Women pound the rice and till the fields, while the men are entirely taken up with fishing."

The high mountains to the east were the "exclusive domain of the savage aborigines, who receive from the Chinese (or half-caste) population a certain share of their crops".

[2] In 1875, Imperial commissioner Shen Baozhen, who had been charged with making arrangements to prevent the Japanese from occupying Chinese districts, began introducing reforms in government.

Fangliao has a tropical savanna climate, with warm to hot weather year-round, precipitation mainly occur during the wet season from May to September, typical of the rest of the Pingtung Plain.

The township comprises 15 villages: Anle, Baosheng, Dazhuang, Deli, Fangliao, Longshan, Neiliao, Renhe, Taiyuan, Tianshi, Tunghai, Xinkai, Xinlong, Yuquan and Zhongliao.