The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files
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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. Th...
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Swearing with Chickens, and other Taiwan Bird Adventures – S5-E31
Inspired by Taichung’s recent hosting of the World Bird Fair, Eryk and John explore Taiwan’s rich avian diversity and look at bird omens, bird gamblin...
The U.S. Breaks Relations with a Loyal Ally for the First Time in History: Former AmCham Taipei President Robert Parker Tells the Story of “Derecognition” – S5-E30
Everyone knew it was coming, but when U.S. President Carter announced on Dec. 15, 1978 that Washington D.C. was switching diplomatic recognition from...
Golden Taiwan Travels (1967) – S5-E29
Travel with Eryk and John as they explore Taiwan using the 1967 edition of a long-forgotten guidebook: The Golden Guide to South & East Asia. Taiwan w...
The San Cha Mountain 三叉山 Incident of 1945 – Taiwan Marks 80 Years Since Double Tragedy [S5 Reedited Encore]
Imagine you’re an Allied soldier in the Pacific during WWII. You’re captured by the Japanese, survive brutal conditions as a POW, and the dangerous vo...
Made in Taiwan: A Naïve American’s Chaotic Journey to Manhood in an Exotic Culture During Radical Times – Formosa Files chats with Vietnam vet and author TC Brown – S5-E28
Bargirls, bar fights, beer, and bong hits – yes, those topics are covered, but this interview features much more than salacious tales. TC Brown, who f...
CCK: The Largest U.S. Military Base in Taiwan During the Vietnam War – S5-E27
With sprawling 1,750-acre grounds and a record-setting 12,000-foot runway, CCK stood as America’s most significant Taiwan base during the Vietnam War....
Miss Universe 1988 – Live from Taipei: Taiwan’s Record That Will (Probably) Never Be Broken – S5-E26
Long before 1988, Taiwan’s beauty pageants had been mired in rumors — winners accused of marrying into political dynasties, whispers of contests doubl...
Nuclear Power in Taiwan: The Story Behind Saturday’s Radioactive Referendum – S5-E25
From Chiang Kai-shek’s nuclear ambitions to the fallout from Chernobyl and Fukushima, Taiwan’s nuclear story has always been controversial. The ROC on...
Operation Ichi-Go: Japan’s Mostly Forgotten Last Big, Born-in-Taiwan War Offensive – S5-E24
This episode was released on August 15th, 2025, exactly 80 years after the Empire of Japan unconditionally surrendered to the Allies following the ato...
Chiang Kai-shek’s Secret Coma, and the Cigar-Smoking, Cross-Dressing, Confucian Descendant Ms. Kung — S5-E23
In the summer of 1972, Chiang Kai-shek vanished. He missed Double Ten parades. However, Madame Chiang (Soong Mei-ling), and the step-son she loathed (...
“Lip-Sticked” Taxi Drivers and the Founder of the China Post: A Look at Taiwan’s Women in 1963 — S5-E22
Supreme Court judges, bus conductors, chemists, even radio stars — in this episode, we look at how women were making their mark in 1960s Taiwan. Our s...
Bits & Pieces - July 2025 - Taiwan’s First Belgian Student, Madame Chiang’s Midlife Canvas, and the Immovable Last Emperor’s Cousin – S5-E21
This Bits and Pieces episode blows from here to there—just like Typhoon Danas, which recently battered John’s beloved Chiayi. It’s a little chaotic, a...
Honey Buckets and Whole-Wheat Faith in Free China – S5-E20
In this episode, a young American missionary family boards a cargo ship for Taiwan in 1955. What could go wrong? Four weeks, a typhoon, and a customs...
Seedless Watermelons and a Secret War in the Desert: the Taiwan–Saudi Arabia Story – S5-E19
Taiwanese pilots flew combat jets in Saudi uniforms over Arabian skies? Yes. This week, learn about what may seem like an unusual friendship: the clos...
Taiwan’s 1930s Pop Boom, and Its First Pop Queen – S5-E18
Han Cheung, the man behind Taiwan in Time, the long-running history column in the Taipei Times, returns to tell the story of Taiwan’s first pop star....
Popeye, Prison, Soy Sauce and Satire: Bo Yang 柏楊 – S5-E17
Bo Yang 柏楊 (1920-2008) was a Chinese historian, author, dissident, provocateur, and one of Taiwan’s most controversial commentators. After arriving...
Taiwan vs. South Korea - A Conversation with Author Chris Tharp
Fellow “Asian tigers” South Korea and Taiwan share strikingly similar modern histories: Chinese influence, Japanese colonization, Cold War struggles,...
Teresa Teng 鄧麗君 – “Asia’s Eternal Queen of Pop” (2025 Remastered Re-release)
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...
Calculating Fate: Taiwan’s Fortune-Telling Fever of the ’90s – S5-E16
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 w...
Shanghai–Taiwan Connections, Part 1: Mark Kitto on Helen Zia’s “Last Boat” — BONUS EPISODE
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 n...
Taipei Times “Taiwan in Time”– Han Cheung, the man behind the excellent weekly history newspaper column – A FORMOSA FILES INTERVIEW
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 a...
