Talking Taiwan

With the presidential election in Taiwan fast approaching (on January 13, 2024). We thought it would be a good time to discuss disinformation related to Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election with Summer Chen, the Editor-in-Chief of Taiwan FactCheck Center and Wei-Ping Li, a research fellow at Taiwan FactCheck Center. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-factcheck-center-discussing-the-disinformation-related-to-taiwans-2024-presidential-election-ep-268 We also talked about disinformation that circulated in 2020 around the time of Taiwan’s presidential election and the United States’ presidential election, TFC’s work to combat the spread of disinformation and how the general public can prevent themselves from falling prey to fake news by creating something called a trust circle.   Taiwan FactCheck Foundation (TFC) is a non-profit/non- government organization jointly established by the Association for Quality Journalism and Taiwan Media Watch Foundation in April 2018. In December 2020, TFC legally registered as an independent foundation, Taiwan FactCheck Foundation.   As COVID-19 first broke out in China, TFC was the first fact-checking organization to alert the potential disinformation threat to the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) in January 2020, which led to the launch of the biggest ever fact-checking project, CoronaVirusFacts Alliance. The alliance unites more than 100 fact-checkers across the globe and has published more than 10,000 fact-checks surrounding the pandemic.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·       The difference between the terms disinformation and misinformation ·       Disinformation that was spread about Taiwan’s government donating US $200 million to Israel ·       How Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has joined Facebook’s third party fact checking program and what that means ·       The difference between a journalist and fact checking organization (or between the media and a fact checking organization) ·       How TFC collaborates with tech Facebook, Google and messaging apps like LINE (which is popular in Taiwan) ·       TFC is certified by the IFCN (International Fact Checking Network) ·       What TFC when disinformation or posts go viral ·       How people can file a claim or report to debunk or fact check something they see on social media or a messaging app ·       How people in Taiwan have become aware of suspicious information after having experienced disinformation that happened during the elections in 2018, 2020 and 2023 ·       The Cofacts chatbot that people can use to report disinformation in Taiwan ·       Fact checking sites that people in Taiwan can use such at MyGoPen ·       Disinformation related to 2020 elections in Taiwan that TFC debunked ·       TFC was published a disinformation playbook ·       How disinformation that could impact Taiwan’s presidential election in January has been spread several months in advance ·       The misinformation and disinformation observed during Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election ·       How disinformation related to Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election on Facebook and LINE disappeared around December 25th when Wuhan went under lockdown ·       Disinformation about the 2020 U.S. presidential election that floated into Taiwan’s LINE and Facebook groups ·       How there will be several elections in several different countries around the world in 2024, and the challenge this poses for fact checkers ·       How it is difficult to confirm the origin of disinformation ·       How misleading information makes it into Taiwan’s social media networks, message boards and get picked up by journalists and reported as news ·       How Taiwan FactCheck Center has hosted workshops for journalists to educate them about how to do fact checking ·       Concerns about AI for fact checkers ·       The responsibility of media owners and companies to maintain the quality of journalism ·       The role of AI in creating disinformation ·       How to debunk AI generated disinformation ·       How people can evaluate the trustworthiness of information by having several different sources of information and a circle trusted sources and individuals that they can check in with ·       Reliable fact checking sites ·       The accuracy and reliability of Wikipedia   Help us Get the Show on the Road by Supporting the Talking Taiwan Election Tour!     Support Talking Taiwan: https://talkingtaiwan.com/support/   GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/building-talking-taiwans-legacy/donate   PayPal: talkingtaiwanpodcast@gmail.com   Zelle: talkingtaiwanpodcast@gmail.com   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/talkingtaiwan   Checks can be made payable to Talking Taiwan and sent to:   Talking Taiwan PO Box 1049 New York, NY 10113   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-factcheck-center-discussing-the-disinformation-related-to-taiwans-2024-presidential-election-ep-268/

