The History of Taiwan: Formosa Files, rated as the best Taiwan history podcast, has gained a lot of new listeners of late, and many seem to begin listening from where they first encounter the program. But there are lots of g…
All languages borrow words from other languages. These “loanwords” often come with fascinating historical backstories, their adoption the result of encounters by traders, scholars, and adventurers; and the result of colonial…
In this fun Season Two finale, John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith battle with the AI phenomenon ChatGPT. Who knows more about Taiwanese history, John or the scarily omnipotent AI chatbot which may soon render humans obsolete? …
Eryk said to John, "All the traditional festivals celebrated in Taiwan have sad -- or even horrific -- backstories!" John said, "Really? Hmm... I doubt that." And so we recorded this episode, in which we tell the tales behin…
Why is "Kaohsiung" spelled so strangely? Shouldn't it be closer to "Gao-Shung"? (Or we could just use Hanyu Pinyin, "Gāoxióng"). Well, many names in Taiwan are spelled with the Latin alphabet, using a romanization system pop…
