Formosa Files: The History of Taiwan

Eryk and John look back at Taiwan's first direct presidential election: the protests and constitutional reforms that made it possible, Lee Teng-hui's controversial visit to Cornell University, and the Chinese missile tests that turned an election campaign into the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.On March 23, 1996, with two US carrier groups sent to the region and ROC soldiers on alert, more than ten million Taiwanese went to the polls. The leading candidates were incumbent KMT president Lee Teng-hui and the DPP's Peng Ming-min, a veteran democracy activist and former political exile.Held in the shadow of PLA missiles, the election was a landmark in Taiwan's democratization.

NOTE: We know non-Spotify users may not be able to view this from here, but the program is also available on YouTube. Thanks.Eryk and John look back at Taiwan's first direct presidential election: the protests and constitutional reforms that made it possible, Lee Teng-hui's controversial visit to Cornell University, and the Chinese missile tests that turned an election campaign into the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.On March 23, 1996, with two US carrier groups sent to the region and ROC soldiers on alert, more than ten million Taiwanese went to the polls. The leading candidates were incumbent KMT president Lee Teng-hui and the DPP's Peng Ming-min, a veteran democracy activist and former political exile.Held in the shadow of PLA missiles, the election was a landmark in Taiwan's democratization.

John is joined by writer, artist and comics enthusiast Ray Hecht for a journey through Taiwan's manga history. This story is sometimes reduced to Japanese comics and their Taiwanese spinoffs. Ray and John, however, get into the forgotten influence of Shanghai liánhuán túhuà – “linked-picture” storybooks – in the post-WWII years. Also, central to today's episode is the humble neighborhood rental bookstore, which put cheap popular reading into the hands of generations of Taiwanese. These books and shops were too popular at times for the government. Censorship and crackdowns were needed to protect the citizens. Enter the Comics Cleansing Movement. And listen and learn why the censors once objected to illustrations of talking animals.We wrap up with a mention of Ray's anthology Memories of Taiwan: 37 stories about life in Taiwan by 19 artists from around the world. It's being released with support from a Kickstarter campaign. To learn more about Ray Hecht, visit his Linktree profile.The main source for today was the excellent Taiwan Comics: History, Status, and Manga Influx 1930s-1990s by Lee I-Yun (translated by Timeea Cosobea).

Defense analyst Bryce C. Barros tells Formosa Files about M.I.T. drones and their surprising connection to Taiwan's remote-controlled toy industry.Before China became the "world's factory," Taiwanese companies emerged as major manufacturers of inexpensive toys and electronics during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, producing them for customers globally. The skills in the production of small motors, electronics, and plastics, as well as precision manufacturing, for remote-controlled toy planes, helicopters, boats, and cars would later lay the groundwork for Taiwan's early drone industry, providing the skills and supply chains.But beginning in the 1990s, Taiwan lost ground as manufacturing moved across the Taiwan Strait and China invested heavily in research and development and in large-scale drone production. Chinese companies such as DJI, founded in Shenzhen in 2006, have emerged and now lead China's dominance in the global commercial drone market, holding a lead in military drones as well.With Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 demonstrating the growing importance of inexpensive and attritable unmanned systems to modern warfare, Taiwan has accelerated efforts to build a domestic drone industry, reduce reliance on Chinese components, and incorporate drones into its war plans -- with roots going back to those skills gained from producing remote-controlled toys decades ago. NOTE: The opinions shared by Mr. Barros are his own and do not reflect existing or previous affiliations. 

Apple Podcast users will need to visit YouTube to view this.Defense analyst Bryce C. Barros tells Formosa Files about M.I.T. drones and their surprising connection to Taiwan's remote-controlled toy industry.Before China became the "world's factory," Taiwanese companies emerged as major manufacturers of inexpensive toys and electronics during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, producing them for customers globally. The skills in the production of small motors, electronics, and plastics, as well as precision manufacturing, for remote-controlled toy planes, helicopters, boats, and cars would later lay the groundwork for Taiwan's early drone industry, providing the skills and supply chains.But beginning in the 1990s, Taiwan lost ground as manufacturing moved across the Taiwan Strait and China invested heavily in research and development and in large-scale drone production. Chinese companies such as DJI, founded in Shenzhen in 2006, have emerged and now lead China's dominance in the global commercial drone market, holding a lead in military drones as well.With Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 demonstrating the growing importance of inexpensive and attritable unmanned systems to modern warfare, Taiwan has accelerated efforts to build a domestic drone industry, reduce reliance on Chinese components, and incorporate drones into its war plans -- with roots going back to those skills gained from producing remote-controlled toys decades ago. NOTE: The opinions shared by Mr. Barros are his own and do not reflect existing or previous affiliations. 

