Coronavirus Archives - Talking Taiwan Podcast

Talking Taiwan’s 2025 Inaugural Fundraising Gala! Ep 332

Felicia Lin — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 02:39:55 +0000

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Talking Taiwan’s inaugural fundraising gala was on April 30^th here in New York City at the elegant Eichholtz showroom in Chelsea. The gala was a celebration of Taiwanese American cuisine, culture and community.

We had Peter Lin’s AAPI Jazz Collective perform, and food catered by 886 Restaurant, DAE tea and Taiwan Beer. It was a memorable, magical night and if you’re wondering what you missed out on it, don’t worry, later on in the episode I’ll be sharing how you can watch the replay that we made of the event. We’ll also share the Humanitix link where you can make a donation to watch the replay of the Talking Taiwan Gala.

At the gala I interviewed comedian Esther Chen, Thomas Duh of DAE Tea, artist Kaarina Chu MacKenzie, and Jonny Lee, President of TAP-NY (Taiwanese American Professionals- NY chapter). And that’s what we’ll be sharing in this episode.

Dr. Chen Chien-jen 陳建仁 Former VP of Taiwan Reflects Upon his Life in Politics and as a Public Servant Ep 327

Felicia Lin — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 01:00:13 +0000

In July of 2024, we brought talking Taiwan to the 53rd annual Taiwanese American Conference, east Coast at Westchester University, where I had the pleasure and honor of interviewing Taiwan’s, former vice President, Dr. Chen Chen (陳建仁). We talked about how Dr. Chen was trained to be an epidemiologist and was initially reluctant to go into politics, but then fate intervened and changed his mind when SARS hit Taiwan in 2003, and his experience handling the SARS outbreak as Taiwan’s Minister of Health played an important role preparing him to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic as Taiwan’s Vice President.

I asked Dr. Chen why it’s important for Taiwan to be a member of the WHO World Health Organization and about the challenges he’s faced as the Vice President and Premier of Taiwan. how he overcame them and why he decided not to run as Vice President with Tsai Ing-wen for a second term.

And finally, for some context, at the time of the interview, the Bluebird movement had emerged in Taiwan a month and a half earlier. I touched upon this with Dr. Chen briefly at the end of the interview.

At the time, more than a hundred thousand people in total had taken to the streets of Taiwan in a series of massive protests. It was a very public objection to controversial bills passed by Taiwan’s opposition controlled Legislative Yuan. After interviewing Dr. Chen, I was left thinking if only the world had more politicians like him with a public service mindset, the world would be a better place.

This episode is sponsored in part by the Taiwanese American Council of Greater New York.

Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back! Ep 319

Felicia Lin — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:00:12 +0000

Summer is upon us and I’m sure that a lot of our listeners especially those in New York will be happy to know that Taiwanese Waves will be returning to Central Park’s Summer Stage on August 3 at the Rumsey Playfield. Doors open at 5:00pm

Since 2016 Taiwanese Waves has introduced Taiwanese music to audiences at Central Park’s Summer Stage. If you’re not familiar with Taiwanese Waves you’re in for a treat. In this episode I sat down with Mia, the main organizer of Taiwanese Waves and we are about to walk through and give you a taste of all of the acts that have performed at Summer Stage in the past nine years. You’ll also get to hear a preview of what to expect at this year’s concert.

A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner Ep 314

Felicia Lin — Sat, 21 Jun 2025 13:56:38 +0000

We recently sat down with Wen-Jen Deng one of the artists in residence at the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s House 17 on Governors Island and Ming Turner, curator of Wen-Jen’s art exhibit :The Embedded Stitch- Contemporary Fiber Art, which is currently showing at Tenri Cultural Institute until June 28th

According to Deng’s curator Ming Turner, “Deng is a core member of the influential Taiwanese artist collective, Hantoo Art Group. Her early works were primarily oil paintings which incorporated embroidery and collage using traditional Taiwanese floral fabrics. Deng often draws inspiration from Taiwanese food culture— her earlier pieces explored the island’s distinctive betel nut culture, while more recent works have focused on everyday culinary traditions and the cultural heritage of the Sirayu Pingpu people.”

