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The Formosa Files cover the early history of Taiwan (1600 C.E. - 2000) through engaging stories presented by seasoned hosts John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith, who bring their extensive experience living on the island.

This category features insightful interviews with experts and personalities, shedding light on various aspects of Taiwan's history and culture.

This category focuses on the transformative decade of the 1990s, highlighting Taiwan's transition to democracy, significant political events, and societal changes that marked this crucial period.

The 1990s were a particularly interesting time in Taiwan's history as they featured a major change: the official switch to multi-party democracy and direct elections for the president and lawmakers. While changes to Taiwan had first come after martial law was lifted in the late 1980s -- including t…

Taiwan came under Qing dynasty rule in 1683 after the defeat of the Zheng regime, which had used the island as a base of resistance against the Qing on the mainland. Initially, Qing authorities viewed Taiwan as a remote and unruly frontier rather than a core province. Migration from Fujian and Guan…

Since 1949, the conflict between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China has centered on sovereignty, legitimacy, and security across the Taiwan Strait. After losing the Chinese Civil War, the Republic of China government retreated to Taiwan, maintaining that it remained the lawful government of …

Via Wikipedia: The island of Taiwan, together with the Penghu Islands, became a dependency of Japan in 1895, when the Qing dynasty ceded Fujian-Taiwan Province in the Treaty of Shimonoseki after the Japanese victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. The consequent Republic of Formosa resistance mov…

By the late 1930s Taiwan had become one of Japan’s most important colonial possessions. It functioned as both an economic supplier and a strategic military base for Japan’s expansion across East and Southeast Asia. Extensive infrastructure, including ports, railways, and airfields, had already been…

The 1980s saw huge economic growth in Taiwan, but the island was marred by pollution, corruption and other ills that come with economic success. Still, many in Taiwan view the 1980s as a golden age of relative political peace, and financial prosperity.

Taiwan’s struggle for democracy emerged from decades of authoritarian rule following its transfer from Japan to the Republic of China in 1945. Early tensions between local residents and incoming Nationalist officials erupted in the February 28 Incident of 1947, when protests were violently suppress…