We understand that APPLE Podcasts is not showing these videos. We will try to fix this issue, but in the meantime, they can be seen on YouTube. Here is the link for this one. Created with Han Cheung from TAIWAN IN TIME.

John is joined by writer and historian Scott Crawford to recount the bloodiest episode in the history of Dutch Formosa. A revolt, led by Guo Huaiyi, resulted in the deaths of several thousand Chinese. We look at what drove farmers to rebellion and the tragic events of September 1652. This episode grew out of John and Scott's special ten-part read-along of Dr. Chen Yao-Chang's novel A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa, which follows Dutch, Chinese and Siraya characters in the mid-seventeenth century. You can follow that series on our sister podcast, Bookish Asia with Plum Rain Press.Podcast and Book LinksBookish Asia with Plum Rain Press - Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/bookish-asia-with-plum-rain-press/id1756322103Bookish Asia with Plum Rain Press - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4f6I46PkxVv4VM6dqTGngXA Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa - E-book (Plum Rain Press): https://www.plumrainpress.com/product-page/a-tale-of-three-tribes-in-dutch-formosa-e-bookA Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa - Paperback / Collector's Edition (Plum Rain Press): https://www.plumrainpress.com/product-page/a-tale-of-three-tribes-in-dutch-formosa

This is a test video to see how it works on Spotify and Apple. These shorts can also be found on YouTube. Created with Han Cheung from TAIWAN IN TIME.

We covered this story in a previous episode. But we recently made a video about it for the Chinese podcast, so we added an English voiceover and are offering it as a video extra. Enjoy. Full story podcast episode link: Taiwan's Motorcycle Daredevil: Lu Ch'ing-an (呂慶安)

The 1683 Battle of Penghu is over, but there's plenty more to say after our last episode. Eryk reads some victory poetry by the Kangxi Emperor. John is not a fan. We then turn to changing ideas of patriotism. Why have some Han Chinese nationalists objected to a new film celebrating Shi Lang's conquest of Taiwan? And does Chiang Kai-shek look rather different if we view him principally as a Chinese nationalist – especially when compared with the Chinese Communist Party's relationship with Stalin and the Soviet Union?But all that is a modest preamble to two big announcements. First, there are some non-Formosa Files podcasts you should know about, including Eryk and John discussing Yang Shuang-zi's Taiwan Travelogue on the Books on Asia podcast. John also chatted on that podcast with Tyrel Eskelson about his Taiwan 22: Travels in Paradox.And John has another similarly named podcast, Bookish Asia with Plum Rain Press. He tells us about a new ten-part Bookish Asia series devoted to Dr. Chen Yao-chang's historical novel A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa.

In October 1976, three innocent-looking dictionaries were mailed to senior officials in Taiwan. Hidden inside each was a homemade bomb. Two exploded, and one of the targets, Taiwan Provincial Governor Hsieh Tung-min, was badly injured. Hsieh (1908–2001) was a Taichung native who had left Japanese-ruled Taiwan as a teenager to study in China. He joined the KMT in 1930 and was one of the Taiwanese returnees who became important intermediaries in Taiwan's postwar years.The bomber was Wang Sing-nan, born in Tainan in 1941. After moving to the United States for business, he became involved in radical pro-independence politics. Convinced that peaceful opposition to the KMT regime was futile, he hatched a drastic plan for action. What happened to both men after the bombings is surprising, so make sure to follow this episode to the very end.VIDEO version available on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.

