On April 3, 2024 at 7:58am (in Taiwan) an earthquake that’s been reported as measuring 7.2 and 7.4 hit Hualien which is located on Taiwan’s east coast. The last major earthquake of similar magnitude was 25 years ago on September 21st, 1999 in Nantou, which is located in central Taiwan. The earthquake also referred to as the 921 earthquake killed over 2,400 people, and left over 100,000 people homeless. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/th-schee-survivor-of-taiwans-most-powerful-earthquakes-gives-a-lesson-on-preparing-for-natural-disasters-ep-281/ In this episode I’m bringing back one of ..read more

Earlier this year when we were in Taiwan, we traveled down to Kaohsiung where we met with Wan-jen Lin the architect who worked on Weiwuying (衛武營國家藝術文化中心), Kaohsiung’s performing arts center and the Echo Across the Harbor, which up to now is the largest public art project in Taiwan. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/wan-jen-lin-architect-for-echo-across-the-harbor-largest-public-art-project-in-taiwan-ep-280/ She shared how the design of the Echo Across the Harbor was inspired by the history of Kaohsiung harbor. We will have Wan-jen back on for a more in-depth interview at a future date ..read more

Last September we had the pleasure of interviewing actor, writer and director Michelle Krusiec. Her IMDB page displays an impressive list of acting roles dating back to 1992. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/michelle-krusiec-acclaimed-actor-writer-and-director-talks-about-dealing-with-institutional-racism-and-her-sources-of-inspiration-ep-279/ We talked about the different phases of her career starting with her one-woman show, Made in Taiwan, which earned her much critical acclaim. She wrote, directed and acted in it in her 20s. Then there was her first main character role in a feature ..read more

Ten years ago, on the night of March 18, 2014 students and activists broke into Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan in an effort to block the passage of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, a trade agreement between Taiwan and China. The day before, on March 17, the Kuomintang (KMT) had attempted to force through passage of the trade agreement in the Legislative Yuan, without giving it a clause-by-clause review. The occupation of the Legislative Yuan lasted over 20 days, until April 10 th and Fire EX.’s song Island’s Sunrise became the anthem of the movement, which came to known as the Sunflower Mo ..read more

Remembering 228. On this day, we remember February 28, 1947, a sad tragic date in Taiwan’s history that marks the murder of tens of thousands. Some estimates put the number as high as 28 30 thousand. Two years earlier, in 1945, the Chinese Nationalists or Kuomintang had fled from China to Taiwan. After Japan’s occupation of Taiwan had ended and since the arrival of the KMT, discontent had been brewing for some time. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/remembering-228-tragic-stories-and-the-march-massacres-ep-277/ So on the night of February 27, 1947 when Tobacco Monopoly Bureau agents tri ..read more

On January 25th we held the second in-person event during the Talking Taiwan Election Tour at the PicCollage office in Taipei thanks to John Fan, who was a guest on episode 179 of Taking Taiwan. Many of our past guests, friends and supporters were in attendance at the event, and what made the event extra special for us of course was the chance to meet some of our past guests in-person for the very first time.   In this episode you’ll hear me speaking with our previous podcast guests and a few people from the audience also came up and spoke with me at our impromptu on-stage podcasting boot ..read more

While in Taipei, we were able to meet up with Keelung City Councilor Jiho Chang who’s been a guest in episodes 149, 156 & 174. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/jiho-chang-his-thoughts-about-new-speaker-legislative-yuan-and-taians-vice-president-elect-ep-275 We spoke about the recent announcement that Daniel Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang had become the speaker of the Legislative Yuan and Bi-khim Hsiao’s role as vice president of Taiwan.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/jiho-chang-his-thoughts-about-new-speaker-legislative-yuan-and-taians-vice-president-elect-ep-275 ..read more

As part of Talking Taiwan’s Election Tour, we spoke with Courtney Donovan Smith a week after Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections. Lai Ching-te of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president with 40.05% of the vote. Hou Yu-ih the Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate got 33.49% of the vote and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) got 26.46%. It was the first time in Taiwan’s history that any political party has been elected for three consecutive four-year terms in office. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/our-post-presidential-election-analysis-2024-w ..read more

As part of Talking Taiwan’s Election Tour, we spoke with Courtney Donovan Smith a week after Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections. Lai Ching-te of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was elected president with 40.05% of the vote. Hou Yu-ih the Kuomintang’s (KMT) presidential candidate got 33.49% of the vote and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) got 26.46%. It was the first time in Taiwan’s history that any political party has been elected for three consecutive four-year terms in office. The DPP won an unprecedented third presidential term but lost its majority in the legis ..read more

During the Talking Taiwan Election Tour we planned to host 2 in-person events for our guests, supporters and friends. The first event was held on January 19th at 4SC CrossFit’s Xindian branch in New Taipei, thanks to TH Schee who’s been a guest on Talking Taiwan several times. In fact episode 234 with TH one the Top 5 episodes of 2023. Related Links:  https://talkingtaiwan.com/live-conversations-with-our-past-guests-at-4sc-crossfit-in-new-taipei-city-taiwan-ep-273/ We had a chance to meet some of our past guests in-person for the first time in person. We started off talking to JD Chang fr ..read more