The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files

NOTE: This is our first episode to be labeled “explicit,” not due to bad language, but because it includes reasonably direct anatomical references. It may be best not to play this aloud when minors are present.

We start with the relatively unknown story of Taiwanese boys condemned to become eunuchs in Emperor Qianlong’s imperial palace, their fate sealed simply because they were the young sons of rebels. We then turn to the first gender affirmation surgery (as it might be called today) performed in Taiwan, way back in the early 1950s, with the remarkable case of soldier Hsieh Chien-shun (謝尖順), the so-called "Chinese Christine."

In 1953, the discovery of Hsieh's medical condition and the ensuing series of operations became front-page news across Taiwan, with newspapers turning a deeply personal matter into a national spectacle. We explore the ethics of the case. Hsieh was reluctant to transition to female and only agreed after considerable pressure, making it much less of an “affirmation.”

Despite the sensational journalism and Cold War nationalism surrounding one of the most unusual episodes in Taiwan's modern history, Hsieh’s ordeal may have foreshadowed the island's later development as one of Asia's most progressive societies on issues of gender and sexuality.

TC Brown returns to Formosa Files – and to Taiwan – after 53 years away. A former U.S. Air Force security policeman stationed at CCK Air Base in Taichung for most of 1968-73, TC reflects on his recent trip back to the island, the Taiwan he remembers from the Vietnam War era, and the Taiwan he found today. John talks with TC about his memoir Made in Taiwan and town patrol in Taichung’s “Dirty Dozen” bar district. We also visit Hualien through Wang Chen-ho’s bawdy novel Rose, Rose, I Love You, one of the few works of fiction to touch on Taiwan’s role in Vietnam War R&R.

In the early hours of morning, Eryk and John head to a market in Taichung. Actually, they let Lin Kai-lun do that and all the other hard work. Lin is a third-generation fish seller, whose Chinese-language memoir A Guide to Fake Fishmongering tells a story of family debt, backbreaking labor, and the culture of Taiwan’s wet markets. It’s a moving story (the family brought low by gambling) and funny too (there’s some questionable medical advice). So, gather around the “urine tree” for a work-time break and fish-scented chat.

Cover image via What 3.0

Does a “triangular head” mean danger? Did the wartime Japanese release experimental snakes on Yangmingshan? Do you really collapse after a hundred steps if a hundred-pacer bites you? Herpetologist Gerrut Norval joins John Ross to talk snakes. They focus on Taiwan’s six important venomous species: the green bamboo viper, Chinese cobra, many-banded krait, Russell’s viper, Taiwan habu, and the famous hundred-pacer. The biggest surprise for John was learning about the wild population of Burmese pythons on Kinmen. Be sure to visit the Formosa Files website for pictures and names of the snakes mentioned.

To celebrate the new Yaima Maru ferry service connecting Keelung with the Yaeyama Islands, Taiwan’s nearest neighbors, we uncover stories of Taiwanese migrants there in the Japanese colonial era. On jungle-clad Iriomote Island, some suffered brutal conditions in the coal mines. On nearby Ishigaki, Taiwanese settlers helped transform the island’s agriculture. They developed its pineapple industry and also introduced water buffalo, whose descendants can be seen today pulling tourist carts.