Special thanks to Ming Turner for translation assistance during this interview.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Wen-Jen’s upbringing in Taiwan and how she knew she wanted to be an artist
What Wen-Jen thinks an artist’s role in the world is
Why Wen-Jen studied art in France and how she was inspired by Marc Chagall
How Wen-Jen started off doing oil painting as an artist
How Wen-Jen switched from using oil paint as her medium to fiber and textiles
How Wen-Jen worked in a textile shop making Chinese dresses while she was a student in France
Why her early source of inspiration was food
Her series of work that focused on lotus shoes and pig’s hooves (pigs feet), betel nuts, and other everyday Taiwanese cuisine
How Wen-Jen discovered her mother’s was from the Siraya tribe during her 2017 residency at Soulangh Cultural Park in Tainan, and that inspired her to move her focus from food to indigenous culture
How Wen-Jen learned indigenous weaving techniques
How Wen-Jen’s mother was a seamstress but Wen-jen did not pick out any of those skills from her mother
How Wen-Jen taught herself to embroider when she was working in the textile shop in France
How all of the embroidery and sewing on Wen-Jen’s works are done by hand
How in the process of weaving and embroidering Wen-Jen gets in a focused state of meditation
The field work that Wen-Jen does related to her artwork
Ming shared some of her thoughts on the significance of Wen-Jen’s artwork
Wen-Jen’s artwork “Oyster Noodles” which will be on display at the TAAC Governors Island House 17
How Taiwan’s transition from authoritarianism to democracy has impacted artists in Taiwan
How artists in Taiwan get funded
How Wen-Jen’s sculptural piece which is shaped like the island of Taiwan and shows its topography will be displayed at the TAAC House 17 on June 21

Understanding the History of Taiwan through Dr. Jerome Keating (Classic) Ep 311

Felicia Lin — Sun, 18 May 2025 12:10:43 +0000

Few contemporaries are more qualified than Dr. Jerome Keating on understanding the history of Taiwan. He has been living in Taiwan for over 30 years. Initially he came over to Taiwan to work on the MRT.

May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and since 1999, Congressman David Wu (OR) and the co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus have supported the celebration of Taiwanese American Heritage Week starting from Mother’s Day Weekend, so we thought this would be a good time to reshare one of our most popular episodes, an interview we did with Dr. Jerome Keating in 2020 about the history of Taiwan.

Dr. Jerome Keating has written several books about Taiwan. We invited him on to the podcast to talk about this latest book, Taiwan The Struggle Gains Focus. Dr. Keating also reflected on how Taiwan has changed in the past 30 years, and we discussed things past and present including Taiwan’s complicated international status, amendment of the constitution, changing the official name of Taiwan (which is the Republic of China) and redesigning the passport and flag of Taiwan.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

What motivated Dr. Keating to write his latest book, Taiwan The Struggle Gains Focus
Who the book was intended for and who Dr. Keating writes for
How Taiwan has changed in the last 30 years
The semi-martial-like atmosphere of Taiwan when Dr. Keating arrived in 1988
Keating’s first book Island in the Stream and what motivated him to write it
What intrigues Dr. Keating about Taiwan as a subject matter
How the San Francisco Peace Treaty (signed in 1951) left Taiwan in a limbo status
How the US position on Taiwan 75 years after World War II is still undecided
The circumstances surrounding “Taiwan” aka the Republic of China losing its seat in the United Nations in 1971, which included a proposal to have 2 Chinas in the United Nations
The Republic of China and People’s Republic of China’s claims on China
How Taiwan has never had a seat in the United Nations
The Republic of China framework and constitution that Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang brought to Taiwan
Keating’s thoughts on amending Taiwan’s constitution
Changing the official name and flag that represent Taiwan
Submissions for the new Taiwan passport cover design
The Taiwan Civil Government wanting to make Taiwan the 51st state of the United States
How Dr. Keating sees Taiwan’s future

The Boba Guys: Andrew Chau and Bin Chen Bubble Tea Entrepreneurs Bridging Cultures for 11 Years Ep 288

Felicia Lin — Mon, 08 Jul 2024 12:05:39 +0000

Early last year I spoke with Boba Guys co-founders Andrew Chau and Bin Chen. At the time Andrew had just gotten back from visiting Taiwan and other parts of Asia, so it was interesting to hear his observations. Andrew and Bin shared so many great nuggets.

We talked about how they got started with a pop-up shop while working fulltime and how they continued to so even after they opened their first few stores Other topics covered include how Boba Guys weathered the pandemic, Andrew and Bin’s book called The Boba Book, and how they see boba as a way to bridge cultures.

