TAIWAN HISTORY - Formosa Files Episodes

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 colonialization, as was the case with Taiwan, 1895 to 1945, when many Japanese words came into the Taiwanese language. And because the Japanese are themselves such prodigious borrowers, many of these words were originally from other languages. Find out why English owes such a debt to Cantonese, why John loves “tea,” and why Eryk doesn’t want to “kowtow.” Whether you’re an “obasan” or a “joss-pidgin-man,” we think you’ll enjoy our look at lovely linguistic loanwords.

Today, the district of Madou (麻豆區) in Tainan City is home to about 43,000 people. It has a pleasant small-town feel, an economy mainly based on agriculture, in particular, a citrus fruit called the pomelo ( 柚子). Back in the 1620s, when the Dutch arrived, Madou -- then called Mattau -- was inhabited by the Siraya (西拉雅族), a Taiwanese Indigenous group. Siraya resistance to Dutch expansion would lead to bloodshed and bring about a major turning point in early Taiwan history. Join Formosa Files as we visit the childhood home of Chen Shui-bian and recount the clash of cultures in the 1600s. You can also hear us stumble over some lines and words – John learns how to pronounce “pomelo” – in this "raw" edition. We left our mistakes in the episode to give listeners a look behind the scenes.

Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) was a highly controversial two-term ROC president (2000–2008). How “A-Bian” studied and fought his way out of rural poverty to the highest office, thus bringing 55 years of continuous KMT rule to an end, is the single greatest personal political story in modern Taiwanese history. Sadly, though, this fairytale would have a tragic ending, with a troubled second term and Chen later doing prison time for corruption. But in today’s episode, we look at the early years: his stoic parents, his remarkable local teachers, and the struggles and triumphs that shaped him.

Ever heard of the film "Attack Force Z"? No? Don't worry... almost no one has. Filmed in Taiwan, this WWII story featured both Mel Gibson and Sam Neill, long before they became major Hollywood stars. Gibson later called the film “pretty woeful... it's so bad, it's funny.” That's an unfairly harsh assessment, likely coming from the difficulties encountered making the movie on location in Taiwan back in the winter of 1979-80.

With their fearsome winds and dramatic downpours, typhoons have long been a part of Taiwan's history. Join Formosa Files for a look at a few notable typhoons that have hit Taiwan in more recent times, as well as some interesting asides, such as: When did typhoons get names? Why did they once only use female names? And, do typhoons do anything good for Taiwan?

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? Does Eryk know more about Kaohsiung’s Nanzih District than the smartest machine-learning programs on earth? It’s time to pick a side – a couple of nerdy amateur historians or the finest in 21st-century computing power? It’s Man vs. Machine! This somewhat silly and hopefully entertaining super bonus episode is our sign-off to Formosa Files’ Season Two. See you next week for S3-E1! Note: Visit www.formosafiles.com for pictures, images, maps, links, related info, and more. (Background music via Pixabay royalty-free music)

Relations between the R.O.C. (Taiwan) and Spain have never been as close as Taiwan's ties to, for example, the United States. But back in the days when Taiwan was ruled as a one-party state, there were more connections than one might think between the R.O.C. and Spain, which was also a one-party state under the rule of a "generalissimo."

At the turn of the 20th century, Japan was on a roll. After taking Formosa and Penghu from Qing China in 1895, Japan beat mighty Russia in 1905. Eager to show the world its newfound economic strength – and to highlight the successful development of its new colony – the Japanese parliament voted vast sums of money to sponsor the Japan-British Exhibition. It was held in London from May to October 1910. Among the most “wild” displays the Japanese brought to London was a recreated Paiwan village, with live Indigenous Paiwan Formosans! NOTE: This episode was first released in September 2021.

The southern peninsula of Taiwan was a "ship graveyard" for a very long time as unseen rocks and reefs gashed holes in the sides of vessels and left them stranded, or on the seafloor. The Western powers and Qing authorities both agreed that a lighthouse at the far southern end of Taiwan would be a good idea, and so it fell upon English engineer Michael Beazeley and fellow employees of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs Service to set off from Takao (Kaohsiung) overland into "savage" territory to find and buy a piece of land for a lighthouse. Here's the illuminating origin story of the famous Eluanbi Lighthouse at Kenting.

You're hiking in the hills of Taichung in the early 1990s and suddenly come across ... an orangutan? What's more, this massive great ape is um ... in need of some, um ... "affection," and gets handsy. An unlikely scenario, right? But, that story is true! There was a time when Taiwan was gripped by a craze for baby orangutans. These apes, however, grow rather fast, and some of them were subsequently "set free." Here's that wild story, plus some others related to the "bad old days" when Taiwan was not a safe haven for many kinds of wild animals. NOTE: This episode was first released in Season One -- Formosa Files S1-E13, Nov. 21, 2021

This week we have another snippet from the audiobook of John's 2020 book, Taiwan in 100 Books. This extract tells the tale of Janet Montgomery McGovern, a feisty anthropologist who managed to cut through the red tape and official disapproval from Japanese colonial authorities in Formosa during her residence from 1916 to 1918, and headed up into the hills to learn about Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples -- most of whom had already given up headhunting by then. We'll also hear a "rose-colored glasses" 1921 travel account of a very brief visit to Taiwan by Englishman Owen Rutter. Enjoy!

No, we're not talking about romantic adventures; in this episode, the "dating" we're discussing is the days, months, and years kind. Why is it about to become the year 112 in Taiwan? Why is 2023 not just the year of the rabbit, but the year of the water rabbit? Why do some people in Taiwan have three birthdays? Enjoy the last Formosa Files podcast in Min Guo 111. And Happy New Year!

