Talking Taiwan

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Liz Williams is one of the co-founders of The Afara Collective and Jennifer Ho, heads Afara's film club team. Seeing how the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and others last year sparked Black Lives Matter protests globally, and led to greater dialogue about systemic oppression and anti-racism, Liz and her co-founder Jules Sander...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   When Taiwan went in to soft lockdown in May, a group of diaspora who had moved there decided a Covid 19 Taiwan fundraiser for organizations assisting society's most vulnerable was needed. They created the Taiwan Covid Relief Fundraiser and before they launched it, I spoke with three of the seven organizers- Catherine, Kevin and Jane.   We talked about...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   A few months ago, before Taiwan went on COVID alert level 3, I spoke with Michael Turton, about biking around Taiwan. I remember when there was a push to make Taiwan more bike-friendly and it became popular for people to bike around the island or along the coast. Michael shared why he loves biking around Taiwan and how it is one of the best places to...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Lee Wong, is an elected official and Chairman of the board of trustees in West Chester Township, Ohio. During a meeting of the West Chester Township Board of Trustees on March 23rd he stood up and literally bared his chest to make a point about the discrimination and hate that Asian Americans have experienced. That moment was caught on video and went...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Minnie Sun is one of the co-founders of Taiwan Mixed, a platform that aggregates English content on Taiwan. She was in Taipei when I spoke with her recently about Taiwan Mixed and her perspectives on how Taiwan or the Taiwanese Can Help when it comes to the stigmatization of COVID-19 which has been attributed to the recent rise in anti-Asian sentiment...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan, Lisa Cheng Smith, has channeled her love of Taiwanese food, cooking and premium ingredients into creating Yun Hai Taiwanese Pantry. Yun Hai sources premium ingredients for Taiwanese cooking, directly from artisans, farms, and soy sauce breweries in Taiwan.  In this interview Lisa not only talks about how and...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   There has been a surge in Taiwan's coronavirus cases since about mid-May, and Taiwan is now on COVID alert level 3, one level before full lockdown. I've invited Courtney Donovan Smith on to Talking Taiwan to talk about what led to the increase in COVID cases, the current situation and what's happening with Taiwan's efforts to acquire COVID vaccines. C...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   In celebration of Asian heritage month (which takes place in May), Talking Taiwan participated in United We Stand, the 42nd Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival, and on May 17th, organized a Panel Discussion and Q&A on the topic: What To Do If You Are The Target Of Asian Hate.   The event was recorded and this is Part 2, which features the...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   May is Asian heritage month and Talking Taiwan was one of over 100 organizations and groups that participated in United We Stand, the 42nd Annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Festival, organized by CAPA the Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans. Usually festival is a one-day outdoor event held in New York City, but this year it was run virtually onl...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   My guest on this episode is Eva Lou a writer and publisher and the founder of Madeleine Editions, a multi-lingual children's book publishing company, that offers books in English, French and Mandarin Chinese. Madeleine Editions published Monster Dance , a children's book created to help children deal with and understand the challenges of the COVID-19...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: The wave of Anti-Asian hate crimes over the past year have largely been attributed to blaming the Chinese for the spread of the Coronavirus. However, Asian Americans have experienced hate, social injustice and discrimination since they started immigrating to the U.S. I've invited Richard Chen on to the podcast to talk about the history of discrimination...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   May 15 to June 15th is Tourette Syndrome Awareness Month. Tourette Syndrome is usually diagnosed in childhood or adolescence. According to the Tourette Association of America 1 out of every 160 children between the ages of 5-17 in the United States has Tourette Syndrome and 1 out of every 100 children has Tourette Syndrome or another Tic Disorder.   I...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   In this episode I'm welcoming back Peter Yang Zhao and Steve Lee to continue talking about the topic of Asian hate picking up after part 1, episode 125. Both have been active in the fight to stop Asian hate crimes, and have lots to share on the topic. Peter Yang Zhao, is an anti-Asian hate crime activist, and Tourette's syndrome activist. Sergeant Ste...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Eric Chang, a writer for Taiwan News. On April 18th we spoke about China's April 12th incursion into Taiwan's air defense identification zone, the largest one to date at the time. We also spoke about the longstanding military threat that China poses for Taiwan and the Asia Pacific region, what this means f...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Dr. Jeng Yen is a NASA scientist and the "driver" of the Perseverance Mars rover. I initially interviewed Dr. Yen on April 9th. We spoke about how he was first inspired to join NASA by the first Mars rover Sojourner, what's been discovered about Mars since then, the age of space exploration, the work of Mars rover Perseverance and the Mars helicopter...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   My guests on this episode of Talking Taiwan about the topic of Asian hate are Peter Yang Zhao and Steve Lee. Both have been active in the fight to stop Asian hate crimes, and have lots to share on the topic of Asian hate. Peter Yang Zhao, is an anti-Asian hate crime activist, and Tourette's syndrome activist. A quick glance at his Instagram handle @fa...

A Note From Talking Taiwan Host Felicia Lin:   I just interviewed Dr Yen the driver of Mars Rover Perseverance for Talking Taiwan and he shared some exciting news with me.    My full interview with Dr. Yen will be published Monday April 19th. Talking Taiwan is pleased to be the first podcast to interview the NASA scientist.   Don't miss this important and historic interview!   Related Links:   6 T...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   It's been nearly a year since we started publishing episodes of Talking Taiwan on a weekly basis at the beginning of this pandemic, and I've really enjoyed seeing the listenership grow.   I'd like to acknowledge our listeners here, especially those who have reached out to me directly. One listener who reached out, said that episode 99 with Professor S...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Since the beginning of the pandemic I'd been hearing about more and more cases of Asian hate attacks that seemed to be related to blaming the Chinese for spreading COVID.  It's been a year so you could say that I'm kind of late to the game in addressing it here.   Perhaps it's because there wasn't a single galvanizing event like the murder of George F...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   March 23rd will mark the seventh anniversary of the short-lived occupation of the Executive Yuan by students involved in the Sunflower Movement of 2014. The Sunflower Movement began when students and activists occupied the Legislative Yuan on March 18, 2014 in an effort to block the passage of a trade pact between Taiwan and China. At a press conferen...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Learn about the Taiwan connection (namely a physician, publisher and supermodel) that made  Monster Dance  children's book story come to life.  Monster Dance  was created to help children deal with and understand the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.   Dr. Karen Tsai is a physician based in Los Angeles who has spearheaded the creation of the childr...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Michael Turton is a political commentator, writer and Taipei Times columnist based in Taichung, Taiwan.  I first learned about him through his long running blog, The View From Taiwan when I lived in Taiwan myself and started blogging about living there. I've invited him on to the podcast to talk about China's recent Taiwan pineapple ban. We talked abo...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Dr. Michi Fu is a professor, psychologist, writer, public speaker and experience creator. She spoke with me about how her mother's decision to retire in Taiwan led her to decide to take a one-year sabbatical in Taiwan and to apply for Taiwan citizenship- which proved to be an arduous process but well worth it in the end. It has allowed her to more eas...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   This week we welcome back Anthony Kao, the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Cinema Escapist to Talking Taiwan. I've asked him to recommend films that help familiarize people with Taiwan. He'll be recommending films about Taiwan that best represent certain decades, eras or significant historical events.   Here's a little preview of what we talked about i...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Anthony Kao is Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Cinema Escapist, which is often the first or only publication that covers Taiwanese film or television shows. I've found it has some really great reviews and recommendations of films from and about Taiwan. Cinema Escapist also covers films from all around the world and takes a look at their social and poli...