Shows / The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Formosa Files is the world's biggest and highest-rated Taiwan history podcast. We use an engaging storytelling format and are non-chronological, meaning every week is a new adventure - and, you can just find a topic that interests you and check out that episode...skip stuff that isn't your thing. The hosts are John Ross, an author and publisher of works on Taiwan and China, and Eryk Michael Smith, a journalist for local and global media outlets. Both Ross and Smith have lived in Taiwan for over…
Episodes
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Dating in Taiwan - S2-E38
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 Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The Forgotten President Yen Chia-kan: Bonus Episode
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
A Formosa Files INTERVIEW: Dr. Dafydd Fell from SOAS takes us on a Mini-Deep Dive into Taiwan's Alternative Political Parties
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
A Cunning Count Contemplates Colonizing Formosa - S2-E37
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Annette Lu – from Prison to the Presidential Office – S2-E36
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
“Galloping Oxen” - Emperor Kangxi’s Jesuit Mapmakers in Taiwan – S2-E34
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
INTERVIEW: Tobie Openshaw on the Saisiyat Story of Taiwan's "Little People"
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan’s Musical Garbage Trucks - And the Sounds of the 1990s! – S2-E33
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
“Defectors from the PRC to Taiwan, 1960-1989: The Anti-Communist Righteous Warriors” - Part Two - S2-E32
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
“Defectors from the PRC to Taiwan, 1960-1989: The Anti-Communist Righteous Warriors” - Part One - S2-E31
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Subhas Chandra Bose: The Mysterious Death in Taipei of India's Most Controversial Nationalist – S2-E30
Unlike Mahatma Gandhi, fellow Indian pro-independence leader Subhas Chandra Bose advocated taking up arms against the British. WWII presented a golden…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The “Most Powerful Witness” to Modern Taiwan’s History: Wu Zhuo-liu (吳濁流) - Part One - S2-E29
Sadly, the bloodshed and sorrow that began on February 28, 1947 (228) is the foundational story of post-Japanese Taiwan. Wu Zhou-liu (吳濁流), an ethnically-Hakka…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Bonus Episode: A Look Back and a Peek Forward
As Formosa Files gets ready to end Season 2 and move into Season 3 (fingers crossed), John and Eryk pick season highlights, answer listener questions, talk…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
(Not So) Happy Holidays - S2-E28
Eryk said to John, "All the traditional festivals celebrated in Taiwan have sad -- or even horrific -- backstories!" John said, "Really? Hmm... I doubt that."…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Ghost Planes and the Japanese Fighter Pilot who Became a God - S2-E27
John loves aviation stories and in this episode we've got two: the first raises some serious questions about an oft-told "ghost plane" tale, while the second…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan’s First Civilian Martyr: Teacher Lin Ching-chuan (林靖娟) - S2-E26
Preschool teacher Lin ran back into a burning bus six times, saving as many kids as she could, before succumbing to the flames on her seventh rescue attempt…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Searching for Black Gold in Taiwan - S2-E25
Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s two expeditions of 1852–1854 pried open Japan. Less well known is that one of the American ships visited Keelung in northeastern…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Cats Big and Small - S2-E24
Virtually everyone on this island knows the famous feline folktale: "The Tiger Aunt." In this episode, we tell that tale -- relying for source material on…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Separated Sisters - S2-E23
Imagine this: It's 1949. You and your family live in Fujian, China. A friend invites you to the island of Kinmen for a short vacation. You hop on a ferry and…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
A Formosa Files INTERVIEW: Manuel Tsao Talks to Eryk About the 100+ Year Old Jhuzimen Hydro Power Plant - 竹仔門發電廠
The Jhuzimen Hydro Power Plant (竹仔門發電廠) was built by the colonial Japanese authorities in 1908 -- in what's now Meinung District (美濃區), Kaohsiung City. Manuel…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Bonus Episode: "Taiwan in 100 Books" -- A Priest on Orchid Island Meets Sanmao (三毛)
In this special episode, we thank listeners and talk briefly about season two (We are now being listened to in 90 countries/regions!!), and share an excerpt…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
USS Tang: The Most Successful American Submarine of WWII – S2-E22
