The player is loading ...
Sign up to get updates from us
Taiwan in 1946. How will post-war Formosa turn out? Will the KMT be successful in managing the local economy? Will there be strife between the new Chinese rulers and – until very recently – Japanized Taiwanese people? Who knows? Well, we do... now.
The Formosa Files team is pleased to bring you a rare gem: clips of a radio program by NBC, recorded in late 1946, just a little more than a year after the end of World War II. John and Eryk will play segments of this radio docu-drama and then comment on the facts, add info, explain context, and more. Enjoy this experience, which really feels like a kind of time travel!
Cover: October 21, 1946 (the 35th year of the Republic of China), President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife, Soong May-ling, inspect newly "liberated" Taiwan. In the background is the Republic of China Air Force's C-47 known as the "Mayling". Via Wikimedia Commons.
LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE ORIGINAL NBC 1946 RADIO DOCU-DRAMA HERE
Below: In the center - Chen Yi 陳儀 (May 3, 1883 – June 18, 1950) was the chief executive and garrison commander of Taiwan Province after the Empire of Japan surrendered to the Republic of China. He acted on behalf of the Allies to accept Japan's surrender of Taiwan at the Zhongshan Hall in Taipei on October 25, 1945. He is considered to have mismanaged the tension between the Taiwanese and newcomers from China, which resulted in the February 28 Incident in 1947, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths, and was dismissed. In June 1948 he was appointed Chairman of Zhejiang Province, but was dismissed and arrested when his plan to surrender to the Chinese Communist Party was discovered. He was sentenced to death and executed by shooting in Taipei in in 1950.
WATCH: The Pacific War as it happened: Newsreels from 1944
Below: The logo for "The Pacific Story" by NBC.
The following info comes from Old Time Radio Downloads:
"The Pacific Story was broadcast on NBC at 11:30pm, with the first broadcast on July 11, 1943. The series lasted 184 weeks with two weeks pre-empted and ended on January 26, 1947. It was considered a documentary. The premise of the show was that with Europe in ruins, the Pacific might emerge as the center of political and social change in the world, and people should know something about it. The series touched on every nation around the Pacific rim and told of their importance in the years to come when the war ended. It was narrated by Gayne Williams and featured such authorities on Pacific affairs as Henry Luce and Pearl S. Buck. Owen Lattimore (July 29, 1900 – May 31, 1989) was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of Central Asia, especially Mongolia. In the 1930s, he was editor of Pacific Affairs, a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and then taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1938 to 1963. During World War II, he was an advisor to Chiang Kai-shek and the American government and contributed extensively to the public debate."
Below: The cover page from: S4-E14 - PACIFIC STORY–Formosa: Prize of the China Sea (NBC Radio, 1944). Released by Formosa Files on June 20, 2024.
Do us a favor and rate/review the show! It really helps. Do it on Apple Podcasts or here on our website.
Write us with questions or ideas at formosafiles@gmail.com
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.
