Talking Taiwan

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   I recently interviewed Christina Hu, the Director of the Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign about the Pew Research report on Asian communities which misrepresented the Taiwanese. For months Christina and the Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign team worked with Pew Research to get an official response issued. After several months of communications, Pew...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Jane W. Wang is a self-actualization coach based in Taipei, Taiwan. She spoke candidly with me about the challenges she faced in her journey to become a coach, which involved dealing with imposter syndrome and bouts of depression. She's channeled these personal experiences into creating her Multicultural Hero's Journey program. We also talked about th...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Keelung City Councilor, Jiho Chang. Jiho spoke with me about his work as a city councilman, and how his interest and involvement in Taiwan's politics dates back to his time as a university student, and the 1995-1996 Taiwan Strait missile crisis that happened after KMT presidential candidate Lee Teng-hui visi...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   In April of this year, reports published by the Pew Research Center analyzing Asian American communities included footnotes stating that data for "  'Chinese' includes those identifying as 'Taiwanese.' " Soon after, in May, the Write in Taiwanese Census Campaign published an open letter and petition on TaiwaneseAmerican.org asking Pew Research to issu...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: Happy Labor Day! We've decided to take a break ourselves, so we are sharing one of our past episodes that I think really stands the test of time. In 2013 I interviewed entrepreneur Yao Huang. That year, she was involved with the Entrepreneur Challenge and Competition, which was organized by the Taiwanese American Professionals, New York Chapter and the...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Tiffany Yu is a disability activist, CEO and founder of Diversability, and host of Tiffany & Yu, a social impact podcast. She's also on the  San Francisco Mayor's Disability Council , a three-time TED Talk speaker and has a list of many more impressive accomplishments that appear on her Wikipedia page.   She spoke with tremendous vulnerability about h...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   This week I'm welcoming back Dr. Dafydd Fell to talk about the SOAS Center of Taiwan Studies at the University of London. They just had their summer school program in July, which is free and open to the public. It's a tremendous resource for people interested in learning more about Taiwan. The program included speakers on the topics of Taiwan's anti-n...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Dr. Dafydd Fell is the author of  Taiwan's Green Parties Alternative Politics in Taiwan . He spoke with me about his book, which he started working on in 2012. Topics covered in this episode include the Green Party concept, and the impact that Taiwan's Green Parties have had on Taiwan's other political parties and social movements. Dr. Fell's not only...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: In May of 2020 I interviewed Valerie Soe and Kristina Wong about the Auntie Sewing Squad, a sewing circle that was formed on March 24th during the global Coronavirus pandemic. Initially the group sewed masks for frontline medical and essential workers, and then for vulnerable marginalized communities. From the outset, Kristina described the Auntie Sewin...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   This is part two of my interview with Sergeant Steven Lee, a 16-year veteran of the NYPD, and whistleblower fighting to reform police corruption. Previously, in part one, we talked about Sergeant Lee's undercover work and the police corruption that he's witnessed. If you haven't had a chance to hear part one, you might want to go back and listen to it...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:   Sergeant Steven Lee is a 16-year veteran of the NYPD. He's a whistleblower fighting to reform police corruption and he shared his story with me. This is part one of my interview with Steve.  In part two, next week, you'll hear what happened to him after his undercover work and the related court case, how he's dealt with the pressure, his thoughts on h...

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...