In October 1976, three innocent-looking dictionaries were mailed to senior officials in Taiwan. Hidden inside each was a homemade bomb. Two exploded, and one of the targets, Taiwan Provincial Governor Hsieh Tung-min, was badly injured. Hsieh (1908–2001) was a Taichung native who had left Japanese-ruled Taiwan as a teenager to study in China. He joined the KMT in 1930 and was one of the Taiwanese returnees who became important intermediaries in Taiwan's postwar years.The bomber was Wang Sing-nan, born in Tainan in 1941. After moving to the United States for business, he became involved in radical pro-independence politics. Convinced that peaceful opposition to the KMT regime was futile, he hatched a drastic plan for action. What happened to both men after the bombings is surprising, so make sure to follow this episode to the very end.

AI images used are illustrations and most are not historically accurate. In July 1683, more than 400 warships clashed around the Penghu Islands in one of the greatest naval battles in Chinese history. Qing admiral Shi Lang had come to destroy the last major stronghold of Ming loyalist resistance: the Zheng regime on Taiwan. The naval campaign would decide Taiwan's fate.More than three centuries later, the Battle of Penghu is politically explosive once again. A Chinese blockbuster about Shi Lang's victory was due to open in late July 2026, complete with the message that “the unification of Taiwan is unstoppable.” Then, just before its release, the movie mysteriously disappeared from cinemas.John and Eryk tell the story of the battle that brought Taiwan under Qing rule, and ask why Beijing got cold feet with their propaganda piece. Note: this episode is also available as a slightly shorter audio only version (on Spotify, Apple and other podcast platforms) Oh, and apologies for the er… creative madness of Eryk's movie trailer – blame it on the summer heat. 

In July 1683, more than 400 warships clashed around the Penghu Islands in one of the greatest naval battles in Chinese history. Qing admiral Shi Lang had come to destroy the last major stronghold of Ming loyalist resistance: the Zheng regime on Taiwan. The naval campaign would decide Taiwan's fate.More than three centuries later, the Battle of Penghu is politically explosive once again. A Chinese blockbuster about Shi Lang's victory was due to open in late July 2026, complete with the message that “the unification of Taiwan is unstoppable.” Then, just before its release, the movie mysteriously disappeared from cinemas.John and Eryk tell the story of the battle that brought Taiwan under Qing rule, and ask why Beijing got cold feet with their propaganda piece. Note: this episode is also available as a video (on Spotify and YouTube). Oh, and apologies for the er… creative madness of Eryk's movie trailer – blame it on the summer heat. 

Long before social media, Taiwan had an unlikely food influencer: Chiang Ching-kuo (CCK), son of President Chiang Kai-shek. During his frequent inspection tours around the island in the 1970s and 1980s (as premier and later president), CCK cultivated an everyman image by chatting with workers and farmers and stopping to sample ordinary local foods. Sometimes, a visit from CCK was enough to transform an obscure dish or shop into a national tourist attraction. Eryk and John hit the road to follow in his culinary footsteps: from taro ice in Dali, Taichung, to daikon radishes high in the forests of Taipingshan, and finally to Wanluan pork knuckles in Pingtung.45 min video version also available.

NOTE: Shorter, audio only version also available Long before social media, Taiwan had an unlikely food influencer: Chiang Ching-kuo (CCK), son of President Chiang Kai-shek. During his frequent inspection tours around the island in the 1970s and 1980s (as premier and later president), CCK cultivated an everyman image by chatting with workers and farmers and stopping to sample ordinary local foods. Sometimes, a visit from CCK was enough to transform an obscure dish or shop into a national tourist attraction. Eryk and John hit the road to follow in his culinary footsteps: from taro ice in Dali, Taichung, to daikon radishes high in the forests of Taipingshan, and finally to Wanluan pork knuckles in Pingtung.

In 1986, after more than six years behind bars, Chen Chu was released on parole. She immediately doubled down on Taiwan's democratic struggle. In Part Two, we trace her rise from dissident to political heavyweight. We cover her role in founding the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the fallout from the Kaohsiung MRT migrant-worker scandal that cost her her job as labor chief, and her razor-thin victory in the 2006 mayoral race. She would go on to shape Kaohsiung for more than a decade, but her administration was not without controversy, most notably over the devastating 2014 gas explosions.Cover image shows Chen Chu at a final 2014 mayoral campaign rally in Fongshan, Kaohsiung. (By Eryk Michael Smith)

In 1960s rural Taiwan, crossing a river could be deadly. After children drowned on their way to school, a small group of charity workers in Chiayi decided to act. They had previously provided rice and coffins to the poor. But now they turned to building bridges in rural, often remote mountain areas. Nicknamed the “Ant Army,” they worked in human chains, carrying rocks and pouring concrete by hand. Their raw physical effort was supported by the expertise and guidance of engineer Ho Ming-teh (何明德1922–1998) who would be internationally recognized for his contribution. By the time of his death, Ho and the Chiayi Philanthropy Group had built more than 200 bridges.