Eryk calls John for a chat about Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦, Yan Jiagan) the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) for three years following the death of Chiang Kai-shek in 1975. Who was C.K. Yen, and why isn’t he better known? Here’s the story.

We generally don't discuss politics very much on this podcast, but, when one of the world's most well-established international experts on politics in Taiwan is gracious enough to be willing to chat – we're gonna talk politics. While this might be perhaps too 'deep' for some, if you've spent some time in Taiwan and are interested in the political scene here, this short chat provides an interesting look at groups beyond the big party players. For more info on SOAS University of London, and Dr. Dafydd Fell's books, visit www.soas.ac.uk

Ever heard of Count Maurice Benyovszky? He's not well known in Taiwan, but after this Polish-Slovakian-Hungarian semi-nobleman had a chance encounter with this island in 1771, he wrote a travel account that remained influential into the twentieth century. And the best part? Most of what he wrote is almost certainly fiction! His fanciful stories, however, included a call for Europeans to colonize Formosa. Finally, a century after his death, Benyovszky's tall tales would be part of the inspiration and justification for Japan’s “joining the big kids’ table” with its moves to conquer Taiwan.

A fighter for women's rights, human rights, freedom of speech, and democracy, you can disagree with Annette Lu's politics (or with some of her very controversial comments) ...but you can't deny the impact this outspoken woman has had on Taiwanese society and history. Here's the story of how the daughter of a poor shopkeeper went from legislator, to Magistrate of Taoyuan, and finally, Vice-President of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

We travel back to 1920s Taiwan, first in the company of Terry’s Guide to the Japanese Empire and then follow a Tokyo travel bureau itinerary for Japanese tourists to the island. Ride the rails with us as we visit Shinto shrines, sugar factories, former “savages,” and scenic spots (not just any scenic spots but the official “Eight Views of Taiwan”). And we look at perhaps the most interesting aspect of colonial sightseeing: free guided trips to Japan for Indigenous Taiwanese leaders. These propaganda trips were meant to demonstrate why resistance to the Empire was futile, but they were not always home runs.

Between the late 1600s and mid-1800s, there was no Western presence on Taiwan. There were, however, a couple of special Western visitors of whom the wonderfully-named Joseph-Anne-Marie de Moyriac de Mailla was the most notable. This Jesuit priest was a hardcore scholar who spent 45 years in China. Emperor Kangxi gave de Mailla and fellow Jesuits a mission: "Go map my empire... including Taiwan!" This is the story of what the esteemed Jesuit priest saw when he visited Formosa in 1714.

The Saisiyat Indigenous people in Hsinchu and Miaoli counties have a famous story about magical “little people” or “dwarfs” called the Koko’ ta’ay. The legend goes that tensions between the tribe and the “dwarfs” led to an incident that killed off the little people, and which called down a curse on the Saisiyat. While most dismissed these stories as a myth, new research seems to indicate that that there were, in fact, “Negrito” people, such as can still be found in small bands in the Philippines and elsewhere, on Taiwan at least 5000 years ago - which could see the history books rewritten and the Koko’ ta’ay folklore recognized as being based on real experience!

Many new arrivals to Taiwan are perplexed to hear music from an "ice cream" truck playing almost every day, until they discover that those tunes mean it's time to take out your trash. Today, we've got the history of musical garbage trucks... and lots of reminiscing about the sounds of Taiwan in the 1990s.

Picking up on last week's conversation between the University of Southern California East Asian Studies Center's Li-ping Chen and author Andrew D. Morris -- a very special collaborative double episode with Formosa Files -- we learn more about how North/South Korean Cold War tensions affected air force defections from the PRC. As flying from northern China to Taiwan was almost impossible, most defectors taking off from the north headed to South Korea. The pair also give us more details on the rewards these "righteous warriors" received after arrival in Taiwan. This interview originally appeared on the New Books Network podcast. Visit them at www.newbooksnetwork.com

Formosa Files is delighted to announce a very special episode in collaboration with the University of Southern California’s East Asian Studies Center and the New Books Network! The USC’s Li-ping Chen recently interviewed Andrew D. Morris, the author of a 2022 book (of the same name as this episode’s title) on the defector pilots who risked it all to fly their planes (mostly military jets, but one famous case was a commercial airliner) to Taiwan from China. Each case is fascinating; some are even shocking. Many thanks to Li-ping Chen and Andrew D. Morris. Links to Morris' book and more info on the New Books Network can be found at www.formosafiles.com. Check out https://newbooksnetwork.com/defectors-from-the-prc-to-taiwan-1960-1989 for the unedited interview.

Unlike Mahatma Gandhi, fellow Indian pro-independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose advocated taking up arms against the British. WWII presented a golden opportunity for this, and in an "enemy of my enemy" move Bose escaped from arrest in India and headed for Nazi Germany. But despairing of a German invasion of India that would overthrow the British, Bose turned to the Japanese. This controversial Indian revolutionary died in Taipei in 1945, leading to decades of speculation and conspiracy theories. Here's the story of this complex figure and his final fate in what was then still Taihoku, Japanese Formosa.

Sadly, the bloodshed and sorrow that began on February 28, 1947 (228) is the foundational story of post-Japanese Taiwan. Wu Zhuo-liu (吳濁流), an ethnically-Hakka poet, writer, and journalist, was born in 1900 and died in 1976, his life effectively spanning the tumultuous birth of the nation. He experienced and documented colonial rule, WWII, the Japanese departure, and the hopeful first days of a "New China" which turned so quickly to violent tragedy. Wu's writings are today considered some of the most important of the modern era, but he remains mostly unknown to much of the world. Here is the beginning of Wu Zhuo-liu's story.