Podcast
Curious John
Hosted by , Rti · EN
English Service host John Van Trieste is curious. There’s nothing about Taiwan’s many cultures that he doesn’t want to know more about. Join him every week as he gets to the bottom of yet another question. What will he be curious about this time?
11episodes
Episodes
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Sustainable New Year's Dinner Tables
Jan 28, 2022Tap to summarizeTaiwanese people love their festive, seasonal dishes, and with the Lunar New Year just around the corner, we'll soon be seeing a great many of them. But what's the environmental cost of getting these foods from farm to plate? And, once the holidays are over, how much food ends up in the trash? Can we continue to enjoy our seasonal favorites in a sustainable way? These questions are the heart of a special exhibit now on at the National Taiwan Museum's Nanmen Branch. Today, we're going to visit the museum to find out the answers to these questions, and, while we're at it, take a look at some classic favorites served at festivals and celebrations across Taiwan.
Transcribe →Taiwan's parallel cultures
Jan 21, 2022Tap to summarizeTaiwan’s indigenous people and later ethnic Chinese arrivals have vastly different cultures. But a new exhibit at the National Taiwan Museum shows that cultures on both sides of the ethnic divide are always quite as alien to one another as it may seem. In an unusual number of ways, these unrelated cultures have created objects and customs in parallel with one another. And we’re not just talking about human universals that all cultures have. We’re also talking about such specific habits as smoking tobacco and using coins for purposes other than money. Though the specifics are different on each side of the ethnic divide, it turns out that people on both sides do these things. Alongside objects made for ordinary indigenous people and ordinary ethnic Chinese settlers, the exhibit also showcases glitzy deluxe versions of those same items once used in the Chinese imperial court, so you can get a sense of how even people at the top of society did the same things back in the days when imperial China ruled much of Taiwan. Today, we’re taking a walk through the exhibit, stopping at each of the ten sections to see how, in some ways, Taiwan’s indigenous population and later settlers from China weren’t completely different.
Transcribe →Curious John
Jan 14, 2022Tap to summarize2022-01-15
Transcribe →Taiwan-Lithuania ties
Jan 7, 2022Tap to summarizeDespite the relatively small number of nations that officially recognize Taiwan, Taiwan does a great deal of unofficial diplomacy through a network of representative offices around the world. These offices do all the work an official embassy does, and while China may not like them, it doesn’t usually object to them too loudly. Taiwan’s newest office, though, has set off a diplomatic storm. To outsiders, giving the Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania the name The Taiwanese Representative in Lithuania may seem like a straightforward thing to do. But Lithuania’s decision to let the office operate under that name has earned the country China’s wrath. Why all the fuss about a simple name? How has China retaliated against Lithuania? And why doesn’t Lithuania just solve things by making Taiwan change the office’s name? To answer these questions, I’m talking this week with Eric Huang, Taiwan’s representative to Lithuania.
Transcribe →Taiwan and Tuvalu: Pacific Partners
Dec 31, 2021Tap to summarizeAmong Taiwan’s small circle of diplomatic allies, the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu is perhaps the least understood by the outside world. This collection of tropical atolls measures 26km2 around when put together. It is often called the world’s least-visited country. You’ll have a difficult time getting there, as there aren’t flights on most days. And your chances of meeting a Tuvaluan by chance are slim, too: there are only around 12,000 in the world. The uniqueness and isolation of this country are fascinating, but no one should assume that these mean Tuvalu is closed-off. Diplomatic ties with Taiwan are especially warm: until recently, Taiwan’s embassy was the only foreign mission in Tuvalu, and Taipei is home to one of the world’s only Tuvaluan embassies abroad. How do Taiwan and Tuvalu conduct diplomacy with one another? And why are ties between them so close, especially during a period when Taiwan has lost a number of other allies to China? Last week, Tuvalu’s ambassador to Taiwan, Her Excellency Limasene Teatu gave us some idea of how the two sides cooperate and what benefits each side gets from their relationship. This week, she is back to tell us about what’s been achieved during her period as ambassador, plus what it is that keeps Taiwan and Tuvalu close together.
Transcribe →Tuvalu-Taiwan ties
Dec 24, 2021Tap to summarizeThe small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is among Taiwan's staunchest friends on the international stage. Join Her Excellency Limasene Teatu, Ambassador of Tuvalu to Taiwan to find out why, and how the two sides help one another.
Transcribe →The refugees seeking a new start in Taiwan
Dec 17, 2021Tap to summarizeIf Taiwan can help when it comes to tackling international crises like COVID-19 and climate change, then why does it fall behind when it comes to helping resolve the global refugee crisis, giving some of the world's most vulnerable people a safe place and a chance at a new life? The director of Amnesty International Taiwan, Chiu E-ling, joins us for a discussion of how a lack of a refugee law makes fleeing to Taiwan or claiming assylum here difficult to impossible.
Transcribe →The struggle of refugees and asylum seekers
Dec 10, 2021Tap to summarizeThe world is in the midst of a massive refugee crisis. And while Taiwan can feel far removed from the upheaval, here, too, you can find people looking for safety from war and persecution. Taiwan seems an ideal place to flee to: democratic, stable, a bastion of human rights, and without the refugee fatigue that’s hitting many countries in the west. But is it possible to get asylum in Taiwan? What criteria does Taiwan use to determine who can stay? And what are conditions like for those who, for one reason or another, have had to seek safety here? To find out, I’ve reached out to the executive director of Amnesty International Taiwan, Chiu E-ling.
Transcribe →Is Taiwan ready to go bilingual?
Dec 3, 2021Tap to summarizeTaiwan’s government has a mission. It wants Taiwan’s people to be bilingual by 2030, with English as their second language. But can this be done? On the ground, Taiwan seems far from any true bilingualism, even though English is compulsory in its schools. Are we teaching it right? What could we be doing better? And what obstacles stand in the way of the government’s bilingual vision for the country? To find out, I’ve been speaking lately with English teacher Daisy Fan, a 20-year veteran of Taiwan’s public high school system. Over the past two weeks, she’s been explaining how English is taught in practice here, what works in the curriculum and what doesn’t, and why there is a regional disparity in Taiwan’s English proficiency. She’s also shared the strange story of how some students here were asked to give a presentation about spinach. This week, she’s back to tackle some final issues: Taiwan’s love affair with after school tutoring academies, the not-always helpful attitudes of Taiwanese parents, and what about her own English-learning journey makes her a rare success story. Finally, we’re going to address the big question we started with—is a bilingual Taiwan in 2030 a serious possibility?
Transcribe →English Education in Taiwan: The Problem with Spinach
Nov 26, 2021Tap to summarizeControversy over a recent speaking topic at a national English speaking competition for high schoolers sheds light on regional disparities in Taiwan's English education.
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