Videos

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…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E6: Taipei’s Architectural Trilogy: The CKS Memorial Hall, the National Theater and the National Concert Hall China-born architect Yang Cho-cheng 楊卓成 (1914-2006) left his magnificent mark on Taiwan with the CKS Memorial Hall, and the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) among his greatest masterpieces. This week,…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-A Formosa Files INTERVIEW: CNN China Legend Mike Chinoy In the summer of 1973, a young Mike Chinoy finagled his way onto one of the earliest trips of civilian Americans to “Red China.” He would later become CNN’s China correspondent – moving to the PRC in 1987…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E4: The Interesting Tale of When the Dalai Lama’s Brother Came to Taiwan Gyalo Thondup རྒྱལ་ལོ་དོན་འགྲུབ has had a very interesting life. Born in 1927, he’s the second-eldest brother of the current (and 14th) Dalai Lama. Brother Thondup has long been an unofficial envoy for the Tibetan…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E5: Ghost Brides People do indeed marry ghosts in Taiwan! Formosa Files does not mean to mock or in any way be disrespectful to local traditions. Instead, we hope this episode’s two main ghost stories – one (probably) a tall tale – and the other a true…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E3: The 1973 Qijin Ferry Tragedy - 旗津渡輪 Twenty-five young women and girls drowned after a severely overloaded ferry capsized in 1973. The deaths spurred changes in public transport safety in Kaohsiung, and the victims became part of a social debate over women's rights. Cover (left) shows…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E2: Taiwan (the ROC) and Israel - Surprising Shared Histories Did you know: In 1920, ROC founder Sun Yat-sen wrote a letter in support of Israel’s nationhood aspirations? And, the ROC govt in Nanjing was the first Asian state to recognize the State of Israel in 1948?…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4 - [ENCORE] Happy Holidays? (And: 新年快樂!) Welcome in the Year of the Dragon with this encore of a classic episode from Season Two. Eryk claims all Taiwanese/Chinese holidays are based on sad stories filled with misery, terror, and death. John disagrees. And so the two go…

FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S4-E1: The Lugang Rebellion (鹿港 1986) In the left corner, mega-multinational corporation DuPont. In the right corner, farmers from central Taiwan’s Lugang 鹿港. Ready? Fight!! To open Season Four, we have a David vs. Goliath story, made more complicated by the fact that the Davids in this…