We've got a new “snack” for you on Sunday, but today we're revisiting an episode from 2022. 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 Taiwan to investigate the harbor and its coal resources. And completely forgotten is another American project, the North Pacific Exploring and Surveying Expedition of 1853 to 1856, which saw two visits to Taiwan. At that time, the United States was one of several Western powers that had an eye on establishing a foothold on Formosa's wild East Coast. The mysterious region lay outside of Chinese control and promised all sorts of possible utility, whether as a coaling station or a penal colony. In today's podcast, we're aboard the John Hancock in the company of Lt. Alexander Habersham, who wrote an account of the expedition.

Long before becoming a three-time mayor of Kaohsiung, Chen Chu (陳菊) spent decades in Taiwan's democracy movement. Born into a farming family in Yilan in 1950, Chen Chu moved to Taipei to attend university, and was soon drawn into the dangerous world of the dangwai opposition struggle against one-party KMT rule. After the Kaohsiung Incident of December 1979, Chen was sentenced to twelve years, and would spend more than six years behind bars – much of that time isolated with fellow prisoner and future vice president Annette Lu.Cover image shows Chen Chu marching in one of the first martial law-era political protests: The Jan. 1979 Ciaotao Incident.

In 1911, Baike Daole, the daughter of a powerful Atayal chief in the mountains of central Taiwan, was pressured to marry the Japanese policeman Shimoyama Jihei. Their “strategic marriage” was intended to help Japan control Indigenous communities, but it produced a family caught between cultures and governments. We follow their story – and the extraordinary life of their son, Shimoyama Hajime – from Japan's violent campaign to control Taiwan's Indigenous peoples and the bloody 1930 Wushe Incident to the 228 uprising of 1947, when Hajime was arrested and tortured, and the uncertain first years of Chinese Nationalist rule.AI illustration cover image.

NOTE: This is our first episode to be labeled “explicit,” not due to bad language, but because it includes reasonably direct anatomical references. It may be best not to play this aloud when minors are present.We start with the relatively unknown story of Taiwanese boys condemned to become eunuchs in Emperor Qianlong's imperial palace, their fate sealed simply because they were the young sons of rebels. We then turn to the first gender affirmation surgery (as it might be called today) performed in Taiwan, way back in the early 1950s, with the remarkable case of soldier Hsieh Chien-shun (謝尖順), the so-called "Chinese Christine."In 1953, the discovery of Hsieh's medical condition and the ensuing series of operations became front-page news across Taiwan, with newspapers turning a deeply personal matter into a national spectacle. We explore the ethics of the case. Hsieh was reluctant to transition to female and only agreed after considerable pressure, making it much less of an “affirmation.”Despite the sensational journalism and Cold War nationalism surrounding one of the most unusual episodes in Taiwan's modern history, Hsieh's ordeal may have foreshadowed the island's later development as one of Asia's most progressive societies on issues of gender and sexuality.

TC Brown returns to Formosa Files – and to Taiwan – after 53 years away. A former U.S. Air Force security policeman stationed at CCK Air Base in Taichung for most of 1968-73, TC reflects on his recent trip back to the island, the Taiwan he remembers from the Vietnam War era, and the Taiwan he found today. John talks with TC about his memoir Made in Taiwan and town patrol in Taichung's “Dirty Dozen” bar district. We also visit Hualien through Wang Chen-ho's bawdy novel Rose, Rose, I Love You, one of the few works of fiction to touch on Taiwan's role in Vietnam War R&R.

