Formosa Files Podcast Episodes

In the mid-1600s, Caspar Schmalkalden left war-ravaged Europe to work as a soldier and surveyor for the Dutch. After spending time in Brazil, he sailed to Batavia and finally to Formosa, where he lived among Dutch colonists, Chinese settlers, and Indigenous communities for several years.Back ho…

Huang Chin-tao (黃金島) was never a household name, but his life story is the story of modern Taiwan. In this concluding episode, we follow Huang from the 2.28 uprising in 1947 as he joins a resistance group led by a rare combination: a Taiwanese woman communist guerrilla commander, Xie Xuehong, whom …

This is part one of the extraordinary life story of Huang Chin-tao (黃金島 Huáng Jīndǎo). In fact, he seemed to live not one life but many; he was a Japanese naval recruit, a combat soldier, a survivor of typhoons and pirates, an armed rebel during the 2-28 Incident of 1947, a man on the run, a prison…

Their lineage is ancient. They are loyal, smart, and great hunting companions. But Taiwan’s native dog almost went extinct, and today it’s hard to say how many “pure breeds” are left, if any. These medium-sized dogs, with pointy ears and a love for running, were not long ago the underdogs. But they…

Looking back over S5, the adjective "fascinating" is repeatedly used by both John and Eryk, who struggle for words a bit to describe their gratitude to listeners, our sponsor, and for the honor of having a platform to tell stories and hear stories from some amazing guests. Formosa Files Season Six …

新年快樂 (Xīnnián kuàilè) from Formosa Files! As we head into the Year of the Horse, we have something different: pirates in the Taiwan Strait, both factual and fictional. We look at a Japanese woman who became a notorious pirate leader in the 1930s. And we follow the Shadow, a mysterious crime-fighter…

In the final episode, the pace picks up as we follow Austrian traveler Adolf Fischer on his 1898 journey through Japanese-ruled Taiwan. He heads into the dangerous hill country of central Taiwan and later gives us some memorably morose lines about gray, cholera-scarred Penghu. Fischer treks from Ta…

In Part 2, we continue in the footsteps of the cultured Austrian traveler Adolf Fischer on his 1898 journey in Japanese-ruled Taiwan. From the commercial enclave of Tōa-tiū-tiâⁿ (Dadaocheng), we cruise downriver to Tamsui (Danshui), meet the famed missionary George Mackay, hear warnings about rebel…

The first in a special three-part series, this is a Taiwan travel account never before told in English. Formosa Files has had Streifzüge durch Formosa (1900) translated into English. This travelogue, Wanderings Through Formosa, describes a journey through Japanese-ruled Taiwan in the spring of 1898…

Before this encore, a quick announcement: we are looking for (human) artists for a 2027 calendar project. If you're interested, get ahold of us. Thx!The SS President Hoover was a ship ahead of its time, but just seven years after being commissioned, the ship ran aground just off Green Island, w…

When Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895, it inherited a financial mess: a chaotic mix of chopped silver, copper cash, and foreign coins. The new colony also cost far more to subdue and administer than it brought in. Yet during that demanding first decade, able administrators such as Gotō Shinpei …

Ancient Chinese records tell us that in 210 BC a Taoist priest and alchemist named Xu Fu (徐福) sailed east to find the elixir of immortality for the despotic Qin Shi Huang. China’s first emperor was obsessed with cheating death (as revealed by his huge tomb complex in Xi’an, with its thousands of te…

Ever taken Kaohsiung’s cable car across the harbor, had fun at Chiayi’s Universal Studios theme park, marveled at Taiwan’s Statue-of-Liberty-style gift to the US (a giant Moon Goddess monument)? Well, no, you couldn’t have because these projects were never realized. These are just a few of the many…

We’ll let Benjamin Sando, research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, and our guest for this week’s episode, describe the topic:“From the early days of Han Taiwanese society, through the period of Kuomintang (KMT, 國民黨) martial law and on to the era of democratization, the influence of Taiwa…

This wonderfully weird story is part of our “almost-no-one’s-ever-hear-of-Taiwan-trivia” collection, and man… it’s wild. Plot synopsis: A Cold War warrior movie director makes the first Western film in Taiwan in the winter of 1959/1960. In the film, the characters come to Taiwan from Iowa to learn …

Travel with Eryk and John as they explore Taiwan using the 1967 edition of a long-forgotten guidebook: The Golden Guide to South & East Asia. Taiwan was then a new travel destination full of rewards for the tourist willing to get off the beaten path. Listen and learn what you can take into the coun…

The Chinese podcast hasn’t disappeared; it’s now got its own feed.FORMOSA FILES中文版的節目沒有消失！我們成立了新的頻道（ SPOTIFY 、 APPLE ），並將所有的中文版 podcast 章節移動過去。之後FORMOSA FILES中文版將以新的頻道繼續為各位聽眾朋友帶來有趣的臺灣歷史故事。Those who wish to keep listening to Eryk speak bad Chinese to Eric… find it on SPOTIFY, APPLE, YT, and …

過去的臺灣，似乎並不是一個非常平靜的地方。在1960年代，對外有持續發生小規模衝突的共產中國，對內則有軍隊紀律、匪諜滲透、省籍情節等問題。雖然實施了戒嚴，但社會的治安依然不甚穩定。而在1962年，民國51年，就發生了兩件駭人聽聞的連續殺人案。這集的 Formosa Files 中文版 Podcast，就讓兩位主持人來跟大家聊聊當年其中一件發生在軍營，罕為人知的殺人事件。 主持人簡介： Eryk Michael Smith－ICRT南臺灣特派員，長...

Taiwan is enjoying a four-day break for Qing Ming Jie, usually called Tomb Sweeping Festival (or Day) in English. Formosa Files is taking a bit of a break as well, but Eryk thought you might be interested in a short history of communist parties in Taiwan, so he recorded a mini episode on that topic…

Did you know that former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen 蔡英文 is the youngest of eleven siblings? Her personal story is a dramatic example of how quickly we’ve fallen from high fertility in the 1950s, when the rate was over six children per woman, to the current birthrate of about one. That’s half of …

2024年結束了！這一年對Formosa Files 中文版 podcast 來說，是起步的第一年，也是各種嘗試的一年。 從2024年的四月開始，Formosa Files 嘗試用臺灣人熟悉的語言來講臺灣的歷史故事，得到不少迴響，我們誠心感謝各位聽眾朋友一年以來的支持與鼓勵。新的2025年，我們也將繼續為各位帶來許多不同面向的臺灣歷史故事，敬請大家期待喔！

This was a breakout year for Formosa Files, for which we thank our highly intelligent, "people of quality" listeners and supporters. John and Eryk wrap up the year with a "bits & pieces/Xmas hotpot" episode that includes everything from a non-canonical version of the goddess Mazu's birth to the fac…

400 Years: Dutch Formosa - part one:Of course, Chen Di was not actually the first person from China to visit Taiwan. What makes him special is that he wrote an account of what he saw here in 1603, and that account is the earliest surviving manuscript discovered thus far.Chen Di's short tr…

荷蘭人來臺雖然只有短短的三十幾年，但為臺灣帶來深遠的影響。其中之一就是把原產南亞、東南亞的許多物種引入臺灣試驗養殖或種植。當然荷蘭人的嘗試並非完全成功，也不一定為臺灣帶來正面的影響，但的確有非常多的物種就此被「馴化」，成為臺灣的物產。這集 Formosa Files 中文版 Podcast 就由兩位主持人來跟大家聊聊，日常生活中意想不到的，由荷蘭人引入臺灣的一些物種。