Coming soon! The first major book from our new publishing venture Plum Rain Press (English translation): "Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa" by Dr. Chen Yao-chang 陳耀昌.
Lai Dongjin 賴東進 was born into a “beggar family.” His dad is blind, his mom has a mental illness. He has 11 siblings! Many born into such a disadvantaged position would throw up their hands, blame fate, and quit the fight for…
The incredible story of Amis Taiwanese Olympic decathlete Maysang Kalimud, better known as CK Yang (楊傳廣), was one of the first stories featured in the first season of Formosa Files (December 2021).
At that time, John and …
The person who did most of the work creating the company people around the world almost immediately associate with Taiwan has no ancestors from this island, was not born here, didn't go to school here, and only came here for…
Japanese princes, Taiwanese activists, a Korean martyr, American generals and presidents, Chiang Kai-shek and his son Chiang Ching-kuo. It’s an action-packed episode with an amazing cast of characters. These little-known Tai…
John talks with Chris Bates about one of Taiwan’s greatest ever martial artists, Hong Yixiang 洪懿祥 (1925–1993). He was Taiwan’s foremost master of the Chinese internal martial arts (which consist of baguazhang 八卦掌, xingyiquan…
Gladys Aylward and Ingrid Bergman: The former, a British-born Christian missionary to China and Taiwan, the latter a three-time Academy Award winner. However despite very different lives, the two will forever be connected af…
When Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁 began his university studies in 1969, gifted student though he was, few could have imagined he would become Taiwan’s first non-KMT president. The young Chen had no political plans – he wanted to study…
China-born architect Yang Cho-cheng 楊卓成 (1914-2006) left his magnificent mark on Taiwan with the CKS Memorial Hall, and the National Theater and Concert Hall (NTCH) among his greatest masterpieces. This week, we’ve got part …
Linda Arrigo has been in Taiwan for many years, working as a human rights activist, as an important member of the early team of fighters who risked life and limb for a democratic Taiwan, and more recently, worked with the Ta…
Shih Ming-teh 施明德 died on the morning of his 83rd birthday, January 15th, 2024. This Taiwan democracy champion spent a combined 25.5 years in Taiwanese prisons for “sedition;” what the one-party state called his activism. Sh…
In the 1960s and 1970s, many tens of thousands of Taiwanese went into self-exile; most of them headed to the United States. The people who became Taiwanese-Americans did so for a variety of reasons, but it's probably fair to…
A generation of Taiwanese left (or you might say “fled”) Taiwan in the 1960s and 70s, with most going to the United States. Some went to school there and stayed, while others emigrated as they saw no future for themselves an…
Hear the tale of Japanese colonial officials discovering golf as the "new cool thing for elites" -- and ordering a course built in just a few hours. Plus, the story of Lu Liang-huan (呂良煥), a man from a poor family who worked…
John chats with photographer Chris Stowers. In 1988, Chris sailed a traditional Indonesian boat on an epic sea voyage (a trip described alongside the three-part series on the Free China junk, S3-Ep23-25). This led to his fir…
We continue the amazing tale of six men who set sail from Keelung in 1955 aboard the Free China junk to join a trans-Atlantic yacht race. They were attempting to show that an old-fashioned Chinese vessel could compete agains…
![[ENCORE] S4 - The Inn of the EIGHT Happinesses 八福客栈 vs. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/redwood-labs/showpage/uploads/images/7b7e32ac-864a-49fc-83b9-8186e824086b.jpg "[ENCORE] S4 - The Inn of the EIGHT Happinesses 八福客栈 vs. The Inn of the Sixth Happiness")
![[ENCORE] Golf in Taiwan: A Surprisingly Long History](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/redwood-labs/showpage/uploads/images/10f26860-f33d-4204-8188-4b6b1863af8a.jpg "[ENCORE] Golf in Taiwan: A Surprisingly Long History")
![[Bonus] Photographing Taiwan – Interview with Chris Stowers](https://s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/redwood-labs/showpage/uploads/images/f6addbd4-c6ed-4899-a956-ab0dfa89721d.jpg "[Bonus] Photographing Taiwan – Interview with Chris Stowers")