These days Taiwan is known to be the most free and democratic country in Asia, but it wasn’t always that way. It’s hard to imagine that Taiwan has had a very dark period of history during which there was massive censorship. At one time Taiwan had the longest period of martial law in the world at 38 years. During the martial law period from 1949 to 1987, and the White Terror era that extended beyond the lifting of Taiwan’s martial law, there was no freedom of speech, expression or thought, and advocating for the independence of Taiwan was a crime punishable by death. This episode examines how Taiwan’s transformation from an authoritarian state to a democracy, has impacted Taiwan’s media environment.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-wei-ping-li-how-taiwans-media-environment-changed-from-martial-law-era-to-present/   I spoke with Wei-Ping Li about the laws and mechanisms of the censorship from Taiwan’s martial law era and the impact it had on Taiwan’s media environment, and how Taiwan’s media environment had changed since then.   Wei-Ping is speaking in a personal capacity (as a media scholar who studied Taiwanese media) and the views expressed in this interview were all her own personal opinions.   About Wei-Ping Li   Wei-Ping Li is a research fellow at Taiwan FactCheck Center. She collaborates with fact-checkers to monitor disinformation trends in Taiwan and produces analysis reports for both English and Chinese audiences. Her English analyses are published in Taiwan FactCheck Center's biweekly newsletter "TFC Disinfo Detector."   Li received her Ph.D. degree at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include propaganda, social media content moderation, free speech challenges faced by democratic countries, and privacy issues in the digital era. She has published scholarly articles in academic journals, books, and law reviews.   Before pursuing an academic career, she offered consulting services on digital human rights in Asia. She also worked as a journalist for media outlets in Taiwan for several years. She earned her LL.M. (Master of Laws) degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and has been admitted to the practice of law in New York State.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·       Wei-Ping’s previous career in journalism that started in 2001 ·       How Wei-Ping was one of the speakers in a discussion about America Skepticism Theory organized by GTI (Global Taiwan Institute) ·       How Taiwan is currently the most free and democratic country in Asia ·       Taiwan has had the second longest period of martial law in world history, and a dark period of extreme censorship and authoritarianism during and after martial law was lifted in 1987 ·       The restrictions, and laws of Taiwan’s martial law era included two tracks one was martial law and the other was called The Period of Mobilization for the Suppression of Communist Rebellion ·       The mechanisms that enforced the restrictions, and laws of Taiwan’s martial law era, such as publishing laws, Article 100 of the Criminal Code and the Betrayers Punishment Act ·       Bans on the media, newspapers, songs, films, books ·       Why Mark Twain’s book, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the wuxia novels of Jin Yong were previously banned in Taiwan ·       Some of the bureaus and departments that enforced censorship laws include: Taiwan Garrison Command, Information Bureau, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Interior, Council for Overseas Communities ·       How the Kuomintang extended their censorship to newspapers issued overseas ·       How private correspondence was monitored and surveilled ·       How the Kuomintang was trying to build a comprehensive mechanism of censorship in the 1950s ·       After martial law was lifted in Taiwan the government imposed a National Security Law ·       How it took the efforts of many advocates and advocates to break up the barriers and restrictions to gain more freedom ·       The Period of Mobilization Law was lifted in 1991by President Lee Teng-hui and the bans on newspapers were lifted in 1988 ·       How in 1989 (a year after bans on newspapers were lifted) Cheng Nan-jung, the publisher of the Freedom Era Weekly or New Era Weekly barricaded himself in his office and set himself on fire in protest against the restriction of media freedom ·       The nature of the bans on newspapers that were lifted ·       How Criminal Code Article 100 did not allow people to advocate for Taiwan independence, or criticize high ranking officials or presidents ·       The article written by Cheng Nan-jung in 1987 that criticized the authorities’ methods of restricting freedom of speech ·       Topics that the Freedom Era Weekly addressed included the health of President Chiang Ching-kuo, power struggles inside the intelligence bureaus ·       The police that tried to arrest Chen Nan-jung on April 7, 1989 was headed by Hou You-yi, who is the KMT’s presidential candidate for Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election ·       How the Taiwan Independence Association led the repeal of the Betrayers Punishment Act, and amendment of Criminal Code Article 100 ·       In 1998 Taiwan’s constitutional court made a decision that advocating for Taiwan independence is no longer a crime ·       How Taiwan’s history has affected its media environment ·       The trauma of censorship on the Taiwanese ·       Taiwan’s current media environment ·       Taiwan’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index ·       Challenges in Taiwan’s current media environment ·       The self-censorship of businesses with close ties to China ·       How disinformation could flow into Taiwan through PTT (Taiwan’s bulletin board system)   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-wei-ping-li-how-taiwans-media-environment-changed-from-martial-law-era-to-present/

Our deepest apologies. Listen to find out why. And looking ahead to 2024, we are making some changes.

