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 from the audiobook of John Ross' 2020 "Taiwan in 100 Books" related to Father Barry Martinson and the famous globetrotting Taiwanese author Sanmao (三毛).
Cover: Song of Orchid Island by Father Barry Martinson and Adventures in the Sahara by Sanmao (三毛).
Below: A photo showing Echo Chen (Sanmao) with her Spanish husband José María Quero y Ruíz (who sadly died in a scuba diving accident in 1979.) For more great pictures of Sanmao and her life, check out some wonderful Pinterest collections by Joanna Man and others HERE.
Below: A picture of the late author/traveler Sanmao, via Wikimedia Commons.
Below: Father Barry Martinson, a Catholic priest who has devoted roughly 50 years of his life to the people of Taiwan -- mostly serving in indigenous Taiwanese communities -- and the author of "Song of Orchid Island," which became a best-seller after a translation by Echo Chen (Sanmao). Picture via the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Below: A photo by Father Martinson taken during his time on Orchid Island. Click HERE for an interview on his book by Camphor Press.
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Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.