Bad Manners & Book Crimes: How an American Op-Ed Sparked Taiwan’s Self-Awareness Movement – S5-E15
In 1963, a 32-year-old American grad student in Taipei wrote a newspaper editorial complaining that Taiwanese people were great at treating friends ki...
EXTRA FOR HARDCORE LISTENERS! Hear the entire story of Japanese doctor Takagi Tamoe in this unedited, 27-minute version
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. Takag...
Takagi Tomoe: The Japanese Doctor Who Devoted Himself to Taiwan – S5-E14
In 1902, Dr. Takagi Tomoe arrived in newly-colonized Japanese Formosa as a seasoned Japanese medical expert sent here to battle bubonic plague – one o...
1962: Taiwan’s Bloody Year You’ve Never Heard Of -S5-E13
PLEASE NOTE: Formosa Files 中文版 has a new, separate feed. Hear it HERE, or on our website. Thanks!
This week, Formosa Files dig...
Chinese and Taiwanese Names… Too Many Names! – S5-E12
Your name carries history, identity, and sometimes in Taiwan, salmon? In this episode, we explore Taiwanese/Chinese naming traditions: family names, g...
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT! 重要公告
The Chinese podcast hasn’t disappeared; it’s now got its own feed.
FORMOSA FILES中文版的節目沒有消失！我們成立了新的頻道（SPOTIFY、APPLE），並將...
“China’s Titanic” (1949) & The Cruise That Ended in Cremation (1994) - S5-E11
Often called “China’s Titanic,” the 1949 sinking of the Taiping claimed over 1,000 lives as desperate refugees fled Shanghai for Taiwan. Forty-five ye...
Taiwan in the “Teens” (1911-1919) – S5-E10
This early part of the twentieth century was filled with revolutions and wars (including the First World War). Formosa, however, was a relatively stab...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH54-永和勵行中學殺人事件—臺灣1962年兩大連續殺人案（2）
1962年，在當時的臺北縣永和鎮發生了一件轟動全臺的連續殺人案。一位（被）退休的老師持槍進入勵行中學，造成七死三傷的慘案。然而這件案件最引人注目的，卻反而...
Taoyuan Magistrate Mass Murder and Gangsters in the Taiwan Government - S5-E9
After the “execution-style” murder of Taoyuan Magistrate Liu Pang-yu and half a dozen others at Liu’s official residence in November 1996 by assassins...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH53-更寮腳營區殺人事件—臺灣1962年兩大連續殺人案（1）
過去的臺灣，似乎並不是一個非常平靜的地方。在1960年代，對外有持續發生小規模衝突的共產中國，對內則有軍隊紀律、匪諜滲透、省籍情節等問題。雖然實施了戒嚴，...
Taiwan’s Stock Market Bubble – And the Crash of 1990 - S5-E8
Shortly after the Lunar New Year of 1990, the Taiwan Stock Exchange (the Taiex) hit a peak of almost 12,500. Eight months later it had fallen to a low...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH52-臺灣戰後至今的人口問題—節育與「催生」政策
臺灣在戰後很快的成為「復興基地」，接收了百萬播遷來臺的中國軍民，但仍需儲備「反攻大陸」所需的兵力；再加上農業社會需要大量人力，政府於是鼓勵生育，臺灣人...
Communist Parties in Taiwan (and the gruesome tale of Tomb Sweeping Festival 清明節) – S5 - Mini Episode
Taiwan is enjoying a four-day break for Qing Ming Jie, usually called Tomb Sweeping Festival (or Day) in English. Formosa Files is taking a bit of a b...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH51-不名譽的「榮譽白人」—SA295號空難與臺斐關係
臺灣自從1971年退出聯合國以來，在國際上逐漸面臨被孤立的困境。無獨有偶的，此時在非洲也有另一個被國際孤立的國家：南非。雖然非常具有爭議性，但兩個國家確實...
S5-E7- First “Bits and Pieces” Episode of Season 5
If we left in all the material we discover when researching topics, our episodes would be many hours long, so we try to force ourselves not to go down...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH50-原漢族群的界線「土牛溝」—不斷後退的臺灣「番界」
臺灣從荷蘭、明鄭時期以來，不斷的有漢人來此開墾。然而在開墾的過程中，難免會與原住民發生爭端與衝突。而在漢人開始大舉來臺的清代，雖然政府透過各種方式想要...
A 22-year-old Russian (spy?) Visits Taiwan in 1875 - S5-E6
Pavel Ivanovich Ibis, or Paul Ibis, a 22-year-old Russian naval officer (he was born in today’s Estonia) embarked alone on a dangerous and adventurous...
FORMOSA FILES IN CHINESE! CH49-臺灣最知名的黑人牙膏—人手一管的種族歧視（？）
如果要說到臺灣人過去最熟悉的牙膏品牌，「黑人牙膏」絕對是名列前茅。即使後來因為可能有種族歧視的意味而全面改名為「好來牙膏」，商標的顏色也幾度調整，但依...