Talking Taiwan

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...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   This week's guest is Jason Wang who we've had on Talking Taiwan previously. In Episode 102 Jason spoke with me about how his advisory firm Cypress Rivers started producing PPE to support health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, through an effort called Face Shields for the First Line. At the time he mentioned that Face Shields for the First L...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Charles Yu is a Taiwanese American writer, author of the novel  Interior Chinatown , and winner of the 2020 National Book Award for fiction. He spoke candidly with me about how he and his family are dealing with the pandemic, his writing process, what it was like appearing on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and how he transitioned from a career as a l...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   This is part two of my interview with Tony Coolidge. Tony is the Founder of the Atayal organization, which is named after his mother's indigenous tribe. In this interview Tony talks about his work with Indigenous Bridges through his nonprofit, the Atayal organization, and shares his perspectives on some of indigenous people he's interacted with from a...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Did you know that there are 16 indigenous tribes officially recognized in Taiwan and up to 29 self-identified tribes?  Also, Taiwan's current President Tsai Ing-wen's paternal grandmother was from the Paiwan tribe.    My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Tony Coolidge. Tony is the Founder of the Atayal organization, which is named after his m...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   When I first interviewed Elena in 2013, she had just won the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition. She was launching her Taiwanese tea business Té online.  Since then, I've wondered how she was doing and a couple of years later, I learned that Elena had opened a tearoom in the West Village.   I've visited the tearoom and it is a place of pure zen wh...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   The last time I had my guest Supei Liu on was six years ago to talk about her work with Nomi Network. Supei is the VP of Global Initiatives and Co-founder of Nomi Network.  Nomi Network combats human trafficking by creating pathways to safe employment, empowering women and girls to break cycles of slavery in their families and communities.   After spe...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: Since March of this year, we've been publishing new episodes of Talking Taiwan on a weekly basis, so for our last episode of 2020, we thought it would be fun to look back and see which were the top five episodes of the year. It comes as no surprise that 2 of the episodes are related to the Coronavirus pandemic. Through it all, it's been amazing to see o...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Constance Parng, an actress, writer and healer who's earned the title of Super Auntie to Native Nations of the Auntie Sewing Squad. Constance spoke with me about her work to support the highly vulnerable Native American communities and her connection to Taiwan. Through this conversation she reveals that the lack of access to basic things like running...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Kristina Wong and Valerie Soe are back to talk about the Auntie Sewing Squad. When they were last here (on episode 75) the Auntie Sewing Squad was about two months old with over 600 members. A lot has happened with the Auntie Sewing Squad since then. As you listen to the episode, you might be wondering why is there a dog crying in the background as Kr...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   My guests on this episode of Talking Taiwan are Gary Reloj and Bonnie Chan, co-founders of the PPE Relief Initiative (PRI). I had Gary on as a guest previously in episode 79, only a couple of months into the COVID-19 pandemic. He talked about his own personal battle with COVID and the PPE Relief Initiative's crowdfunding campaign. Since then, the PPE...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   On this episode of Talking Taiwan I speak with Jason Chew about being a filmmaker. We talked about how he veered away from his traditional Taiwanese upbringing and parents' expectations that he become a lawyer. As a filmmaker, he's worked with several different clients in both Taiwan (a funeral home and cosmetics company) and the U.S. He shared how on...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   In the spirit of giving, with Thanksgiving approaching and the holiday season soon upon us, I thought I'd share this interview from 2014 with Supei Liu one of the co-founders of Nomi Network. Hear Supei tell the story of how the desire to create more awareness about human trafficking led to the creation of Nomi Network, an organization which gives eco...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   In 2013 I spoke with Andrew Yang who was the CEO of Venture for America at the time. He was at his office and multi-tasking during our interview, so when you listen to the interview, you'll hear some background noise and typing. At the time he talked about being invited to the White House amongst several things.   Who would have predicted that a few y...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Jason Wang, the Founder of Cypress River Advisors spoke with me about how his advisory firm which is normally not in the business of producing PPE, was able to start the production of face shields at scale in four weeks in Taiwan during the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort which is called Face Shields for the First Line, donates face shields to health ca...