January 13, 2024 is not just the date of Taiwan’s presidential election; seats for the Legislative Yuan will also be elected on that day.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-foun-chung-fan-the-quest-to-get-out-the-vote-for-lai-chuing-te-for-the-taiwan-presidential-election-2024/   My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Dr. Fan, the Coordinator of the Overseas William Lai (Lai Ching-te) for President Committee.   We talked about why he’s supporting Lai Ching-te and two grassroots efforts that are being organized get out the vote for Lai Ching-te and his vice presidential running mate Bi-khim Hsiao. The DPP has had a history of coming up with creative, innovative, grassroots campaign tactics for its presidential candidates. Dr. Fan also shared his perspective on the other two presidential candidates and why the election for the Legislative Yuan is just as important as the presidential election.     Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: · ·       Dr. Fan’s background and how he got interested and involved in Taiwan’s political situation ·       How the Kaohsiung incident happened not long after Dr. Fan had gone to the United States ·       How he met Trong Chai and  Peng Ming-min and came to understand more about Taiwan’s situation ·       How Dr. Fan started meeting with U.S. senators and congressmen and tried to put pressure on Chiang Kai-shek and Chiang Ching-kuo to give the people of Taiwan the right to assemble and to remove the black list ·       The presidential election in Taiwan is especially important since China’s President, Xi Jinping, is no longer subject to any term limits ·       That Taiwan should not fall into the hands of a party friendly with China ·       How the Kuomintang (during the presidency of Ma Ying-jeou) advocated for Chinese students to be allowed to come to work in Taiwan, to shorten military service from one year to four months ·       How if a comparison of Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency with Tsai Ing-wen’s, will show that the  tock market, economy and national GDP improved under Tsai Ing-wen ·       How China is using the 1992 Consensus as the basis for its One China Policy ·       How Xi Jinping has said that Taiwan will be unified with China ·       Whether called Republic of China, or Taiwan, Xi Jinping considers it Taiwan independence ·       Dr. Fan’s opinions of William Lai (Lai Ching-te) and Bi-khim Hsiao ·       Why Dr. Fan is supporting William Lai (Lai Ching-te) and Bi-khim Hsiao ·       How Lai Ching-te served as the mayor of Tainan and got re-elected with 70 percent vote ·       The qualifications of William Lai (Lai Ching-te) and Bi-khim Hsiao ·       Dr. Fan’s thoughts on TTP presidential candidate Ko Wen-je and KMT presidential candidate Hou You-yi: ·       How the KMT could support the legislator Ma Wen-chun who leaked national security information related to Taiwan’s development of submarines ·       Two events being organized to encourage people to get out and vote for Lai Ching-te and Bi-khim Hsiao ·       On December 13an event is being organized for people in the U.S.  to make phone calls back to Taiwan urging people to vote on January 13 ·       How the January 13 election is not only for Taiwan’s President but also for the Legislative Yuan ·       The importance of the election for the Legislative Yuan ·       How in 2006 the KMT blocked passage of budget for the sale of submarines from the U.S. to Taiwan ·       How people can participate in the phone call effort privately on their own by calling people within their own personal circles ·       How the DPP has used creative, grassroots campaign to promote their candidates ·       The merchandise created for the DPP presidential candidate Chen Shui-bian and Tsai Ing-wen to fundraise ·       The 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally that helped Chen Shui-bian get elected in 2004 ·       Team Taiwan theme songs and merchandise ·       The slogans used for the Lai-Hsiao ticket ·       Overseas voters and supporters of Lai and Hsiao are encouraged to participate in the January 8th event at National Taiwan University which will involve a press conference to showcase overseas support for Lai and Hsiao ·       The overseas voters include people from the east and west coast of the US, Taiwanese associations, and groups from Thailand, Japan, East Asia, West Europe, East Europe, and South America, and a Hakka group ·       The January 8th event aims to encourage people to get out and vote ·       How people can do their part to get out the vote even after December 13 by calling and asking others to vote on January 13           Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-foun-chung-fan-the-quest-to-get-out-the-vote-for-lai-chuing-te-for-the-taiwan-presidential-election-2024/

