Talking Taiwan

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

In 2017 I interviewed Professor Wen Liu about the historic news of May 24, 2017, that Taiwan’s Constitutional Court had ruled that marriage is not strictly defined as being between a man and a woman. This paved the way for same sex marriage to be legalized in Taiwan in 2019. Since the Stonewall uprising, which began on June 28, 1969, led to the international gay rights movement, June h...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

On June 28, 2020, Taiwan Pride Parade for the World will be held in Taipei at 3pm to celebrate Pride Month and the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots. While in-person Pride events have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it will likely be one of the few if only in-person Pride events to be held in the world during Pride Month. I spoke with the organizer of Taiwan Pride Par...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

After the murder of George Floyd sparked protests in Minneapolis, here in New York, across the country, and around the world, I wanted to have a conversation on Talking Taiwan about what precipitated all of this social unrest, the Black Lives Matter movement and what we, especially non-Black people can do at this time.

This led me to invite Jalesa Tucker to be a guest on Talking Taiw...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Crushing The Myth (CTM) is an Asian American speaker series that shares Asian American stories and perspectives with a global audience. Established in January of 2019, CTM aims to connect Asian Americans and allies to each other.

I spoke with the Founder of Crushing The Myth, JD Chang about why he created CTM, and its mission.

Crushing The Myth is about showing that Asian America t...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Gary Reloj is Co-founder of the PPE Relief Initiative, an entrepreneur in the tech startup and restaurant industry, a founding board member of The Promise Society, and a COVID-19 survivor. 

In late March, Gary shared a public Facebook post, that was a very well-documented account of COVID-19 symptoms he’d experienced, the toll it took on his body, and specific things that he did to c...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

The exceptional way in which Taiwan has handled and contained the Coronavirus has thrust it into the international spotlight once again, but for a different reason. On April 11th, Taiwan’s professional baseball league (CPBL) became the world’s first professional sports league to open in 2020. And then it became the first to have spectators at their games on May 8th.

When I realized t...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

A-Doc, the Asian American Documentary Network was established in 2016 and is a resource and network for nonfiction filmmakers at all different stages of their career. I spoke with one of A-Doc’s Co-founders, Grace Lee, about the organization, and its “Stories of the Coronavirus” microdoc series, with microdocs being released throughout the month of May and beyond.

Grace also told me ...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

What a fun, spirited conversation I had with my guests Valerie Soe and Kristina Wong! We could certainly use more conversations like this in this post-COVID-19 world. We talked about the Auntie Sewing Squad, a sewing circle formed during the global Coronavirus pandemic, that has taken on making masks first for frontline medical and essential workers, and now for vulnerable marginalized...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Since I’ve stepped into the role of Producer of this podcast, in addition to being the host, we’ve been working on consistently delivering quality content, and on releasing previously unreleased episodes. In doing so, it’s allowed me to revisit some of our previous guests like Peter Lin who is a jazz musician and trombone player who I interviewed in 2018. 

Recently I caught up with P...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Peter Lin, is a trombone player, leader of the jazz band, The Lintet, and music teacher. He is a man who wears a lot of different hats! In March of 2018, Peter spoke with me about his career as a professional musician, the difference between being a bandleader versus a sideman, and how he met jazz legend Slide Hampton. We also talked about the Lintet’s first upcoming album, and the con...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Scott Simon, Professor in the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies and Co-holder of the Research Chair in Taiwan Studies at the University of Ottawa spoke with us about an article he wrote for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute which served to sound a warning to the global community about China’s lack of transparency. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, several media sourc...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

I invited Emily Chen on to Talking Taiwan as a guest to talk about how she manages to homeschool during the coronavirus when having her kids home full-time during this pandemic. The idea for this episode came from a Google doc that was created and shared by Emily on Facebook. The link to it is listed below in the related links section of this post. You’ll see that it has over 100 weblink...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Since Taiwan has received a great deal of recognition globally for its successful containment of COVID-19, I've been looking to interview a medical professional about Taiwan's response and handling of the Coronavirus. Special thanks to Dr. Han Mingrong (韓明榮) for his help in connecting me with Dr. Brian Chang who is located in Taipei, Taiwan. 

I spoke with Dr. Chang about the ...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

I’m pleased to welcome Dr. Wilson Wang back on to Talking Taiwan after five years for what turned out to be a very in-depth conversation, about the Coronavirus crisis in New York. Dr. Wang spoke with me about the COVID-19 pandemic from both a science-based and human perspective. This interview with Dr. Wang was recorded last week on March 30th, 2020.

Dr. Wilson Wang is the Founder an...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

What does a robot, Jedi and Wi-Fi have to do with the Ebola crisis? In 2015 I spoke with Wilson Wang a medical doctor by training, who was a Senior Clinical director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) at the time. We spoke about his work with IRC on the 2014 Ebola outbreak and his career in medicine and public health.  

As we deal with the coronavirus here in New York City, ...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Earlier this year I went to Books of Wonder (in New York City’s Upper Westside) to attend a book launch event for Loveboat, Taipei. There I heard the book’s author, Abigail Hing Wen speak frankly and openly about her 12-year writing career and journey leading up to getting her first book Loveboat, Taipei published. All too often when we hear of success stories like hers, what gets lost...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

For many overseas born Chinese and Taiwanese, the Love Boat Taiwan language culture study program was quite the cultural phenomenon and rite of passage. We are dedicating two episodes of Talking Taiwan to the topic. The first will feature Asian American Studies professor and filmmaker Valerie Soe who’s made a documentary film called Love Boat: Taiwan. Learn more about the Love Boat progr...

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

February 28th is a national holiday in Taiwan and it’s just around the corner. But how many know the somber significance behind the date and what it commemorates?

Author Jennifer J. Chow has written a novel inspired by the 228 Incident (which refers to February 28, 1947).

I spoke with her about the 228 Incident and how it relates to her novel, The 228 Legacy. Jennifer has a new book comi...