Taiwanese pilots flew combat jets in Saudi uniforms over Arabian skies? Yes. This week, learn about what may seem like an unusual friendship: the close ties between Taiwan and Saudi Arabia. Bonded by oil, anti-Communism, technical exchanges, interest-free loans, and even seedless watermelons, Saudi Arabia was the only nation in the Middle East to vote “NO” on letting Red China into the UN, and they only swapped from Taipei to Beijing in 1990. This week’s episode is an oasis for those thirsting to learn more about the ROC and 沙特阿拉伯 (Shātè Ā lā bó).

PLEASE follow/like/sub/etc, on IG, FB, YT or LinkedIn, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or on our website, and most importantly, tell your friends about this FREE Taiwan history podcast!

Han Cheung, the man behind Taiwan in Time, the long-running history column in the Taipei Times, returns to tell the story of Taiwan’s first pop star. Liu Ching-hsiang 劉清香 was singing Taiwanese opera in the late 1920s. A few years later, under the stage name Chun-Chun 純純, she became Japanese Formosa’s first recording star — the voice behind dozens of hits and the breakout anthem “Longing for the Spring Breeze.” Hear how Columbia Records and a savvy movie tie-in made her a household name, and learn more about the 1930s, which, when it comes to music, was perhaps the most “progressive” decade of the 50 years of colonial rule.

Pics links, and info at formosafiles.com

Bo Yang 柏楊 (1920-2008) was a Chinese historian, author, dissident, provocateur, and one of Taiwan’s most controversial commentators. After arriving in Taiwan in 1949 with the fleeing KMT, he almost immediately got into trouble with the island’s new one-party regime for everything from listening to the wrong radio station to critiquing Chinese culture. His most famous work was the incendiary book, “The Ugly Chinaman.” However, surprisingly, the crime for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison on Green Island was translating a “Popeye” cartoon strip!

More info, pics, and links are on our WEBSITE.