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Hsin-Tai Wu (吳欣岱), a member of the Taiwan Statebuilding party. We talked about how and why she went from being a cardiovascular surgeon to joining the Taiwan Statebuilding party and becoming a politician, the background and goals of the Taiwan Statebuilding party, and how the party was instrumental in the recall of Han Kuo-yu as the mayor of Kaohsiung, after he ran as the Kuomintang presidential candidate in Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election. Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/hsin-tai-wu-from-cardiovascular-surgeon-to-joining-the-taiwan-state-building-party-ep-264/   Hsin-Tai Wu is running for Taiwan’s legislature on January 13th, the same day as Taiwan’s presidential election, so we talked about the issues she cares about and her thoughts on the presidential hopefuls.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·       Hsin-Tai’s background and upbringing ·       How Hsin-Tai went from being a cardiovascular surgeon to a politician ·       The impeachment of Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu ·       How Hsin-Tai became a member of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party ·       The anti-extradition movement in Hong Kong in 2019 ·       Han Kuo-yu was the Kuomintang presidential candidate in Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election ·       The background of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and how it was founded ·       Taiwan’s attempt to enter the WHO in 2003 ·       When Hsin-Tai Wu joined the Taiwan Statebuilding Party ·       What happened in Kaohsiung after Han Kuo-yu became the mayor ·       Why Han Kuo-yu was recalled as the mayor of Kaohsiung ·       How Han Kuo-yu as the mayor of Kaohsiung said he wouldn’t run for president but then after serving three months as mayor he was nominated and later became the KMT candidate for Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election ·       Han Kuo-yu’s proposals ·       The outcome of Taiwan’s 2020 presidential election ·       The procedure to recall a mayor ·       The outcome of the recall vote ·       What it’s been like for Hsin-Tai Wu switching from being a cardiovascular surgeon to a politician and member of the Taiwan Statebuilding party ·       The goals and principles of the Taiwan Statebuilding party ·       Problems with the Kuomintang ·       The Brazilian egg issue that led the Minster of Agriculture in Taiwan to resign ·       The problem with Taiwan’s state system, the Republic of China ·       How China is using UN Resolution to say that Taiwan is a part of China ·       The confusion caused by Taiwan’s official name the Republic of China ·       Bills drafted by the Taiwan Statebuilding party ·       Issues that Hsin-tai cares about ·       China’s interference in Taiwan’s presidential election ·       how a possible opposition alliance in between the Kuomintang and Taiwan People’s Party in Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election would have used polls to determine who would be the presidential candidate- the Kuomintang’s (KMT) candidate Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) or the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) ·       Hsin-Tai’s thoughts on the 2024 presidential hopefuls Terry Guo, Ko Wen-je, Hou Yu-ih, Lai Ching-te ·       Challenges faced by the Taiwan Statebuilding party   Help us Get the Show on the Road by Supporting the Talking Taiwan Election Tour!   Support Talking Taiwan: https://talkingtaiwan.com/support/   GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/building-talking-taiwans-legacy/donate PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/zn3zm9ux Zelle: talkingtaiwanpodcast@gmail.com Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/talkingtaiwan   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/hsin-tai-wu-from-cardiovascular-surgeon-to-joining-the-taiwan-state-building-party-ep-264/

We’ve got some big news for you! Talking Taiwan is taking the show on the road, back to Taiwan. Kaju and I are planning to be back there during the upcoming presidential election on January 13th. We will be doing election coverage and in-person interviews with some of our most popular guests, and new guests who are based in Taiwan. In order to do all that we want to do, we are going to have to do some fundraising and crowdfunding. Hear what we have planned and to learn how you can support the Talking Taiwan Election Tour! Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-election-tour-2024-taking-the-show-on-the-road-ep-263/ Help us get the show on the road as we take the Talking Taiwan podcast back to Taiwan just in time for the presidential election on January 13th. There’s never been a better time for us to do this! The presidential election comes around once every 4 years. We want to take this opportunity to showcase Taiwan’s young vibrant democracy and to do some in-person episodes with guests who are based in Taiwan.   We’re calling it our “Talking Taiwan Election Tour” campaign. We plan to do several election coverage episodes with Courtney Donovan Smith, who is a seasoned political commentator, Taiwan News columnist, ICRT correspondent, and has frequently appeared on Taiwan Plus News, and on the Taiwan Plus Taiwan Talks show. We’re planning to meet with Courtney in Taichung to do a live in-person episode there.    