The Taiwan History Podcast: Formosa Files

THIS IS AUDIO-ONLY. A LONGER VIDEO VERISON IS AVAILABLE. This episode may not be suitable for minors. Yes, funeral strippers are real, and their story is far more complicated than the headlines. With anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz as our guide, we climb aboard Taiwan’s infamous Electric Flower Cars, neon-lit mobile stages where dancers perform during funerals and temple processions.In this dual episode (video/audio only), Eryk chats with Professor Moskowitz about his documentary, ⁠Dancing for the Dead.⁠ The discussion explores how this controversial tradition took root, why it exploded into public debate in the 1980s, and what it reveals about Taiwan’s rural-urban cultural divide.Critics call it immoral. Performers call it a livelihood. Fans say it keeps the spirits and the crowds entertained; enjoy this provocative, colorful, and surprisingly heartfelt look at one of Taiwan’s most misunderstood cultural practices.Watch a 47-min interview video HERE.  

Note: This episode may not be suitable for minors. Yes, funeral strippers are real, and their story is far more complicated than the headlines. With anthropologist Marc L. Moskowitz as our guide, we climb aboard Taiwan’s infamous Electric Flower Cars, neon-lit mobile stages where dancers perform during funerals and temple processions.In this dual episode (video/audio only), Eryk chats with Professor Moskowitz about his documentary, Dancing for the Dead. The discussion explores how this controversial tradition took root, why it exploded into public debate in the 1980s, and what it reveals about Taiwan’s rural-urban cultural divide. Critics call it immoral. Performers call it a livelihood. Fans say it keeps the spirits and the crowds entertained; enjoy this provocative, colorful, and surprisingly heartfelt look at one of Taiwan’s most misunderstood cultural practices.Audio only version also available. Follow us on social media and leave a comment/review!  

We end our Shulinkou trilogy by tying together the surprisingly interconnected Taiwan–U.S.–Vietnam story. It’s July 1964, and two U.S. Navy destroyers are in Taiwan preparing for an intelligence-gathering mission off the coast of North Vietnam. Shulinkou Air Station provided intel, specialized equipment, and trained personnel for the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy – ships about to play starring roles in the controversial incident that helped draw the United States fully into the Vietnam War.Amid this geopolitical drama, we follow the story of a young Navy intelligence specialist, Joe Miller. A forbidden romance costs him his posting at Shulinkou. But his reassignment to the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga will give him a front-row seat to the Tonkin crisis, and change the course of his life.Follow us on social media and check out our website.

We continue the story of the Shulinkou Air Station and the American military in the early 1960s. We tackle Taiwan’s infamous gravel-truck killers (urban legend or fact?), get slapped by Typhoon Gloria, and have our duck-hunting excursion interrupted by the Generalissimo’s latest China invasion plans. And we follow the trail of controversial crimes and court verdicts which led to the ROC and U.S. finally signing a Status of Forces Agreement. On a lighter note, we also take time out for some catered Mongolian barbecue.Do us a favor and rate/review/comment...thanks!

It was one of Taiwan’s most secretive Cold War outposts: Shulinkou Air Station (樹林口空軍情報站), a joint-service U.S. intelligence base perched on a misty plateau west of Taipei. Built in 1955, it was a hub for the interception, decryption, and analysis of enemy radio and electronic communications.In Part 1 of this three-part series, we focus on the early 1960s and the everyday world of the young servicemen and officers stationed there. Join them as they resist the character-destroying temptations of Taipei’s back alleys, face vengeful thieves, ride the rails in a stolen locomotive (probably a tall tale but you be the judge), and encounter ghostly road vehicles. This is Part 1. Parts 2 and 3 will take us deeper -- into the looming Vietnam War.For this episode, we relied heavily on the excellent Shulinkou Air Station Taiwan website, which is run by men who served there between 1955 and 1977.