In the early hours of morning, Eryk and John head to a market in Taichung. Actually, they let Lin Kai-lun do that and all the other hard work. Lin is a third-generation fish seller, whose Chinese-language memoir A Guide to Fake Fishmongering tells a story of family debt, backbreaking labor, and the culture of Taiwan's wet markets. It's a moving story (the family brought low by gambling) and funny too (there's some questionable medical advice). So, gather around the “urine tree” for a work-time break and fish-scented chat. Cover image via What 3.0

Does a “triangular head” mean danger? Did the wartime Japanese release experimental snakes on Yangmingshan? Do you really collapse after a hundred steps if a hundred-pacer bites you? Herpetologist Gerrut Norval joins John Ross to talk snakes. They focus on Taiwan's six important venomous species: the green bamboo viper, Chinese cobra, many-banded krait, Russell's viper, Taiwan habu, and the famous hundred-pacer. The biggest surprise for John was learning about the wild population of Burmese pythons on Kinmen. Be sure to visit the Formosa Files website for pictures and names of the snakes mentioned.

To celebrate the new Yaima Maru ferry service connecting Keelung with the Yaeyama Islands, Taiwan's nearest neighbors, we uncover stories of Taiwanese migrants there in the Japanese colonial era. On jungle-clad Iriomote Island, some suffered brutal conditions in the coal mines. On nearby Ishigaki, Taiwanese settlers helped transform the island's agriculture. They developed its pineapple industry and also introduced water buffalo, whose descendants can be seen today pulling tourist carts. 

Looking for the true story behind the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie)? There's much more to it than dragon boat races and sticky rice dumplings (zongzi).Many know the standard origin story of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, but Formosa Files uncovers the less-tidy roots of the holiday. The Dragon Boat Festival date falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month; once feared as the dangerous "Month of a Hundred Poisons." Discover how people responded with temple rituals, protective herbs, and even arsenic-laced wine.John Ross and Eryk Michael Smith also chat about what marks the arrival of summer in modern Taiwan, from peak mango season to the blooming of the yellow golden shower and red flame trees right around when schools celebrate graduations. Plus, Eryk shares ancient wisdom from Ben-Hur ("Row well, and live" – 1959) as he recounts his own dragon boat racing glory.

As we head into the 2026 World Cup, we take a look at Taiwan's surprisingly rich football heritage. Although a minor sport today, there have been periods of intense popularity and success. The soccer story starts more than a century ago with British Presbyterian missionary Edward Band, who introduced the sport to students in Tainan. We follow the growth of football during the Japanese colonial era, the White Terror crackdown, and then the unusual “Hong Kong Legs” era when the ROC national team used “football mercenaries.” The country's greatest international success, however, came with the Mulan women's football team.

The disaster was so terrible, so deadly that shocking reports of it reached as far away as Europe; they claimed that in 1782, Taiwan had been devastated by a colossal tsunami. Some accounts said the island had almost disappeared beneath the sea and that 40,000 people had died. Yet strangely, Chinese records seemed to say almost nothing about it. In this snack episode, Eryk and John put on their white coats and get scientific; or, in other words, they use some recent groundbreaking academic papers to explain one of the greatest mysteries in Taiwan's history. Was there really a massive tsunami on Taiwan's southwest coast in the 1780s? Listen and learn.

Who owns Taiwan's time? Taipei-based political commentator and author of Formosa Review substack Sasha B. Chhabra helps us wind back the history of Taiwan's clocks, from local rhythms before what we now call “standard time,” to Japanese colonial rule, wartime Tokyo time, and ROC “Central Plains Time.” Then we move forward to more recent debates over sovereignty and identity. “What time is it?” seems like a simple question, but this episode delightfully complicates it with stories of daylight, empire, modernization, authoritarianism, and Taiwan's right to define its own place in the world.

Who owns Taiwan's time? Taipei-based political commentator and author of Formosa Review substack Sasha B. Chhabra helps us wind back the history of Taiwan's clocks, from local rhythms before what we now call “standard time,” to Japanese colonial rule, wartime Tokyo time, and ROC “Central Plains Time.” Then we move forward to more recent debates over sovereignty and identity. “What time is it?” seems like a simple question, but this episode delightfully complicates it with stories of daylight, empire, modernization, authoritarianism, and Taiwan's right to define its own place in the world.