During this trip we are not only going to be in Taipei and Taichung but we plan to also travel down to Kaohsiung. We’ll be doing coverage and meeting with special guests from northern, central and southern Taiwan. I’m looking forward to meeting some of our past guests in-person for the very first time. Speaking of meeting people in person…    While we are in Taiwan there will be two special in-person gatherings organized for Talking Taiwan, one at the Pic Collage Office, thanks to John Fan, and another gathering will be held at 4SC CrossFit’s Xindian Branch, thanks to T.H. Schee.    PLEASE NOTE: GoFundMe donors will not be eligible to attend these in-person gatherings, due to GoFundMe’s rules and regulations which state that 1) fundraisers that offer perks or rewards to donors aren’t allowed and 2) no raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions may be offered in exchange for any donations made to your GoFundMe.   If you’d like a special invitation to one of these in-person gatherings with us in Taipei, make sure you make your donation via Paypal: https://tinyurl.com/zn3zm9ux, Zelle, Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/talkingtaiwan, or personal check and provide us with your email address.   Our goal is to raise $25,000 to cover all expenses for the “Talking Taiwan Election Tour” like air fare, accommodations, travel within the island, transporting all of our equipment and other incidentals. We are setting a deadline of December 31st to raise money for this trip.    We’re off to a great start because we are starting off with a Matching Donation Pledge of $5,000 offered by Patrick Huang. This means the first $5,000 we raise will be automatically doubled to $10,000 and we’ll be nearly halfway to reaching our fundraising goal.    During this campaign we will be completely transparent in publicly listing the names of donors and the amounts donated, however if you’d like to be kept anonymous, you can indicate this when you donate on GoFundMe or inform us at the time of your donation via email at talkingtaiwanpodcast@gmail.com. The tally for “Talking Taiwan’s Election Tour” will be shown on the Talking Taiwan website and on our GoFundMe page the count will begin after $19,129. So we will need to reach a total of $44,129 on GoFundMe.   There are some other ways that you can support us. You can donate/offer housing during our stay, or donate airline tickets, or hook us up with discounted airfares.     We’ll be sure to share more exciting news and announcements as the campaign progresses. So stay tuned for more updates from us.    We are so grateful for our growing listenership and want to thank you to all of our listeners, past, present and future. It’s thanks to you and all of our supporters and donors that make what we do possible.    So help us get this show on the road. And raise the money by December 31st!   Support Talking Taiwan: https://talkingtaiwan.com/support/   GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/building-talking-taiwans-legacy/donate   PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/zn3zm9ux Zelle: talkingtaiwanpodcast@gmail.com   Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/talkingtaiwan Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-election-tour-2024-taking-the-show-on-the-road-ep-263/

This interview with photographer, filmmaker Gao Yuan was originally part of episode 260 about coincidences connected with the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s house, Building 7B on New York’s Governors Island, which has affectionately come to be called the Taiwan house. The Taiwanese American Arts Council was selected to be an Organization in Residence on Governors Island this year from May to October and was also the only Asian organization on Governors Island this past year. In this episode I’ll be talking with Gao Yuan about her short film Between Us which deals with the conflict between the indigenous and Hakka in southern Taiwan, and also how Gao Yuan uncovered a surprising connection to Taiwan that actually came knocking on the door of TAAC’s house Building 7B.    Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/gao-yuan-her-occidental-journey-to-becoming-a-photographer-and-filmmaker-ep-262/   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:   ·       Gao Yuan’s background ·       How Gao Yuan got into photography ·       Gao Yuan’s short film, Between Us ·       The significance of the river in Gao Yuan’s short film, Between Us ·       Gao Yuan’s approach to photography and filmmaking ·       How Gao Yuan started photographing people with tattoos ·       How many of the tattooed people Gao Yuan photographed in Taiwan were part of the mafia or considered gangsters ·       Gao Yuan’s short film, Ocean, tattoo, and bar ·       How Gao Yuan met Commander Douglas Stevenson who previously lived at the Taiwan house (Building 7B) with his family and his connection to Taiwan ·       The short documentary film the Gao Yuan made about the Douglas Stevenson Family   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/gao-yuan-her-occidental-journey-to-becoming-a-photographer-and-filmmaker-ep-262/

