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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309 ఎపిసోడ్లు
The CIA Plan to Remove CKS (Part 2): S5-E45
The Cold War is heating up as the CIA continues to build a “Third Force” – a democratic alternative to both Mao’s Communists and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nat...
The CIA Plan to Remove President Chiang Kai-shek (Part 1): S5-E44
Standard histories tell us that after fleeing to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek became America’s staunch Cold War ally – an immovable figure with an iron gri...
S5 - [Remastered Encore] Ghost of Green Island: the SS President Hoover Shipwreck (1937)
Before this encore, a quick announcement: we are looking for (human) artists for a 2027 calendar project. If you're interested, get ahold of us. Thx!...
Shih Ch’ien: Taiwan’s “Father of Beggars” – S5-E43
Shih Ch’ien (施乾) is a young, well-educated Taiwanese man with a coveted government job in the Japanese colonial administration. But he turns his bac...
War Against Wuxia: Jin Yong, Banned Books, and Taiwan’s “Rainstorm Project” – S5-E42
Wuxia (武俠) novels are martial-arts stories full of swordsmen and swordplay, secret techniques, and chivalrous outlaws. Think Robin Hood crossed with...
Opium Paste and Stamped Silver: Early Japanese Rule in Taiwan – S5-E41
When Japan took control of Taiwan in 1895, it inherited a financial mess: a chaotic mix of chopped silver, copper cash, and foreign coins. The new col...
AUDIO ONLY - Taiwan’s Funeral Strippers: “Dancing for the Dead” – S5-E40
THIS IS AUDIO-ONLY. A LONGER VIDEO VERISON IS AVAILABLE.
This episode may not be suitable for minors.
Yes, funeral strippers are...
Taiwan’s Funeral Strippers: “Dancing for the Dead” – S5-E40
Note: This episode may not be suitable for minors.
Yes, funeral strippers are real, and their story is far more complicated than...
Shulinkou Air Station – Part 3: Taiwan and the Gulf of Tonkin – S5-E39
We end our Shulinkou trilogy by tying together the surprisingly interconnected Taiwan–U.S.–Vietnam story. It’s July 1964, and two U.S. Navy destroyers...
Shulinkou Air Station – Part 2 – S5-E38
We continue the story of the Shulinkou Air Station and the American military in the early 1960s. We tackle Taiwan’s infamous gravel-truck killers (urb...
Shulinkou Air Station – Part 1 of 3 (early 1960s) – S5-E37
It was one of Taiwan’s most secretive Cold War outposts: Shulinkou Air Station (樹林口空軍情報站), a joint-service U.S. intelligence base perched on a...
Special Episode: A Farewell to Dr. Chen Yao-chang, and a Look at His Novel “Three Tribes”
Pioneering researcher, physician and historical novelist Dr Chen Yao-chang passed away at the age of 76 on November 17. He will be deeply missed by fa...
Unfinished Projects – unbuilt buildings, unfilmed films, unrealized dreams – S5-E36
Ever taken Kaohsiung’s cable car across the harbor, had fun at Chiayi’s Universal Studios theme park, marveled at Taiwan’s Statue-of-Liberty-style gif...
S5 Bonus: Taiwan and Xu Fu (with Chris Stowers)
Ancient Chinese records tell us that in 210 BC a Taoist priest and alchemist named Xu Fu (徐福) sailed east to find the elixir of immortality for the...
Alters and Outlaws: Ben Sando on Taiwan’s Underworld – Gangs, Temples, and Political Influence – S5-E35
We’ll let Benjamin Sando, research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, and our guest for this week’s episode, describe the topic:
“The Eleventh Commandment” – the First Western Movie Shot in Taiwan – S5-E34
This wonderfully weird story is part of our “almost-no-one’s-ever-hear-of-Taiwan-trivia” collection, and man… it’s wild. Plot synopsis: A Cold War war...
Bits & Pieces: “Women of the Orient” and Around the World in an Amphibious Jeep (1956) – S5-E33
In this Bits & Pieces episode, John makes Eryk read some cringe-inducing lines from a guide to “the women of the Orient.” Then, they set off on one of...
From Ashes to Innovation: Japan, Taiwan, and the Spirit of the Osaka Expo of 1970 — S3-E32
In 1968, just 23 years after the end of WWII, Japan became the world’s second-largest economy (and would remain so until 2011, when it was overtaken b...
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...