In the mid-1600s, Caspar Schmalkalden left war-ravaged Europe to work as a soldier and surveyor for the Dutch. After spending time in Brazil, he sailed to Batavia and finally to Formosa, where he lived among Dutch colonists, Chinese settlers, and Indigenous communities for several years. Back home in Germany, Schmalkalden wrote a richly illustrated account of his travels. It remained unpublished for more than 300 years and has still never appeared in a complete English translation. For the first time, we tell the story of this observant German traveler and the seventeenth-century Taiwan he encountered: a land of colorful feasts, deer hunts, strange tropical illnesses, herds of wild horses, and a mysterious creature he called the “Tayouan Devil.”

Taekwondo may be Korean, but few places have embraced it as enthusiastically as Taiwan. Introduced in the 1960s for the military, the fast-kicking martial art quickly spread to the wider community. Before long, Taiwan had become one of the world's taekwondo powers; it even sent trainers to the Middle East to teach the Jordanian royal guard. But peak global glory for the island's taekwondo fighters came at the Athens Olympics in 2004, when Taiwan won its very first Olympic gold medals.

In the 1930s, a mysterious document known as the Tanaka Memorial shocked the world. Supposedly written by Japanese Prime Minister Baron Tanaka, it outlined a strategy for conquering Manchuria, China, Southeast Asia, and even the United States. As real-life events seemed to unfold according to the alleged plan, the document became one of the most influential pieces of anti-Japanese propaganda of the twentieth century. It was quoted by American films, politicians, and many others. In this episode, we tell the story of Taiwanese businessman Tsai Chih-kan (蔡智堪), who later claimed to have personally copied the secret plans from inside the Japanese Imperial Palace. Although most historians today believe the Tanaka Memorial was a forgery, it remains an unsolved mystery. And the story of how it shaped global politics and wartime propaganda is, we think, more fascinating than the contents of the document.

John Ross and special guest John Groot celebrate the opening of the remarkable Danjiang Bridge in Tamsui (Danshui). They explore the bridges that transformed Taiwan: the Xiluo Bridge over the mighty Zhuoshui River, once the longest bridge in Asia, and the Taipei Bridge that helped fuel Taiwan's economic miracle. That bridge is best known for its “Scooter Waterfall,” the tightly packed stream of scooters that pours down the Taipei-side off-ramp during morning rush hour. We follow the Taipei Bridge to the other side, the gritty, industrial district of Sanchong. John Groot shares stories from his many walks, including some hair-raising bridge crossings during his circumnavigation of Taiwan's coastline. He also outlines his ambitious new walking project and related website, TaiwanCentric.com (formerly the Culture Shack and scheduled to relaunch on May 22).

In this Mother's Day edition, we celebrate the extraordinary life of Chen Shu-chu (陳樹菊), a humble vegetable seller from Taitung who quietly donated millions of NT dollars to schools, charities, and orphaned children – while continuing to live a modest life behind a market stall. Born in 1950 into poverty, Chen Shu-chu was forced to leave school at just thirteen after her mother died in childbirth. For half a century she worked at the stall and saved her earnings, giving them to the needy. Chen's lifetime of extraordinary generosity eventually brought her international fame. In 2010 she appeared in Time magazine's list of the world's most influential people. This is an uplifting story of how a seemingly ordinary market vendor became one of Taiwan's most admired figures.

Ghosts of all kinds – wandering spirits, water ghosts looking for substitutes, mountain demons, and many more; welcome to the strange supernatural world of Taiwan. Eryk and John, fortified with protective amulets and holy mantras, bravely step into the murky shadowlands of Taiwanese ghost lore and modern supernatural encounters. For this episode, they draw heavily on anthropologist Lin Mei-rong's collection of more than 150 ghost stories from across Taiwan. You've probably heard of water ghosts. But have you heard of the mysterious “Little Girl in Red” who lures hikers deep into the mountains? Or paper funeral dolls that come alive? How about “Yin” temples dedicated not to gods, but to wandering spirits? Lock your doors and windows, light some incense, and prepare to be spooked (and amused).

