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Popeye, Prison, Soy Sauce and Satire: Bo Yang 柏楊 – S5-E17
Season 5 Episode 17
Bo Yang 柏楊 (1920-2008) was a Chinese historian, author, dissident, provocateur, and one of Taiwan’s most controversial commentators. After arriving …
8 months ago
Taiwan vs. South Korea - A Conversation with Author Chris Tharp
Season 5
Fellow “Asian tigers” South Korea and Taiwan share strikingly similar modern histories: Chinese influence, Japanese colonization, Cold War struggles,…
8 months, 1 week ago
Teresa Teng 鄧麗君 – “Asia’s Eternal Queen of Pop” (2025 Remastered Re-release)
Season 5
It has now been 30 years since the passing of Teresa Teng 鄧麗君, the legendary Taiwanese singer who transformed Asian pop music, and even influenced re…
8 months, 1 week ago
Calculating Fate: Taiwan’s Fortune-Telling Fever of the ’90s – S5-E16
Season 5 Episode 16
Some people bought Tamagotchis in the '90s. Others? They paid birds to predict their future. In this week’s episode, we take a glimpse into Taiwan’s …
8 months, 2 weeks ago
Shanghai–Taiwan Connections, Part 1: Mark Kitto on Helen Zia’s “Last Boat” — BONUS EPISODE
Season 5
Some have called Taipei a “mini-Shanghai.” If true, the emphasis might need to be on the word “mini.” The population of the greater Shanghai area is …
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Taipei Times “Taiwan in Time”– Han Cheung, the man behind the excellent weekly history newspaper column – A FORMOSA FILES INTERVIEW
Season 5
You've read his work (or you should); this awesome guy has been pumping out informative weekly history columns (and now YouTube videos) for close to …
8 months, 3 weeks ago
Bad Manners & Book Crimes: How an American Op-Ed Sparked Taiwan’s Self-Awareness Movement – S5-E15
Season 5 Episode 15
In 1963, a 32-year-old American grad student in Taipei wrote a newspaper editorial complaining that Taiwanese people were great at treating friends k…
9 months ago
EXTRA FOR HARDCORE LISTENERS! Hear the entire story of Japanese doctor Takagi Tamoe in this unedited, 27-minute version
Season 5
For those of you who want more specific info, here is the entire conversation John Ross enjoyed with Dr. Jimmy Lee on the remarkable life of Dr. Taka…
9 months ago
Takagi Tomoe: The Japanese Doctor Who Devoted Himself to Taiwan – S5-E14
Season 5 Episode 14
In 1902, Dr. Takagi Tomoe arrived in newly-colonized Japanese Formosa as a seasoned Japanese medical expert sent here to battle bubonic plague – one …
9 months ago
1962: Taiwan’s Bloody Year You’ve Never Heard Of -S5-E13
Season 5 Episode 13
PLEASE NOTE: Formosa Files 中文版 has a new, separate feed. Hear it HERE, or on our website. Thanks!
This week, Formosa Files digs into two wild and alm…
9 months, 1 week ago