Browsing: Formosa Files podcast

Listen on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or at formosafiles.com We start with the relatively unknown story of Taiwanese boys condemned to…

Hear stories of Taiwanese migrants in the Yaeyama Islands during the Japanese colonial era. On jungle-clad Iriomote Island, some suffered brutal conditions in coal mines. On nearby Ishigaki, Taiwanese settlers helped transform the island’s agriculture, developing its pineapple industry and also introducing water buffalo, whose descendants can be seen today pulling tourist carts.

Looking for the true story behind the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu Jie)? There’s much more to it than dragon boat races and sticky rice dumplings (zongzi).
Many know the standard origin story of the patriotic poet Qu Yuan, but Formosa Files uncovers the less-tidy roots of the holiday. The Dragon Boat Festival date falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month; once feared as the dangerous “Month of a Hundred Poisons.” Discover how people responded with temple rituals, protective herbs, and even arsenic-laced wine.

As we head into the 2026 World Cup, we take a look at Taiwan’s surprisingly rich football heritage.

In the 1930s, a mysterious document known as the Tanaka Memorial shocked the world. Supposedly written by Japanese Prime Minister Baron Tanaka, it outlined a strategy for conquering Manchuria, China, Southeast Asia, and even the United States.

Ghosts of all kinds – wandering spirits, water ghosts looking for substitutes, mountain demons, and many more; welcome to the strange supernatural world of Taiwan.

Step into the strange Cold War world of The Chairman, a forgotten 1969 spy thriller starring Hollywood great Gregory Peck. The movie, which was partly filmed in Taiwan, is about a scientist sent behind the Bamboo Curtain to steal a miracle agricultural formula.

Available on all major podcast platforms and at formosafiles.com “In 1904, colonial Taiwan tried to impress America with oolong tea…

On March 14th, the Kaohsiung City Government held its annual spring memorial ceremony at the Labor Women Memorial Park (勞動女性紀念公園) in Cijin (旗津), honoring both female workers and the victims of the Kaohsiung No. 6 ferry tragedy (高中六號事件).

This might be a revelation to most; but horse racing was hugely popular across the island during the later Japanese colonial period.