We head into the mountains to tell the story of the deep relationship between Taiwan's Indigenous communities and firearms. The warriors' incredible skill and ingenuity with guns enabled them to hold off Qing dynasty forces, Western punitive expeditions, and even the modern Japanese army well into the 20th century. Far from the familiar image of bows and arrows versus modern rifles, Taiwan's Indigenous peoples were quick to adopt and adapt firearms. Early on these firearms were simple matchlock muskets – slow to load but still deadly in skilled hands – but in the late 1880s, the Indigenous groups acquired modern rifles. Sometimes they had firepower equal to, or better than, their opponents. Through the centuries, guns became essential tools for hunting and warfare. They also became items of status and cultural importance. Guns were gifted in marriage, buried with the dead, and woven into customs of justice and belief.For this episode, we drew on the excellent dissertation by Pei-Hsi Lin(Susan Lin), Firearms, Technology and Culture: Resistance of TaiwaneseIndigenes to Chinese, European and Japanese Encroachment in a Global Context(c.1860–1914).

Join us as we step into the strange Cold War world of The Chairman, a forgotten 1969 spy thriller starring Hollywood great Gregory Peck. The movie, which was partly filmed in Taiwan, is about a scientist sent behind the Bamboo Curtain to steal a miracle agricultural formula. The plot is outlandish, but behind the absurdity lies an interesting snapshot of global fears in the late 1960s, from overpopulation and famine to superpower rivalry. We follow the filming production here in Taiwan (a stand-in for off-limits communist China). This takes us to locations such as Taipei's spectacular mountainside Zhinan Temple, where Peck plays ping-pong with Mao Zedong. Yes, The Chairman was a flop – deservedly so, we think – but the film certainly makes for a fun podcast episode.

It's 1965, and Henry (27) and Margaret (26) Lee have moved to the USA. She's working as a schoolteacher, and he's trying to make ends meet however he can, including by washing dishes at a Chinese restaurant and teaching kung fu. After some hard years — and a long stint in school — Henry Lee secures an academic position at New Haven University and builds its forensic center into a world-class institution. He soon begins working with legal authorities and solving cases.Being called as an expert witness for the defense in the 1995 OJ Simpson trial cements Henry Lee's status as a modern Sherlock Holmes. But unlike fictional characters, Lee was human, and humans make mistakes and sometimes also lie. There's no question Lee made some significant mistakes. Some, however, think he crossed the line into deception. Still, the errors, big or small, can be counted on one hand — most of the roughly 8,000 cases he worked on are not under review.Stick around after the end for a five-minute reading from Wiki on the 2004 assassination attempt on former Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian, which was, of course, one of the cases Lee was asked to help solve. 

To mark the recent passing of Henry C. Lee (李昌鈺), one of the world's most famous forensic scientists, we examine his extraordinary life. In Part 1, we're in impoverished postwar Taiwan. Lee is the eleventh of thirteen children. That, and his father dying on “China's Titanic,” means it's a childhood marked by tragedy and hardship. Lee walked barefoot to school to save his shoes. We follow his police training and work, service on Kinmen, a visa-overstay romance, and an unlikely detour running a tiny newspaper in Borneo.Part 2 follows Lee to the United States, where he rises to international fame through major criminal cases and where his golden reputation is somewhat tarnished by controversy.

John talks with Professor Dafydd Fell of SOAS University about "The Twilight Years of Taiwan's Sugar Railways", his new book co-written with Wang Xiang, a researcher who has spent years documenting the remains and memories of this once vast railway network. Fell's own fascination with the sugar railways dates back to the 1990s when he was living in Taiwan. John and Dafydd explore how sugar helped build modern Taiwan, how the narrow-gauge railways moved far more than just sugar cane, and how the network had a Cold War strategic purpose. The episode is full of nuggets, from mystery Belgian locomotives to propaganda train tours.

In 1904, colonial Taiwan tried to impress America with oolong tea at the St. Louis World's Fair. Just five years later, two American spies disguised as South African zoologists were secretly roaming Japanese Formosa – but they weren't investigating tea. They were on a U.S. Army mission to gather military intelligence. In this episode, John and Eryk explore tea, empire, espionage, and the strange relationship between Taiwan and the United States in the early 1900s.For names, sources, and other show notes, please visit the Formosa Files website.

That little green blob of spicy paste beside your sushi and sashimi has an amazing backstory. The notoriously fussy plant is grown in the mountains of Taiwan (special shoutout to Chiayi County). It arrived in Alishan with the Japanese colonists and their forest railway and flourished in the cool mountain air. After disappearing for a time, it has recently made a comeback. Listen to learn the history of wasabi and find out whether you've been eating the real deal or a fake sauce.

