FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S5-E6 – A 22-year-old Russian (spy?) Visits Taiwan in 1875
Pavel Ivanovich Ibis, or Paul Ibis, a 22-year-old Russian naval officer (he was born in today’s Estonia) embarked alone on a dangerous and adventurous journey – on foot – through Taiwan in the winter of 1875. At the time, much of the island was under Qing rule; a prefecture of Fujian Province. So, what was he doing here? He left very detailed accounts of places, people and customs, and Paul Ibis seems to have had a genuine “anthropological” interest in this island. But was he also possibly a spy? Or at least gathering data for his superiors in the then-still powerful Russian Empire under Tsar Alexander II? (And, yeah, that was the Tsar who sold Alaska to the US in 1867.)
Cover shows drawings made by Pavel Ivanovich Ibis, or Paul Ibis, a 22-year-old Russian naval officer, when he travelled through Taiwan in the winter of 1875. Ibis was especially interested in Taiwan's Indigenous People. In the center is an image of the Russian warship Askold. Ibis was an officer on this ship, and when it docked in Hong Kong in early 1875, he took advantage of a six-week break during which he visited Taiwan.
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The Formosa Files podcast is sponsored by the FRANK CHEN FOUNDATION (陳啟川先生文教基金會)
Website: https://www.frank-chen.org.tw/
This top-rated history podcast tells stories from the history of Formosa (Taiwan) from circa 1600 C.E. - 2000 C.E., via interesting, lesser-known short stories presented in a non-chronological order.
HOSTS: John Ross is an author and co-founder of publisher Camphor Press, which specializes in books on Taiwan and China in English, while Eryk Michael Smith has worked as a writer and journalist for multiple media outlets in Taiwan, including the island's only English-language radio station ICRT (FM 100.7). Both Ross and Smith have lived in Taiwan for well over 20 years and call the island home.
