FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E23: Taiwan’s President in Exile – Thomas Liao This forgotten father of Taiwan democracy sacrificed his comfortable life (he came from a rich family and had a PhD from the US in Chemical Engineering) to fight for Taiwanese independence in the post-WW2 decades. In 1956 he was…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E19: Taiwan's Olympic GOAT? Mike Chinoy's New Documentary "Decathlon: The CK Yang & Rafer Johnson Story" The incredible story of Amis Taiwanese Olympic decathlete Maysang Kalimud, better known as CK Yang (楊傳廣), was one of the first stories featured in the first season of Formosa Files (December…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E20: Democracy Fighter and Taiwan History Professor Gerrit van der Wees Did you know that all the water buffalo in Taiwan are the descendants of a group of these bovines from Indonesia (formerly the Dutch East Indies)? These poor water buffalo were put on a sailing ship…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E18: Taiwan's Greatest Modern Company - TSMC (The Morris Chang story) The person who did most of the work creating the company people around the world almost immediately associate with Taiwan has no ancestors from this island, was not born here, didn't go to school here, and…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-A Formosa Files INTERVIEW: The Island: a personal account of Taiwan’s extraordinary transformation by Mark O’Neill John chats with veteran Hong Kong-based journalist and author of The Island (2024) Mark O'Neill, who tells us what Taiwan was like in the early 1980s, when he first came to…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E16: Political Assassination Attempts, 1928-1970 Japanese princes, Taiwanese activists, a Korean martyr, American generals and presidents, Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo. It’s an action-packed episode with an amazing cast of characters. These little-known Taiwan-related assassination attempts and plots will surprise you. And, we hope, also…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E17: “UNDER PROTEST” – Taiwan at the Olympics Did you know we once went to the Olympics under the name “Formosa”? At the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Taiwan will once again compete under the ridiculous name of “Chinese Taipei.” It’s a silly name that makes…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Summer 2024 Musings and Announcements In this short segment, John and Eryk first make the stunning observation that summer in subtropical Taiwan is hot. They then reflect on the "Pacific Story," an NBC radio docu-drama from 1944, an episode that was a hit…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E14: PACIFIC STORY–Formosa: Prize of the China Sea (NBC Radio, 1944) It’s January 1944 and the tide of WWII has changed. Though it will be a long hard grind, victory is on the horizon. To “better inform the American public,” about the situation in the Pacific, NBC…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-The Qing Dynasty Doesn't Really Want Taiwan (1683) [ENCORE] The current Beijing authorities make bombastic claims as silly as “Taiwan has been part of China since the dawn of the universe!!” The reality, however, is quite different. Some Chinese dynasties may not have even known of Taiwan’s…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E15: The Community Services Center: Director Adam McMillan on the history of a place that's here to help A horrific murder of an American teenager by two other American teenagers in 1985 led to some serious soul-searching: How could the international community in Taiwan (some of whom…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-BONUS episode: Martial Arts Legend Hong Yixiang 洪懿祥 John talks with Chris Bates about one of Taiwan’s greatest ever martial artists, Hong Yixiang 洪懿祥 (1925–1993). He was Taiwan’s foremost master of the Chinese internal martial arts (which consist of baguazhang 八卦掌, xingyiquan 形意拳 and taijiquan 太極拳.) The…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E13: China Airlines Survives Three Major Tragedies Three devastating crashes over an eight-year span, 1994 to 2002, with a combined 685 fatalities; a record that could easily bankrupt an airline. However, China Airlines (Taiwan's flag carrier) not only survived these horrific events but changed and flourished. They…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-The Inn of the EIGHT Happinesses 八福客栈 vs. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness [ENCORE] Gladys Aylward and Ingrid Bergman: The former, a British-born Christian missionary to China and Taiwan, the latter a three-time Academy Award winner. However despite very different lives, the two will forever be…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-BONUS episode: The Adventures of Frank Bessac During the Mao Zedong years, China was off-limits to Western researchers. Some came to Taiwan as a substitute, among them American anthropologist Frank Bessac. John chats with Michael Aldrich, author of “Old Lhasa: A Biography,” about Bessac’s work in Taiwan.…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E12: The Dalai Lama Visits Taiwan (1997) John chats with Michael Aldrich, author of “Old Lhasa: A Biography,” about relations between Taiwan and Tibet (specifically the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India). Despite Taipei and Dharamshala sharing a common foe, this relationship was for decades a difficult one.…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E10: Radio Wars John recently visited the National Radio Museum in Minxiong Township, Chiayi County. This led to some research on the use of radio for propaganda. Whether harnessed by the imperial Japanese military or the CIA, “Free China” or the People’s Republic of China, radio waves…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E11: Bird Droppings on Rocks: the surprising history of hotly contested South China Sea islands On Saturday May 18th, 2024, a group of local lawmakers will visit Taiping Island 太平島, a tiny strip of coral and sand in the Spratly Islands more than 1,500 km away from…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E8: The U.S. Breaks Up With Taipei for Beijing (Dec. 1978) Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter only served one term, but those four years were rough: oil embargos, inflation, the Iran hostage crisis, and the decision to recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It was an…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E9: Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁: The Middle Years – From Law School to First Prison Term When Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 began his university studies in 1969, gifted student though he was, few could have imagined he would become Taiwan’s first non-KMT president. The young Chen had no political…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-The Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA): talking to a member of a former “terrorist” pro-Taiwan-independence group Not so long ago, talking about Taiwan independence could earn you a lengthy prison term. That changed in the late 1990s as Taiwan embraced democracy. Taiwan independence advocates in the…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-Special Episode: Remembering 921 in the Wake of 403 Taiwan is in mourning for those lost or injured by the huge earthquake that happened on the morning of April 3rd, 2024. In this short special episode, we hear John Ross' feelings about the earthquake which this latest…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E7: Travel and Tremors – the 1906 Meishan Earthquake 梅山地震 Drawing on an account never before told in English, we visit Taiwan in the company of French war correspondent Reginald Kann. Upon his arrival in Taihoku (Taipei), he hurries down to the city of Chiayi to investigate…
FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E6: Taipei’s Architectural Trilogy Part Two: Witnessing History and Changing with the Times In the previous episode, we told you how these three rather stunning neo-classical Chinese buildings came to exist. This week, we’re looking at them through a “culture and society” lens. The massive statue of…
