Author: Eryk Michael Smith
Eryk Michael Smith
Eryk Michael Smith is a journalist with over a decade of experience working for local and international outlets. He is also the co-host of The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files, and co-founder of Plum Rain Press. The Kaohsiung Times is Smith's latest project, and aims to provide more southern Taiwan-centric news in English.
Among emerging CDR technologies, biochar has unexpectedly become a headline topic. And for good reason: it offers a rare combination of scientific credibility, scalability, and economic viability.
By Eryk Michael Smith /Staff Yahoo News image shows DPP lawmakers at Taipei press conference. TAIPEI — Ruling party heavyweights from southern Taiwan closed ranks in Taipei on Wednesday, accusing the opposition of ramming through fiscal changes that “feed the north and starve the south,” and demanding the legislature reopen the books. At a press conference led by legislator Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆), 11 Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers from Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Pingtung said the latest blue–white (KMT–TPP) revision of the Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Allocation Act would hand Taipei City more than NT$40 billion, while leaving Kaohsiung more than NT$20…
By Eryk Michael Smith Dr. Chen Yao-chang (陳耀昌), one of Taiwan’s foremost hematology–oncology specialists and a pioneer of bone marrow transplantation, died Monday at National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 76. A longtime professor and later honorary professor at NTU College of Medicine, Dr. Chen helped establish modern hematology and stem-cell medicine in Taiwan. He served as the founding director of the National Health Research Institutes’ Stem Cell Center and played a key role in promoting the nation’s cell therapy and regenerative medicine framework. Beyond medicine, Dr. Chen was also a novelist whose historical works, such as Puppet Flower and Lion’s Head Flower, brought…
By Eryk Michael Smith Images via Kaoshiung City Government KAOHSIUNG — The Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) has launched a criminal investigation after large piles of household waste were discovered dumped along Bidi Lane (埤底巷) between Jinshan and Zhongliao in Yanchao District’s Moon World (月世界) area. According to a city press release, a citizen complaint led inspectors to find extensive amounts of garbage scattered across the hillside. A bag check revealed much of the waste originated from Tainan and other areas, raising suspicions of repeated dumping by an outside operator. The EPB dispatched 13 vehicles and crews from seven district teams…
The Liberty Times reports that according to Ministry of the Interior transaction data, Ciaotou’s average housing prices climbed nearly 70% over the past 2 years. No other district in Kaohsiung recorded comparable growth.
Calls to reopen Hengchun Airport (恆春機場) are now coming not only from local lawmakers, but also local youth civic groups.
By Eryk Michael Smith / Staff Fengshan (Fongshan 鳳山) is Kaohsiung’s most populous district (approx. 360,000 residents, with an estimated population density of about 13,320 people per square kilometer). However, Fengshan has historically seen fewer major development projects than northern Kaohsiung or the Asia New Bay Area. That balance, reports UDN, is beginning to shift. Several transportation and commercial projects now underway could reshape mobility, commerce, and neighborhood identity in the district. The new Caojin Road (曹謹路) south of Fengshan Station opened at the end of October, addressing long-standing congestion issues around drop-off and taxi circulation. The project adds designated…
This episode is different from the significantly edited on available on the official Formosa Files podcast, where we try to adhere to the mostly non-political stances. This video, however, has no restrictions and is the full one-hour, almost unedited version of Eryk Michael Smith’s chat with Ben Sando.
The Hequn (合群) and Jianye (建業) villages are areas long recognized as the largest surviving cluster of naval dependents’ housing in Taiwan. Much of the district dates back to the late 1940s and 1950s, when thousands of military families settled in Zuoying following the KMT’s relocation to Taiwan.
Taro News reported that “after the Ministry of Transportation reviewed and approved the revised plan, the Kaohsiung City Government now says the full line will open in 2034. The partial opening of sections Y1 to Y5 and Y5 to Y18 (from the depot area to the Weiwuying district) could occur in 2032.”
