Dongshih shouldn't be thought of as Budai's poor cousin. The seafood market here has never really become a tourist attraction like the famous one in Budai, but the fishing fleet here is every bit as active, and the local oysters are reputedly even better.

Taiwan's salt industry, which officially came to an end in the first few years of the 21st century, has left many traces along Dongshih's coastline. At Jhangtan, where the Japanese colonial authorities turned marginal land into salt evaporating ponds which later subsided, the landscape has a strangely inundated appearance.

In the northernmost part of Dongshih Rural Township, the Aogu Wetlands have been preserved as a sanctuary for birds. The tourist potential of this conservation zone has been largely ignored; good news, both for the birds, and for those naturalists who do make it out there.