War is not glorious, and shouldn’t be glorified. But war does provide the chance to be brave, and bravery can be glorious. Such was the case of Commander…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Why hasn’t the PRC invaded Taiwan? – Special Episode
We've gotten so many questions from Formosa Files listeners about the threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan that we thought we'd do a round-up of previous…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
EVERGREEN - Taiwan's Global Shipping Empire – S2-E21
Go virtually anywhere in the world and you'll see them: green shipping containers with large white letters reading "EVERGREEN." The company is one of the…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Bonus Episode: "Taiwan in 100 Books" - A Martial Arts Hoax
In this special episode, we talk about where the inspiration for the Formosa Files podcast came from, and share an excerpt from the podcast's origin source…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Wade-Giles Chinese Romanization – S2-E20
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…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Golf in Taiwan: A Surprisingly Long History - S2-E19
Some might think golf came with U.S. troops after WWII, but the origins of this sport in Taiwan actually go much further back. Listen to this episode for…
The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa FilesTeresa Teng - “Asia's Eternal Queen of Pop” – S2-E18
Teresa Teng (Deng Lijun 鄧麗君) was arguably Asia's first pop superstar, a singer from Taiwan who won hearts across the continent and the world. Teng got so…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan’s Brief and Often Forgotten Kingdom of Dongning – S2-E17
Koxinga's eldest son, Zheng Jing, -- the ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Dongning (東寧王國 1661-1683) -- almost lost his head in his late teens. Daddy Zheng…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Movie Director Ang Lee: His Story from Pingtung to Hollywood - S2-E16
Two-time Academy Award winning director Ang Lee (李安) is probably the most globally famous person from Taiwan. But this Pingtung-born movie master actually…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
“123 Freedom Day” Taiwan's Shadowy Involvement in the Korean War - Part Two – S2-E15
The Korean War would almost certainly have ended much earlier but for the tricky question of what to do with Chinese POWs. The 21,000 Red Chinese soldiers…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan's Shadowy Involvement in the Korean War - Part One – S2-E14
It's 1950 and a war-weary world is at it again. Communist China pours fuel on the conflict in Korea by sending in a quarter of a million soldiers. ROC…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
A Cruise on an Opium Clipper to Takao (Kaohsiung) – S2-E13
Kaohsiung Harbor was, in the late twentieth century, one of the world's busiest ports, but back during the time of the Opium Wars, it was still a rather…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
"The National Game" -- Taiwan Falls in and out of Love with Baseball – S2-E12
After the Americans introduced baseball to Japan in the late 19th century, Japan took the game John Ross might call "a corruption of cricket" to their new…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
A Formosa Files INTERVIEW: ICRT General Manager Tim Berge
Taiwan's only English radio station, International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) has been a part of millions of Taiwanese -- and many an expat in Taiwan's --…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan's Nearest Neighbors - the 1,000+ Kilometer-Long Ryukyu Island Chain – S2-E11
Taiwan lies at the heart of what's called the "first island chain," a boring name for a long line of amazing islands that stretches from Borneo to Russia’s…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Christian Samurai – Japan’s Katana Diplomacy in Taiwan – S2-E10
After unifying Japan’s warring states, supreme feudal lord Hideyoshi launched a massive invasion of Korea. In 1593, a year into this Imjin War of 1592-1598, he…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The Murder of Pai Hsiao-yen and the Alexander Family Hostage Crisis – S2-E9
April 1997. Taiwan’s crime story of the century starts with the kidnapping and murder of a celebrity’s 12-year-old daughter (白曉燕) by a trio of hardened…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Makalu Gao: The Taiwanese Climber Who Survived a Night on Mt. Everest – S2-E8
The high number of deaths during the 1996 Mt. Everest climbing season supplied a tragic plotline for books, movies, and documentaries. Taiwanese climbers did…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Dr. Peng Ming-min (1923-2022) - Part 2: Escaping Taiwan and a Hero's Return – S2-E7
How do you get a famous, one-armed democracy activist -- who is under house arrest and being watched 24/7 by the authorities -- off of a well-guarded…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Dr. Peng Ming-min (1923-2022) - Part 1 - The Incredible Life of a Democracy Fighter – S2-E6