Abigail Hing Wen was recently in New York for the launch of her latest YA book Loveboat Forever, the third book in her Loveboat trilogy. We caught up with her at her book launch and she stopped by our podcast studio for a quick visit.   If you’re a long-time listener of Talking Taiwan you may remember when we interviewed Abigail (who’d just become a New York Times bestselling author) about her first YA novel of this series, Loveboat Taipei in episode 67.   We’ll be having Abigail back on Talking Taiwan at a later date for a more in-depth interview.      Related Links:

This is an episode about coincidences connected with the Taiwanese American Arts Council’s house, building 7B on New York’s Governors Island, which has affectionately come to be called the Taiwan house. The Taiwanese American Arts Council was selected to be an organization in residence on Governors Island this year from May to October and was also the only Asian organization on Governors Island this past year. In this episode I’ll be speaking with Andrea Coronil and Gao Yuan two of the many artists in residence at the Taiwan house.   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/andrea-coronil-and-gao-yuan-on-riding-waves-tattoos-and-uncanny-connections-to-taiwan-house-7b-ep-260/   First, we’ll hear from artist Andrea Coronil about the concept behind her exhibit “To Ride the Waves of Turtle Island” and how she didn’t realize its connection to Taiwan.   Next, we’ll hear from photographer, filmmaker Gao Yuan about her short film Between Us which deals with the conflict between the indigenous and Hakka in southern Taiwan, and also how Gao Yuan uncovered a surprising connection to Taiwan that actually came knocking on the door of TAAC house, building 7B.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·         How Andrea came up with the concept of her solo show at the Taiwan House, To Ride the Waves of Turtle Island ·         The Turtle Island aka La Tortuga of Venezuela ·         Turtle Island the name for North America used by some indigenous peoples and the creation story that the Lenape and Ojibwe have that involves a turtle ·         Taiwan’s Turtle Island ·         Pears and oysters, and their connection to the Caribbean and Governors Island ·         Andrea’s connection to Venezuela ·         What “riding the waves” means to Andrea ·         Andrea’s artwork titled “We Wore Pearls First” ·         Andrea’s painting titled “We Took Refuge in the Mountains” and Berta Cáceres ·         How Gao Yuan got into photography ·         The significance of the river in Gao Yuan’s short film Between Us ·         Gao Yuan’s approach to photography and filmmaking ·         How Gao Yuan started photographing people with tattoos ·         How many of the tattooed people Gao Yuan photographed in Taiwan were part of the mafia or considered gangsters ·          How Gao Yuan met Commander Douglas Stevenson who previously lived at the Taiwan house (Building 7B) with his family and his connection to Taiwan ·         The short documentary film the Gao Yuan made about the Douglas Stevenson Family   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/andrea-coronil-and-gao-yuan-on-riding-waves-tattoos-and-uncanny-connections-to-taiwan-house-7b-ep-260/

As Kaju announced that I’d be interviewing Jilliyeah in the Talking Taiwan podcasting booth at Passport to Taiwan in New York City’s Union Square Park, he mentioned the memorable acceptance speech that Jilliyeah made at last year’s Grammy awards on behalf of the Taiwanese designers who won the Best Recording Package Grammy award for the album Pakelan.  Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/jilliyeah-taiwanese-pop-singer-at-passport-to-taiwan-ep-259/   A lot has happened for her since then. Now she’s in the U.S. working on her career as a singer and musician.   I’m looking forward to having her back on Talking Taiwan for a more in-depth interview.   She’s been hard at work releasing her new singles. To learn more about her follow her on Instagram at Jilliyeah. You can also find her music on most streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music or SoundCloud.   Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: ·       Her performance at the Passport to Taiwan ·       Her music career in Taiwan ·       How she used to sing primarily in Hakka in Taiwan and the difference between singing in Hakka vs. English ·       Jilliyeah’s connection to Taiwan ·       What she misses the most about Taiwan ·       What Jilliyeah has been working on lately ·       How Jilliyeah studied opera when she was in university ·       What vocal exercises she does   Related Links: https://talkingtaiwan.com/jilliyeah-taiwanese-pop-singer-at-passport-to-taiwan-ep-259/