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.

TAIWAN HISTORY - Formosa Files Episodes

June 27, 2024

S4 - [ENCORE] The Qing Dynasty Doesn't Really Want Taiwan (1683)

The current Beijing authorities make bombastic claims as silly as “Taiwan has been part of China since the dawn of the universe!!” The reality, however, is quite different. Some Chinese dynasties may not have even known…
Oct. 19, 2023

S3-E31 - The “Tea Thief” - Robert Fortune's Very Brief Trip to Taiwan (1854)

Tea was domesticated in China, and the knowledge of how to grow it, harvest it, and process it was a closely guarded secret. After basically becoming addicted to the beverage, the British needed to find a way to grow their o…
June 1, 2023

S3-E13 - The Flag of Taiwan (?)

You'll see the "Blue Sky, White Sun, and Red Earth" flag everywhere across Taiwan, and each year, streets are lined with this banner to celebrate Double Ten Day on October 10th. But is it really the flag of Taiwan? Who desig…
April 27, 2023

S3-E10 - Lord of Formosa - Part Two: Coyett VS. Koxinga

Joyce Bergvelt's book Lord of Formosa is a novel, but she's an author who has extensively studied the Dutch colonial period and the main characters involved. Lord of Formosa, therefore, might be closer to a history book than…
April 6, 2023

S3-E8 - Early Photos of Taiwan - by John Thomson - 1871

Some of the earliest photos we have of Taiwan were taken by a British photographer who visited the southwest of the island in 1871. Taking pics back then was far from “point and shoot.” It was “get inside portable darkroom, …
March 30, 2023

S3-E7 - Lord of Formosa and the VOC - Part One

Arguably the single most important event in Taiwan’s history – and certainly the most dramatic story – was the arrival in 1661 of warlord and Ming loyalist Koxinga (鄭成功 Zheng Chenggong). After a fierce struggle, Koxinga evic…
Sept. 8, 2022

S2-E25 - Searching for Black Gold in Taiwan

Commodore Matthew C. Perry’s two expeditions of 1852–1854 pried open Japan. Less well known is that one of the American ships visited Keelung in northeastern Taiwan to investigate the harbor and its coal resources. And compl…
June 23, 2022

S2-E17 - The Brief and Often Forgotten Kingdom of Dongning 東寧王國

Koxinga's eldest son, Zheng Jing, -- the ruler of the short-lived Kingdom of Dongning (1661-1683) -- almost lost his head in his late teens. Daddy Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) twice ordered his execution for fooling around with…
May 12, 2022

S2-E11 - Taiwan's Nearest Neighbors - the 1,000+ Kilometer-Long Ryukyu Island Chain

Taiwan lies at the heart of what's called the "first island chain," a boring name for a long line of amazing islands that stretches from Borneo to Russia’s Kuril Islands. The main island of Taiwan's closest neighbor is Yonag…
May 5, 2022

S2-E10 - Christian Samurai – Japan’s Katana Diplomacy in Taiwan

After unifying Japan’s warring states, supreme feudal lord Hideyoshi launched a massive invasion of Korea. In 1593, a year into this Imjin War of 1592-1598, he sent an envoy to Taiwan on a doomed mission to establish formal …
March 24, 2022

S2-E3 - The Lamey Island Massacre

In 1622 and then again in 1631, crew members (including foraging parties and shipwreck survivors) from Dutch ships were killed by the aboriginal people on Lamey Island, what is today’s Pingtung County’s Xiao Liuqiu (小琉球). Th…
Feb. 24, 2022

Bonus Mini-Episode: Eryk Calls John for a Chat About Taiwan's Indigenous Peoples

When did people first get to Taiwan? Was there a land bridge? Plus... a few interesting legends. A short phone call that's a fun intro to Taiwan’s prehistory.
Feb. 7, 2022

S1-E26 - Bonus Episode - What Were the Dutch Doing in Formosa Anyway?

The Dutch were expelled from southwestern Taiwan by a pirate warlord and Ming loyalist Koxinga in 1662. Their relatively brief stay of 38 years was marked by impressive achievements and lasting impacts. But why they were the…
Sept. 11, 2021

S1-E3 - The Fall of Fort Zeelandia

The Dutch put up a good fight... but a traitor seals their fate. Here's the end of the story of how the Dutch lost Taiwan.
Sept. 11, 2021

S1-E2 - Koxinga VS. The Dutch - Round One

Pirate Warlord Koxinga's successful invasion of Taiwan changed everything. Here's part one of the tale of an epic, nine-month struggle with the Dutch in Anping, modern-day Tainan.