Dr. Peng Ming-min (彭明敏) was a Taiwanese pro-independence/pro-democracy activist who lived an exceptional life - losing an arm in a WWII US air raid, witnessing…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Tragedy on Taiwan's Majestic Mountains – S2-E5
Two-thirds of this island is mountainous, and climbing the mountains -- or even just driving across them -- is an awesome experience. But, woe be to those that…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Searching for the "Motherland" – S2-E4
Western-style adoption (as in a couple taking a baby home from an orphanage) has not been and is still not very common in Taiwan. But there are plenty of local…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The Lamey Island Massacre – S2-E3
In 1622 and then again in 1631, crew members (including foraging parties and shipwreck survivors) from Dutch ships were killed by the aboriginal people on…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Thomas Barclay: The Man Who Helped Save Tainan City – S2-E2
It's 1895 and Formosa has officially become part of the Japanese Empire. Not everyone on the island is super happy about this, and bursts of violent resistance…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The CIA vs. Made in Taiwan Nukes – S2-E1
After the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945, nations around the world began thinking about acquiring nuclear weapons of their own. Among them…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Bonus Mini-Episode: Eryk Calls John for a Chat About Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples
When did people first get to Taiwan? Was there a land bridge? Plus... a few interesting legends. A short phone call that's a fun intro to Taiwan’s prehistory.
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Bonus Episode 01 - What Were the Dutch Doing in Formosa Anyway?
The Dutch were expelled from southwestern Taiwan by pirate warlord and Ming loyalist Koxinga in 1662. Their relatively brief stay of 38 years was marked by…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
From Russia With Love: ROC First Lady Faina Chiang – S1-E25
In 1933, on a winter’s night in the Russian town of Yekaterinburg, Faina Vakhreva -- then 17 years old -- was walking home and became the unwanted subject of…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Taiwan's Awesome National Health Insurance System – S1-E24
In the mid-1990s Taiwanese politicians got together, and, after much wrangling, settled on a national health insurance system that today is the envy of many…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Driftnet Fishing: Walls of Death – S1-E23
In the 1980s, Japan's, South Korea's, and Taiwan’s massive fishing fleets gained notoriety for their destructive driftnet fishing. The use of giant driftnets…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The Cruel Sea – S1-E22
Despite the failed attempt to create a myth of a Pacific Ocean "Bermuda Triangle" near Taiwan, the seas around this island are indeed cruel... ships sometimes…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The "Best" Hijacking in History? – S1-E21
The word "stalemate" defined relations between Taiwan and China in the 1970s and early 1980s. Neither side wanted to legitimize the other with "official" talks…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The "Iron Man of Asia" – S1-E20
Maysang Kalimud, better known by his Chinese name C.K. Yang (楊傳廣), is arguably the greatest Taiwanese athlete of all time. In 1960, this native Taiwanese from…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
The End of the Qing – S1-E19
War in northern Vietnam spills over into Taiwan, with French troops occupying several ports. This wake-up call for the Qing prompts an upgrading of their…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Shipwreck Savagery and Clandestine Colonization – S1-E18
After native people in the far south of Formosa kill survivors from the wrecked US merchant vessel The Rover in 1867, the Americans send a punitive expedition…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Missionaries Pull Teeth in Treaty Ports – S1-E17
The Second Opium War (1856-1860) lead to the opening of Danshui, near Taipei, and Anping (Tainan) as treaty ports. Soon after, the Qing authorities opened…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Japanese Formosa Catches Spy Fever – S1-E16
As the Empire secretly prepared for a coming war with the aim of dominating Asia, visitors to and foreign residents on Japanese Formosa fell under suspicion…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Japan Puts on a Show – S1-E15
Determined to prove that they were just as fit to be imperialists as the great Western powers, the Japanese were keen to show off the "model colony" of Taiwan…
- The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
Buddhism "In Action" – Taiwan's Remarkable Tzu Chi Charity Group – S1-E14
Tzu Chi is unique in relying on mostly laypersons instead of clergy, focusing on real-world problems instead of only the spiritual, and having an extremely…