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1958. Just 66 years ago, yet Taiwan back then was like a completely different country. There was no television, but there were Russian-language radio broadcasts to Siberia. Eryk and John share nuggets from a 1959 ROC booklet, “101 Questions about Taiwan,” which proves to be both a humorous and fascinating time capsule of facts and stats. Enjoy this journey back to the year 1958, when sugar dominated exports, and Taiwan manufactured 93 jeeps!
Cover via the booklet/pamphlet discussed in this episode: 101 Questions About Taiwan
Below: This bridge in the Taroko Gorge was built in 1958, as part of the Central Cross-Island Highway, built 1956-60.
This page, the "History of the US Air Force in Taiwan 1958" tells about the "not-so-secret" knowledge that the US once stationed nuclear weapons in Taiwan.
Below: A picture from the same website above shows the Tainan Air Base in 1958.
While the booklet had lots to say about everything from rice production to tourist hot spots, it doesn't mention the biggest event of that year, the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
Below: An image from the New York Times in 1958. The now-unavailable article noted that the risk of nuclear war “was said to be greater in 1958” than at any other time.
See info on the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, also called the 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis. CNN reported in 2021: “Military planners in Washington pushed for the White House to prepare plans to use nuclear weapons against mainland China during the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1958, newly leaked documents appear to confirm.”
A map of the area involved via The Veterans Breakfast Club.
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AND THE BIGGEST REQUEST: tell others about this free, not-for-profit resource about Taiwan.
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.
