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How could a 'very white' European man get away with showing up in London in 1703 and claiming to be from Formosa? In this first episode of FORMOSA FILES, we look at this fascinating story of a French con-man, and the bigger picture of what the West knew about Formosa/Taiwan roughly three to four centuries ago.
Cover: Composite of typical "Formosans" from Psalmanazar’s Description of Formosa. Colorized by Benjamin Breen. Via The Appendix/Benjamin Breen.
Below: An image said to be the likeness of George Psalmanazar (1679?-1763) Via Wikimedia Commons.
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Psalmanazar went so far as to create a fake Formosan alphabet... and translate parts of the Bible into it! Here is his "translation" of the Lord's Prayer:
"Amy Pornio dan chin Ornio vicy, Gnayjorhe sai Lory, Eyfodere sai Bagalin, jorhe sai domion apo chin Ornio, kay chin Badi eyen, Amy khatsada nadakchion toye ant nadayi, kay Radonaye ant amy Sochin, apo ant radonern amy Sochiakhin, bagne ant kau chin malaboski, ali abinaye ant tuen Broskacy, kens sai vie Bagalin, kay Fary, kay Barhaniaan chinania sendabey. Amien."
(Image via Wikimedia Commons)
Below: The first page of Psalmanazar's 1704 book, An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island subject to the Emperor of Japan
(Image via Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
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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.