What has Boba Guys been up to since we spoke? Lots of interesting collabs with other brands, and the release of a loyalty program called “Passport” which gamifies the experience through loot boxes instead of linearly earning points to redeem for a drink.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How Andrew and Bin first met when they both worked at Timbuktu
How they decided to start a bubble tea business
Andrew’s recent trip to Taiwan and the other Taiwanese Americans he met up with while there
Andrew’s thoughts on Taiwan’s bubble tea scene
How they started with a pop-up shop
How they have not taken any VC (venture capital) money
The social costs and risks of being an entrepreneur
How other Taiwanese American entrepreneurs like Steve Chen and Kevin Lin mentored them
How Andrew does advising for the small business council and testified in Washington D.C. on behalf of small businesses
How they were working on Boba Guys Japan when the pandemic hit
How Boba Guys dealt with the pandemic
The biggest challenges they’ve experienced
The third wave of boba
The meaning of the word boba and how Andrew’s mom reacted to the name Boba Guys
How Boba Guys name their drinks
Their book, The Boba Book and how they choose their co-author Richard Parks
What happened when they went to Taiwan and tried to determine which tea shop invented bubble tea
The Boba Guys’ merchandise and aardvark mascot
The Boba Home Kit and how they created a boba kit that was on Williams Sonoma
How they teach people how to make boba online
How they have mentored other entrepreneurs

Isa Ho: Talks About her Career as a Photographer and her Westbeth Exhibit in NYC Ep 282

Felicia Lin — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:46:03 +0000

Isa Ho is a photographer based in Taiwan. Last year I spoke with her about her photography and the Westbeth Exhibit in NYC, which consists of a series of photos and videos of artists who live at Westbeth Artists Housing, which is located in New York City’s West Village.

Westbeth is so named because it sits at the corner of West and Bethune Streets, and was conceived in the 1960’s as a partial solution to the acute need to provide affordable housing and studios for artists and their families.

The abandoned 13-building complex that was constructed between the 1860s and the 1930s, was formerly used by Bell Telephone Labs, and was turned into affordable permanent housing and workspace for hundreds of artists, as well as space for arts and cultural organizations. Westbeth was the first subsidized housing for artists in the United States. In 2009 it was added to the National Registrar of Historic Places. And in 2011 the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously designated Westbeth Artists Housing a New York City landmark.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Isa’s exhibit at the Westbeth gallery that features her photos and videos of artists who reside at Westbeth
How Isa is working on a documentary about the residents of Westbeth
How Isa arrived for a residency at Westbeth in 2013 after Hurricane Sandy
The residency project that brought Isa to Westbeth was initially about multicultural New York but as she got to know many of the people who lived at Westbeth, it became the Westbeth project
Isa’s connection to Taiwan
How Isa is fascinated by people
Isa has interviewed over 50 people and what was on display at the Westbeth gallery is only a third of her work
The personal stories of several of the artist who live at Westbeth
How the photos and videos were displayed at the Westbeth gallery
How the Westbeth project has been exhibited in Israel, Italy, Germany and Taiwan
How people have reacted to the Westbeth project
How one of the pieces of the Westbeth project won an award in Italy
How Isa got interested in photography
How Isa creates a collage of photos that serve to tell a person’s story
How Isa does her photography full-time
Isa’s advice to those interested in pursuing photography
Isa’s video comparing the movements of Kunqu opera dancer and K-POP dancer
Why Isa is planning to go to Ukraine
How Isa felt useless as an artist during the pandemic but realized that when facing tragedy or if feeling like there is nothing that we can do, art can connect us with humanity
How there aren’t many housing communities like Westbeth in the world
The wait list of people who want to live at Westbeth
How one of the Westbeth residents George Cominskie has advocated for artists

Our Post Presidential Election Analysis 2024 with Courtney Donovan Smith Ep 274

Felicia Lin — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 15:45:38 +0000

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 legislature. We talked about how ballot counting in Taiwan is highly transparent and also about how the Taiwan People’s Party could have a crucial role in the legislature, and if the TPP will suffer the same fate as Taiwan’s other third parties

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Reflections on the 2024 election compared to past elections
How the election of Lai Ching-te has earned the DPP an unprecedented third term in office
How Terry Guo had expressed interest in running for president
The opposition unity ticket deal that fell through
Taiwan’s first direct presidential election in 1996
How ballots are counted in Taiwan
How voting is done in Taiwan
Donovan’s thoughts on if the Taiwan People’s Party will survive as a third party
Taiwan’s third political parties and what has happened to them
The 2000 election in which Lien Chan was the KMT presidential candidate and James Soong ran as an independent presidential candidate
The origin of the terms “Pan Green” and “Pan Blue
The possibility that Hou You-yi could be recalled as mayor of New Taipei City
Comparing the recall of Hou You-yi with the recall of Han Kuo-yu
What the election results tell us about how people feel about the Democratic Progressive Party
How Ko Wen-je has managed to attract many young voters
How voting results may have differed if the presidential election were not a three-way race
What could happen with the Legislative Yuan speaker and deputy speaker positions

