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Although Eryk is as sick as a dog, both he and John are in very high spirits, and not just because, once again, they get to chat about stinky tofu. In this "bits and pieces" episode there's some jumping around, a look back and a look ahead. But most importantly, we tease an exciting new development! No, Formosa Files isn't going into the Chou Doufu business, but rather... Well, find out by listening to the show.
Cover: Part of our logo for our new... surprise something that's coming in 2024!
A Chinese legend says the person who invented stinky tofu did so after failing the Imperial Examinations, known in Chinese as 科舉.
Here's what the exam halls looked like in 1899 (Wiki Commons)
If you think school exams in Taiwan today are hard, they were a walk in the park compared to China's old Imperial Exams, which, if passed, set you and you family up for perhaps many generations of wealth and prestige. Here are some stats that show how hard they were. Many, many thousands of people tried each time to pass, but your chances of success were similar to winning the lottery.
Below: Via Wikimedia Commons
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If you've read this far, we'll be nice and give you hint about the surprise: put it this way, we will be releasing wonderful things made out of paper that have changed the world... No! Not origami!
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
