Their lineage is ancient. They are loyal, smart, and great hunting companions. But Taiwan’s native dog almost went extinct, and today it’s hard to say how many “pure breeds” are left, if any. These medium-sized dogs, with pointy ears and a love for running, were not long ago the underdogs. But they’ve made a remarkable comeback and are finally getting their day -- a story worth sinking your teeth into. Enjoy Formosa Files’ very first “snack episode.” Next week… Season Six begins.

Looking back over S5, the adjective "fascinating" is repeatedly used by both John and Eryk, who struggle for words a bit to describe their gratitude to listeners, our sponsor, and for the honor of having a platform to tell stories and hear stories from some amazing guests. Formosa Files Season Six starts next week, but after this conversation, check out the first FF "snack" -- short, single-topic, not-exactly-deep-dive but still rewarding bits of podcast brain food.

American George H. Kerr was the most important Western eyewitness and chronicler of the February 28 Incident of 1947, the violent uprising and brutal crackdown that shaped Taiwan’s modern politics and identity.

Kerr first lived in Taiwan in the late 1930s, when the island was a colony of Japan. During the war, he worked for the U.S. Navy as a Taiwan expert, and then from 1945 to 1947 served as the U.S. vice consul in Taipei. His account of Chinese Nationalist (KMT) misrule, Formosa Betrayed (1965), is arguably the most influential English-language book ever written about Taiwan.

John chats with Kerr scholar Jonathan Benda about the book and the man behind it. Why did it take Kerr so long to publish his account? What does the “betrayed” in the title refer to? How did the book inspire Taiwanese democracy and independence activists? Drawing on new evidence, Benda explains it all and gives us a full picture of this complex man.

John talks to Lee Moore about his 2025 book China’s Backstory: The History Beijing Doesn’t Want You to Read, which focuses on four important China-related stories that often make headlines: Taiwan, Xinjiang, the Chinese economy, and Hong Kong.

In this conversation, Lee and John focus on Taiwan before 1800. Who were the earliest Chinese arrivals in Taiwan? Which ruler’s fondness for older women would impact the island’s future? And were there Indigenous cowboys (as in horses and lassos)?

Lee takes an unusual "pop-scholarship" approach to history in this book. For example, he uses colloquial translations of Chinese texts and names (meet Mr. Success Zheng), and employs...um..."colorful language."

His controversial style will likely generate a mix of head-shaking and nodding approval, but almost everyone will learn something new from this episode and enjoy a few laughs.

新年快樂 (Xīnnián kuàilè) from Formosa Files! As we head into the Year of the Horse, we have something different: pirates in the Taiwan Strait, both factual and fictional. We look at a Japanese woman who became a notorious pirate leader in the 1930s. And we follow the Shadow, a mysterious crime-fighter whose 1945 novel The Taiwan Joss centers around a jewel-studded statue of Koxinga (the Ming loyalist who defeated the Dutch in Tainan in the 1660s).

Speaking of fiction, Plum Rain Press – our publishing side-venture – released three new titles last year: China Running Dog, The Cuttlefish, and The Wondrous Elixir of the Two Chinese Lovers. Readers thirsting for a historical novel set in Taiwan should get our debut release, A Tale of Three Tribes in Dutch Formosa.

Other Formosa Files spin-offs which might be of interest are: the Chinese-language version of Formosa Files which American Eryk does with Taiwanese Eric. John is involved with two other podcasts: Bookish Asia with Plum Rain Press, and more recently the Books on Asia podcast. And Eryk has launched an English-language newspaper for southern Taiwan.

Warm wishes from the Formosa Files team,

Eric, Eryk, and John

In the final episode, the pace picks up as we follow Austrian traveler Adolf Fischer on his 1898 journey through Japanese-ruled Taiwan. He heads into the dangerous hill country of central Taiwan and later gives us some memorably morose lines about gray, cholera-scarred Penghu.

Fischer treks from Takao (Kaohsiung) across the southern mountains to the East Coast. Along the way, he has encounters with the Paiwan indigenous people involving fermented maize liquor and canned meat diplomacy, and yodeling. Eryk and John enjoy his often spicy opinions, sometimes agreeing (his observations on Buddhist missionaries) and at other times shaking their heads (he was so very wrong about Kaohsiung).

We wrap up by looking at Fischer’s ultimate verdict on Japan’s colonial experiment, and what happened to him and to his remarkable museum legacy in Germany.

In Part 2, we continue in the footsteps of the cultured Austrian traveler Adolf Fischer on his 1898 journey in Japanese-ruled Taiwan. From the commercial enclave of Tōa-tiū-tiâⁿ (Dadaocheng), we cruise downriver to Tamsui (Danshui), meet the famed missionary George Mackay, hear warnings about rebels in the nearby hills, and solve a crocodile mystery.

After overcoming Japanese suspicions that he might be a spy for the German Kaiser, Fischer heads south to Shinchiku (Hsinchu). Drawing on his 1900 book, “Wanderings Through Formosa,” we get sharp, sometimes surprising observations about the early years of Japanese rule.

(The book was specially translated from into English for Formosa Files, and we enjoyed it so much that we had to make it a three-parter).

The first in a special three-part series, this is a Taiwan travel account never before told in English. Formosa Files has had Streifzüge durch Formosa (1900) translated into English.

This travelogue, Wanderings Through Formosa, describes a journey through Japanese-ruled Taiwan in the spring of 1898 by Adolf Fischer, a cultured, sharp-tongued Austrian traveler.

It offers a vivid outsider’s view of the island less than three years after Japan took control. What he found here was quite different from the standard glossy images we usually associate with the Japanese colonial period.

And we throw in a bonus mystery (plus solution) about the vanishing German consulate in Dadaocheng.