land opens slightly. Dulan Mountain rises to the west as a visible reference point, while the Old Donghe Bridge over Mawuku Creek marks the township's northern boundary with Chenggong. Notable natives include singer and actor Van Fan and professional baseball player Yu Chang — figures who carried something of this coastal margin into wider Taiwanese public life. Donghe is the kind of place that produces people with a particular independence of character, shaped by living between the ocean and the mountains with not much flat ground in between.