Huang Chin-tao (黃金島) was never a household name, but his life story is the story of modern Taiwan. In this concluding episode, we follow Huang from the 2.28 uprising in 1947 as he joins a resistance group led by a rare combination: a Taiwanese woman communist guerrilla commander, Xie Xuehong, whom we've dubbed Agent "Red Snow." After fighting bravely but losing the Battle of Wuniulan Bridge in Nantou, Huang becomes a fugitive and then spends more than two decades in Taiwan's prisons. There is, however, finally some happiness: a few years after being released, he found love and became a political activist in what would become Taiwan's first real opposition party. For this tale of resistance, survival, and a regular man's refusal to be broken by history, we drew on Anna Beth Keim's excellent biography Heaven Does Not Block All Roads.

This is part one of the extraordinary life story of Huang Chin-tao (黃金島 Huáng Jīndǎo). In fact, he seemed to live not one life but many; he was a Japanese naval recruit, a combat soldier, a survivor of typhoons and pirates, an armed rebel during the 2-28 Incident of 1947, a man on the run, a prisoner, and a politician. His lifetime, 1926 to 2019, also gives us the background story of Taiwan's turbulent 20th century. Although the turns and twists of history were often brutal for Huang, he was unbreakable, a man who refused to let fate decide his path. In the words of the title of Anna Beth Keim's excellent biography: Heaven Does Not Block All Roads.

What do Taiwan, China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam have in common? Chopsticks. In the second Formosa Files Snack, Eryk and John explore the cultural story behind one of East Asia's most iconic everyday objects. Why did chopsticks replace spoons in China? What role did noodles, rice, and Confucian philosophy play in their adoption? And how did superstitious Ming-dynasty boatmen turn the ancient word for chopsticks into “kuàizi” (literally “quick little boys”)? The origins of the English word “chopsticks” are pretty interesting too. Enjoy this quick, fun cultural and historical detour through the Greater Asian Chopsticks Sphere.

Horses have never played a big role in Taiwan's history – or have they? Eryk and John start Season Six of Formosa Files and celebrate the Year of the Fire Horse by uncovering a series of surprising equine stories. We have prehistoric horses, Dutch cavalry, and Indigenous riders hunting wild cattle in the 1700s. And this will be a revelation to most; horse racing was hugely popular across the island during the later part of the Japanese colonial period. In the 1930s, tens of thousands flocked to the tracks, fortunes were wagered, and the Japanese colonial government even linked betting to imperial patriotism.Follow us on IG or FB.

Their lineage is ancient. They are loyal, smart, and great hunting companions. But Taiwan's native dog almost went extinct, and today it's hard to say how many “pure breeds” are left, if any. These medium-sized dogs, with pointy ears and a love for running, were not long ago the underdogs. But they've made a remarkable comeback and are finally getting their day -- a story worth sinking your teeth into. Enjoy Formosa Files' very first “snack episode.” Next week… Season Six begins. 

Looking back over S5, the adjective "fascinating" is repeatedly used by both John and Eryk, who struggle for words a bit to describe their gratitude to listeners, our sponsor, and for the honor of having a platform to tell stories and hear stories from some amazing guests. Formosa Files Season Six starts next week, but after this conversation, check out the first FF "snack" -- short, single-topic, not-exactly-deep-dive but still rewarding bits of podcast brain food. 

American George H. Kerr was the most important Western eyewitness and chronicler of the February 28 Incident of 1947, the violent uprising and brutal crackdown that shaped Taiwan's modern politics and identity. Kerr first lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. During the war, he worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert, and then from 1945 to 1947 served as the U.S. vice consul in Taipei. His account of Chinese Nationalist (KMT) misrule, Formosa Betrayed (1965), is arguably the most influential English-language book ever written about Taiwan. John chats with Kerr scholar Jonathan Benda about the book and the man behind it. Why did it take Kerr so long to publish his account? What does the “betrayed” in the title refer to? How did the book inspire Taiwanese democracy and independence activists? Drawing on new evidence, Benda explains it all and gives us a full picture of this complex man.