Live Conversations with Our Past Guests at 4SC Crossfit in New Taipei City, Taiwan Ep 273

Felicia Lin — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 23:55:15 +0000

During the Talking Taiwan Election Tour we planned to host two 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 T.H. Schee who’s been a guest on Talking Taiwan several times. In fact episode 234 with T.H. is one of the Top 5 episodes of 2023. On January 19^th 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 from episode 80 about Crushing the Myth.

Next up was John Eastwood who talked about legal reforms needed in Taiwan in episode 203. We talked about the election results in Taiwan’s legislature that had the KMT with 52 seats, the DPP with 51 seats and the TPP with 8 seats and 2 seats going to Independents

We next spoke with Jerome Keating who talked about understanding the history of Taiwan in episode 97. Jerome explained why he wrote in his recent Taipei Times article that he doesn’t expect the TPP, the Taiwan People’s Party to survive to the next presidential election in 2028.

And finally at the end of the night Kaju and I talked to TH Schee who’s been on Talking Taiwan several times, and who’s one of the investors of 4SC Crossfit where we held our January 19th event.

Background of Taiwan Presidential Candidates 2024: Political Analyst Courtney Donovan Smith’s Rundown for Upcoming Election Ep 271

Felicia Lin — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 03:18:53 +0000

This episode is about the background of Taiwan Presidential Candidates in 2024 for the upcoming election.

Talking Taiwan is taking the show on the road back to Taiwan on the Talking Taiwan Election Tour and we traveled down to Taichung on January 7^th to meet up in person with political commentator Courtney Donovan Smith, to do some pre-election coverage. We talked about the backgrounds of the three presidential candidates Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) nominee, Lai Ching-te (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the Kuomintang (KMT) nomineeand their running mates, the opposition unity ticket between the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party that fell apart.

At one time it looked like Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election could have been a four-way race but Terry Gou, the founder of Foxconn who withdrew from the presidential race. To learn more about the candidates and their policies be sure to check out episode 270 with Courtney about the presidential debate. After the election results are in, we will bring Courtney back to share his post-election results analysis with us.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

The background of TPP presidential candidate Ko Wen-je
How Taiwan has a lot of politicians with medical backgrounds
The background of DPP presidential candidate Lai-Ching-te
The DPP campaign video” On the way” featuring Tsai Ing-wen, Lai Ching-te and Bi-khim Hsiao
The background of KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi
Hou You-yi’s background as a police officer
The background of Jaw Shau-kong the KMT vice presidential candidate
The background of Bi-Khim Hsiao the DPP vice presidential candidate
The background of Cynthia Wu the TPP vice presidential candidate
Some of the controversies and allegations involving the presidential candidates
What happened to Terry Gou founder of Foxconn who withdrew from Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election

Coronavirus Archives - Talking Taiwan Podcast

Talking Taiwan’s 2025 Inaugural Fundraising Gala! Ep 332

Related Links:

Dr. Chen Chien-jen 陳建仁 Former VP of Taiwan Reflects Upon his Life in Politics and as a Public Servant Ep 327

Related Links:

Taiwanese Waves 2025 is Back! Ep 319

Related Links:

A Conversation With Wen-Jen Deng Taiwanese Fiber Artist and Curator Ming Turner Ep 314

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Understanding the History of Taiwan through Dr. Jerome Keating (Classic) Ep 311

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

The Boba Guys: Andrew Chau and Bin Chen Bubble Tea Entrepreneurs Bridging Cultures for 11 Years Ep 288

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Isa Ho: Talks About her Career as a Photographer and her Westbeth Exhibit in NYC Ep 282

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Our Post Presidential Election Analysis 2024 with Courtney Donovan Smith Ep 274

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links:

Live Conversations with Our Past Guests at 4SC Crossfit in New Taipei City, Taiwan Ep 273

Related Links:

Background of Taiwan Presidential Candidates 2024: Political Analyst Courtney Donovan Smith’s Rundown for Upcoming Election Ep 271

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

Related Links: