Talking Taiwan

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin: Cindy Wu is an English and Mandarin Chinese bilingual performer, speaker, and music educator based in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She loves and enjoys all aspects of life, travel, and culture. I met Cindy years ago when I lived in Kaohsiung. I've invited her on to Talking Taiwan to speak about her music career and how she's dealt with the setbacks and challenges that she's faced along the way. When asked about how she's been able to impact the lives of her students, she responded that it's her students who have impacted and inspired her with their love support. Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode: • How Cindy and I met in Taiwan • Cindy's background and connection to Taiwan • When she immigrated to the United States • What brought Cindy back to Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2005 from the U.S. • ORIENTED.com and how Felicia organized ORIENTED.com Happy Hours in Kaohsiung • Where Cindy's love of music came from • How Cindy first learned piano by attending Yahama classes • How the time she spent at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY affected her • How Cindy uses music to educate kids • How Cindy began teaching piano, violin and singing in Taiwan • How the perception of the Taiwanese language has changed over time • What Cindy's done in her music career • The challenges that Cindy deals with as a vocalist • The voiceover work that she does • How Cindy started her first livestream show • Why she stopped doing her livestream show for a year • Cindy's approach to her livestream shows and how she deals with criticism, haters and trolls • Cindy's children's book, Sunny Girl's Dream World • Cindy's approach to teaching junior high and high school students • The opportunities that Cindy's livestream show has brought her • How Cindy works with the Oxford Institute and is on the board the Global Leadership and Learning Association • How Cindy helps students get a dual high school diploma Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/cindy-wu-music-educator-in-taiwan-speaks-about-her-music-career-and-positivity-ep-165/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Amazin LeThi, a global LGBTQIA+ advocate and one of the first Asian ambassadors for WorldPride at Copenhagen 2021. She reached out to me not long after hearing that Taiwan would be hosing WorldPride 2025.

She spoke with me about the challenges she's faced as an Asian and LGBTQ youth, and how her sports training and deep sense of purpose helped to pull her out of homelessness.

About Amazin LeThi:

Amazin LêThi was born in Saigon where she was left in an orphanage by her mother. Amazin was bullied constantly as a young child because of her ethnicity and sexuality and it was because of this she went into bodybuilding at the tender age of 6 going onto become a competitive natural bodybuilder in her teens then qualifying as a strength and conditioning coach.

As a young adult, she was homeless for a number of years and it was at this lowest point, contemplating suicide, Amazin realized her passion and love for sport could help her survive.

Gaining physical and mental strength and confidence, from her personal journey of homelessness and against all the odds she has overcome enormous barriers to become one of the most visible and influential leading global rainbow (LGBTQIA+) advocate in the world.

She is also a TV/Film star, entertainment executive and the first Vietnamese internationally published health and fitness author.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Why Amazin travels so much
• What it means to Amazin personally that WorldPride will be hosted in East Asia for the first time in 2025
• Her struggles growing up in a predominantly white culture after being adopted from Vietnam
• What is has been like for her to re-connect with her Asian identity and visit Vietnam
• How WorldPride 2021 was held in 2 cities, Copanhagen and Malmö
• It was the first time that WorldPride and Eurogames coincided
• How many of the WorldPride 2021 events were held virtually
• How COVID has impacted Amazin personally
• Amazin's thought on the prevalence of Asian Hate
• What advice she has for the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan team
• How she ended up homeless and what that was like being homeless
• How she had a mental breakdown as she tried to get out of homelessness
• Amazin's struggle with mental health
• What people can do about homelessness
• The importance of having a sense of purpose in life
• How sports have helped her to be more resilient
• The high percentage of Asian LGBTQ youth that become homeless
• How Amazin was not able to be "out" in the world of bodybuilding
• The Amazin LeThi Foundation
• How 10 states in the United States have banned transgender and nonbinary kids from playing sports
• The work that Amazin does and how she's worked with President Obama and President Biden
• What Amazin is currently working on
• Amazin's Olympic ambitions

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/amazin-lethi-her-journey-from-homelessness-to-world-lgbtq-ambassador-ep-164/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Now it's time to announce our Top 5 of 2021 Talking Taiwan episodes. In doing so we'd like to recognize our wonderful guests, who make what we do possible. But first, we have some exciting news! On December 21st Talking Taiwan won a Golden Crane Podcast Award. We are so honored to have been recognized for our work and to have been nominated alongside so many other amazing podcasts.

We've enjoyed producing new episodes for you every week and it's been exciting to see our listenership grow. We look forward to breaking new ground in the new year!

For links to the top 5 episodes of 2021 check out the Related Links section below.

Wishing you a wonderful rest of 2021 and a Happy New Year!

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/talking-taiwan-award-winner-top-5-of-2021-end-of-year-review-ep-163/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

In November it was officially announced that Taiwan had been chosen to host WorldPride 2025. The Kaohsiung Pride Team won the bid over Washington D.C. to host World Pride Day. My guest on this episode is Darien Chen, the founder of WorldPride Taiwan 2025.

WorldPride 2025 will be first time that a WorldPride will be held in East Asia and this is exciting news indeed! In fact, Amazin LeThi, a global LGBTQIA+ advocate and one of the first Asian ambassadors for WorldPride at Copenhagen 2021 reached out to me not long after hearing the announcement. I invited her to join us in this episode. We'll have her back on another episode to share her personal story and to talk about her LGBTQIA+ advocacy work.

I'd like to congratulate the team that worked so hard to secure the bid for Taiwan to host WorldPride 2025. I know they have a lot pf work ahead of them and we'll definitely check in on their progress in the future.

Darien was previously on episode 82 of Talking Taiwan, talking about how he organized the Taiwan Pride Parade for the World in June of last year when Taiwan one of the safest places to be during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Taiwan Pride Parade for the World in 2020
• How Kaohsiung Pride is the only pride organization from Taiwan that is a member of InterPride
• There hasn't been a previous bid from an Asian city or country to host WorldPride 2025
• How Asia comprises 60% of the world's population
• How Kaohsiung Pride was able to get waivers for 2 of the 13 qualifications to host WorldPride 2025
• The application process to host WorldPride 2025 which was an 11-month process
• The naming issue that came up for Taiwan after winning the bid to host WorldPride 2025
• The parallel between Taiwan's position in the global arena and the LGBTQIA's within mainstream society
• InterPride's application with the UN for consultative status
• Why Kaohsiung Pride ended up hosting WorldPride 2025 instead of Taipei or other cities in Taiwan
• How there are 15 different Pride event held all over Taiwan
• How events planned for WorldPride 2025 includes Taipei and Kaohsiung, and other parts of Taiwan
• How WorldPride 2025 will include organizations and events like Taipei Pride which is essentially a protest and Taiwan TransPride hosted by Taiwan Gay Hotline
• What other cities were bidding to host WorldPride 2025
• In the end Kaohsiung was competing with Washington D.C. to host WorldPride 2025
• How June 2025 will be the 50th Anniversary of Pride in Washington D.C.
• How Taiwan was voted by Muslim women as the safest place
• Darien's involvement with Mr. Gay Taiwan and Mr. Gay World
• What it means to Darien personally that Taiwan is hosting WorldPride 2025
• How the Kaohsiung Taiwan WorldPride 2025 committee didn't raise any money to help with the bid
• Now that gay marriage has been legalized in Taiwan, why is there still a need for Pride events
• What other WorldPride events Darien has attended
• What other WorldPride events Amazin has attended
• The benefit of having virtual events at WorldPride as they did at Copenhagen's WorldPride 2021
• The importance of bringing WorldPride to the Asia region
• How the events being planned for WorldPride 2025 includes a "Taiwanese wedding-style banquet" to raise money for InterPride
• How a reenactment of the Fire Island Invasion is going to happen during WorldPride 2025 in Kaohsiung
• Darien and Amazin's connection to Australia
• Sydney WorldPride 2023
• The challenges faced by LGBTQ Asians in Asia vs. in western countries
• The coming out experience for LGBTQ persons in eastern vs. western societies
• How the concept of coming out is a very western idea
• Coming out vs. inviting someone into your story
• The musical artists that Darien would like to invite to perform at WorldPride 2025
• How the Taiwan Pride logo was created by a Taiwanese Kaohsiung-based graphic designer Bauer Hung (飽爾)

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-hosts-worldpride-2025-our-conversation-with-darien-chen-and-amazin-lethi-ep-162/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

To mark the year's International Human Rights Day, I reached out to Yibee Huang, the CEO of Covenants Watch to talk about Lee Ming-che a Taiwanese activist who has been imprisoned in China since 2017.

December 10th is International Human Rights Day. It's also an important day in Taiwan's history and a turning point in Taiwan's transition from authoritarianism to democracy. I'm referring to the Kaohsiung incident, also known as the Formosa Incident which began as a celebration of International Human Rights Day in 1979, but ended with a police crackdown and the arrest of prominent opposition leaders (The Kaohsiung Eight) who were tried in military court and sentenced to terms ranging from 12 year to life imprisonment. For more information about the Kaohsiung Incident visit the Related Links section below.

Covenants Watch is an NGO based in Taipei, Taiwan that is committed to promoting human rights and equality for all people. Despite Taiwan not being a member of the United Nations, Covenants Watch ensured that Lee Ming-che's case was the first from Taiwan that was taken up by a UN special mechanism, namely the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (the WGEID).

Yibee talked to me about Lee Ming-che's case and other Taiwanese who have gone missing or been imprisoned in China.

About Covenants Watch:

Covenants Watch (CW) is an NGO based in Taipei, Taiwan. It is committed to promoting human rights and equality for all people. Excluded from international society since the 1970s, the Taiwanese government has not been under the supervision of the United Nations system. Under these circumstances, CW strives to introduce a unique treaty review process that can hold the government accountable and ensures its domestic laws, policies and practices are aligned with international human rights standards. In addition to its domestic activities, CW plays an increasing role on the international level by participating in the Special Procedures and the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council.

UPDATE: After 5 years, Lee Ming-che has been released from a Chinese prison and returned home to Taiwan. Read the Guardian's interview of Lee Ming-che and his wife Ching-yu, Taiwanese activist Lee Ming-che: 'I can breathe in the fresh air of freedom,' by Helen Davidson in Taipei and Chi Hui Lin: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/09/taiwanese-activist-lee-ming-che-interview-china-jail-free

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• The mission of Covenants Watch and Lee Ming-che's connection to the organization
• Lee Ming-che's early life and background
• How Ming-che's political views changed and developed into a sense of Taiwanese identity
• While in college Ming-che got involved in student-led social movement and pro-democracy activities organized by pro-DPP (Democratic Progressive Party) students, and met his future wife Ching-yu
• The NGOs and organizations that Ming-che has worked with
• His involvement with the DPP and Taiwan independence movement
• What is known about the circumstances of his arrest
• What Ming-che was doing in China, when he went missing on March 19, 2017
• The March 24th press conference that Lee Ching-Yu (Lee Ming-che's wife) and human rights groups organized to call upon the Chinese government to explain what happened to Ming-che
• The timeline of when Chinese authorities first responded, admitted that Ming-che was under arrest, the date of Ming-che's trial and sentencing
• How Lee Ching-yu's travel documents (Tai bao zheng/台胞證) were nullified when she tried to make plans to travel to Beijing in April 2017 to confront the Chinese government about what has happened to Ming-che
• Why Ching-yu tattooed the words "Lee Ming-Che, I am proud of you" on her forearms
• Ming-che's confession which was revealed at his trial
• Cases of human rights activists and lawyers who were tortured
• Swedish NGO worker Peter Dahlin's forced confession
• How Ching-yu needs apply for special consent from the Chinese authorities each time she would like to travel to China
• What a Tai bao zheng (台胞證) is
• How Covenant Watch appealed to the UN's Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) for help with Lee Ming-che's case
• What is the UN's Universal Periodic Review
• Why Ming-che's was transferred from Chishan Prison in Hunan to Yancheng Prison in Hebei in late 2018 and what happened to him as a result
• How the Chinese government has imposed an additional penalty of two years of deprivation of political rights on Lee Ming-che, which may be imposed at the end of his sentence in April 2022
• How Ming-che has been treated in prison
• Ching-yu last saw Ming-che in January 2020
• The Write a Letter or Postcard to Ming-che campaign that was started on Ming-che's first birthday after being imprisoned in China
• The different campaigns that have been organized for Ming-che
• The purpose behind letters and postcards written for Ming-che
• The UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (aka The Nelson Mandela Rules)
• Public support for Lee Ming-che in Taiwan
• How Lee Ming-che was not able to attend his father's funeral
• What support Lee Ming-che has gotten from Taiwan's government or President Tsai Ing-wen
• The case of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo
• The national security legislation that was passed by China's National People's Congress in June 2020, criminalizes sedition in Hong Kong
• The Safeguard Defenders report stating that 600 overseas Taiwanese have been extradited to China

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/lee-ming-che-taiwanese-political-prisoner-in-china-yibbie-huang-speaks-candidly-ep-161/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

When you think about things made in Taiwan what comes to mind? Barbie dolls, textiles, plastics, toys, bicycles, or maybe these days its boba, bubble tea, or semiconductor chips?

What's made Taiwan the leader in the semiconductor industry, what is its competitive advantage, how can it maintain it going forward?

The story of how Taiwan's semiconductor industry was developed is really quite interesting if you consider that Taiwan was previously an agriculturally-based economy and had no expertise in hi-tech.

My guest on this episode of Talking Taiwan is Dr. Bo-Chheng Lin, who has a PhD in solid state physics, and worked on semiconductors at AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is currently retired, and is one of founders of Living Well New Jersey, a group for retired Taiwanese Americans. This organization has been around for 10 years and I'm grateful for their support of Talking Taiwan.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• How Taiwan's semiconductor industry was set up
• How Taiwan went from an agricultural-based economy to the leader of the global semiconductor industry
• Taiwan's first industrial parks
• The establishment of TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited)
• The role of Philips, a Dutch multinational corporation and RCA, an American electronics company in the development of Taiwan's semiconductor industry
• How Tsing-Hua University and the Chiat-Tung University are the leading universities in the IC (integrated circuit) industry
• The establishment of UMC (United Microelectronics Corporation) and TSMC
• Moore's Law, the observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles about every two years, producing twice the processing power at half the cost
• The impact on the world's commerce that would result if Taiwan's semiconductor manufacturing capacity got disrupted
• The current semiconductor chip shortage
• How the semiconductor industry is a cyclical business
• The impact of COVID-19 on the semiconductor industry
• How Taiwan's business model for the semiconductor industry compares to Korea's
• The situation between TSMC and Huawei, that resulted due to the U.S.'s concerns over safeguarding its intellectual property from China, and the impact this has on China's 5G
• Huawei is TSMC's second largest customer
• TSMC's plans to build a factory in Arizona
• The IoT industry and what is IoT (Internet of Things)
• If Apple and other companies start producing their own semiconductor chips what would that mean for the semiconductor industry and Taiwan?
• What it will take for Taiwan to maintain its competitive advantage in the semiconductor industry
• How the transistor was invented at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ
• How Taiwan's government should encourage engineers from foreign countries to work in Taiwan's semiconductor industry
• The Gold Card program
• How the construction needs of TSMC has influenced the construction of housing in Taiwan
• What the next 10-15 years looks like for Taiwan and what other industries it might consider
• The China 2025 project

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/dr-bo-chheng-lin-taiwans-semiconductor-industry-and-the-current-chip-shortage-ep-160/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Tim Chng is one of the founders of ITASA (Intercollegiate Taiwanese American Students Association), and we've known each other since those college days. He is currently documenting the overseas Taiwan Independence Movement on Wikipedia.

I thought I'd invite him onto Talking Taiwan to talk about some of the media attention that Taiwan's been getting lately, and the project he's started to document the contributions of WUFI (World United Formosans for Independence) and overseas Taiwanese to the fight for Taiwan's freedom and democracy.

After a non-Taiwanese friend of mine texted me asking about who Enes Kanter was and why he was speaking up about Taiwan, I realized that it would be a good idea to do an episode about this and other celebrities who have shed light on Taiwan- for good and bad.

Enes Kanter, a basketball player for the NBA's Boston Celtics, has called for boycotting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and caused quite a stir by tweeting and speaking out about Taiwan being a free and democratic country, and not a part of China. Twitter was all abuzz over this.

I had seen Tim weighing in on the Twitter discussion about Enes, so I thought it would be fun to invite him on to Talking Taiwan to share his thoughts on all of this.

I knew that we'd have an interesting conversation. We talked about Enes, John Oliver, John Cena and even Peng Shui, the Chinese women's tennis player whose safety and whereabouts have been in question ever since her post on a Chinese social media platform (Weibo) about being sexually assaulted by a retired Chinese Communist party leader was deleted.

Tim also talked about what motivated him to start documenting the Taiwan independence movement on Wikipedia, and how in a broader sense it is about recognizing the role of Taiwan's diaspora in the fight for Taiwan's freedom and democracy during the White Terror era.

If you're interested in helping Tim with this project you can do so simply by creating a login on Wikipedia, which as Tim said is really quite easy to do, and you can start editing and adding to the Wikipedia pages about WUFI or the Taiwan independence movement.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• The background of Enes Kanter NBA's Celtics team, has spoken up for Taiwan
• How Enes Kanter and his family has been blacklisted by the Turkish government
• How Enes' father went to prison for speaking up against Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
• Taiwan's blacklist
• Comparing the struggles and conflict that the Uyghers, and people of Hong Kong, Tibet and Taiwan's have with China
• Badiucao, the artist who created the art and designs for Enes Kanter's sneakers that called for a boycott of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the Stand With Taiwan sneakers
• The perception that Taiwan's democracy was a direct result of Chiang Ching-kuo lifting martial law in Taiwan
• How the father (Dr. Kang-lu Wang) of one of ITASA's founders (Alvin Wang) was assassinated by the Kuomintang (KMT)
• What led Tim to start his project to document the Taiwan independence movement, especially the resistance movement amongst overseas Taiwanese
• How the resistance movement of overseas Taiwanese in the 1950s-1980s is not taught in history books and hasn't been well documented
• Documenting WUFI (World United Formosans for Independence) on Wikipedia
• How difficult it was to get media coverage on Taiwan in the 1950s-1980s
• How New Bloom was contacted and consulted by John Oliver's team for his segment about Taiwan
• How Taiwan needs allies and support as it stands up to China
• What is problematic about what Enes Kanter is saying about China
• Tsai Ing-wen's public statement thanking Enes Kanter for his support
• Whether or not the U.S. really cares about Taiwan's self-determination or freedom
• The KMT's network of overseas student spies during the martial law era
• How organizers of the first ITASA conference at Yale University received an anonymous intimidating letter
• How no one from Yale University was able to attend the Love Boat program in the year following the Yale ITASA conference
• How Tim and his family were blacklisted and not allowed to return to Taiwan
• What inspired many WUFI members and overseas Taiwan independence activists to stand up for Taiwan and to attempt to free Taiwan from authoritarian rule
• How Peter Huang who attempted to assassinate Chiang Ching-kuo was a WUFI member
• How many overseas Taiwanese students were inspired by the Cuban revolution
• How within WUFI there were members who were KMT spies
• The founding of WUFI in 1971 and how it united organizations in Japan, Europe, the United States, and Canada
• How WUFI members were responsible much of the U.S. media coverage on Taiwan
• The Taiwanese American Association of America (TAA), the grassroots arm of WUFI
• Fundraising efforts for the Taiwanese political drama Island Nation 2
• What motivated Chiang Ching-kuo to lift martial law in Taiwan
• Tim's criticism of John Oliver's segment on Taiwan
• John Oliver's criticism of John Cena, the pro wrestler and actor who apologized to China after calling Taiwan a country
• What happened to Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai and what may have motivated her to speak about how she was sexually assaulted by Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking government official and member of the Chinese Communist Party
• The support that Peng Shuai has gotten from other professional tennis players
• The Women's Tennis Association's (WTA) reaction to Peng Shuai's statement about being sexually assaulted and her subsequent disappearance
• The pressure by the WTA and countries like Finland to cancel on the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics
• Myanmar and the Free Burma movement
• China's Belt and Road Initiative
• Lithuania's support of Taiwan
• Tim's call for others to help contribute his Wikipedia project documenting the contributions of overseas Taiwanese (from all over the globe) to Taiwan's democratization and independence movement
• WUFI's 2021 paper calendar commemorating WUFI's 50thanniversary
• How Professor Chen Wen-chen was part of the WUFI network
• The Taiwan History Facebook group
• The importance of documenting the stories of Taiwan's diaspora who fought for Taiwan's freedom and democracy

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/tim-chng-documents-the-overseas-taiwan-independence-movement-on-wikipedia-ep-159/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Esther Chen is a Taiwanese American actress and comedian. We spoke about how

she got into doing standup comedy, worked with Jerry Seinfeld, and ended up back in Taiwan during the pandemic. Esther shared how she's had to adjust her standup comedy material to suit the different tastes of audiences in Taiwan, other parts of Asia, and the U.S.

While in Taiwan Esther started doing standup comedy more regularly and got recognized by fans. She also talked about the very Taiwanese experiences of going to see a fortune teller for advice about her career in acting and comedy, and the criticism that she and her family have received from Taiwanese discussion forums in response to her comedy.

**A quick note to listeners about the audio quality of this episode. There were some issues with the first 8-9 minutes of this interview. We tried our best to improve them so please bear with us and know that the issues resolve at around the 10 minute mark.**

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• How she got interested in doing standup comedy
• What it was like for her to work with Jerry Seinfeld
• How she comes up with material for her standup comedy
• Why she moved back to Taiwan during the pandemic and what she did while she was there
• Her Chinese Mandarin language podcast 好戲開場: It's Showtime!
• How humor in English is different than humor in Mandarin Chinese
• How she had to adjust her standup comedy for audiences in Taiwan vs. New York
• How her jokes about China were received outside of Taiwan i.e. Malaysia
• How she hears Taiwan-related news from Ken and Kylie, the hosts of the 百靈果New Podcast
• How she hears Taiwan-related news from Ken and Kylie, the hosts of the 百靈果New Podcast (aka, K.K. Show)
• The segment that John Oliver did on his HBO show, Last Week Tonight about Taiwan
• Enes Kanter's tweet boycotting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and the Freedom Shoes with the words "No Beijing 2022" "Move the Games" "No Rights No Games" on them
• How moving back to Taiwan during the pandemic pushed Esther to try new things with her standup comedy
• How working in Taiwan compares with working in New York or the U.S.
• When she's going to be performing standup in New York
• How she handles stress and anxiety
• The criticism Esther and her family has received from Taiwanese discussion forums in response to her comedy
• How her parents have reacted to her work as an actress and comedian
• What happened when Esther went to see a fortune teller and asked if she should continue with a career in acting and comedy
• What advice Esther has for anyone thinking of doing standup comedy
• The standup comedy bit that Esther did about the Atlanta Spa Shootings

Related Links:

To view all related links for this article, click link below:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/esther-chen-tries-her-fortune-at-standup-comedy-in-taiwan-and-the-u-s-ep-158/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

Earlier this year there was a lot of buzz about this thing called NFTs. These days you know that something's definitely gone more mainstream when it's talked about on The Ellen Show and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

What are NFTs, these non-fungible tokens? I was curious about the whole thing myself which is why I've asked Kaku, a Taiwan-based DJ to be my guest on this podcast. He's a trailblazer in the NFT space, the first influencer not only from Taiwan but from Asia, to get into the NFT market.

I did some research in advance, to prepare for this interview as I do when dealing with a topic that I'm less familiar with. But as you'll hear in the interview, I was learning all about NFTs as Kaku spoke to me. After the interview I did some further research, and re-listened to this interview as part of the editing process. That's when I noticed that each time I listened to the interview, I picked up on something new.

If you're really interested in learning more about NFTs, I encourage you to listen to this episode more than once to really understand what's being discussed. Also check out the links to resources and articles that I've included in the Talking Taiwan show notes for this episode. And Kaku gives some great advice on how to understand what NFTs are.

One last thing, NFTs present an exciting opportunity but they are still in uncharted territory. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to safeguard your own assets, to do your research, and to protect yourself.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• Kaku's upbringing and connection to Taiwan
• How he started DJing
• How he made DJing a career
• What he was doing before becoming a DJ
• How his style is different from other DJs in Asia
• His early interest in music
• His early musical interests and influences
• What it's like being a professional DJ
• The challenges of being an Asian in the entertainment industry
• How the pandemic has affected him
• How Kaku was initially known for making the genre of music called Jersey Club
• A clip of the Jersey Club genre that Kaku is known for
• The track PASS OUT by Nitti Gritti & Gaeko (개코) & Kaku
• An exclusive preview of the new track BLINK by Kaku and Freekill featuring Elle Vee (due to be released in December)
• How Kaku is the first DJ in Asia who's gotten into the NFT space
• Origin Protocol
• Audius
• 3lau (pronounced: boo-lao), the number one DJ in crypto and NFTs
• What is an NFT
• The different ways that NFTs can be used
• The challenges of protecting your intellectual property in the NFT space
• How Kaku got interested in NFTs
• What is blockchain technology?
• Counterfeit NFTs
• How NFT lingo is similar to sneaker culture
• Kaku's first NFT and how it was related to the (RED) Foundation
• Kaku's collaboration with an artist named Jonni Tsayto create his first NFTs to raise money for (RED)
• Kaku's NFT collaboration with Jonni for the Inspiration4 NFT auction for SpaceX benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• How the Inspiration4 NFT auction raised about 200,00 for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
• How NFTs can be utilized to raise money for charity
• How Kaku created NFTs and collaborated with Jonni
• The events, promotion and education related to Kaku's first NFT drop
• NFT projects that Kaku is promoting and working on
• Kaku's plans for a future merch drop that's connected to NFTs
• How NFT's are used by musicians
• 0N1 Force the first anime-based NFT
• Ethereals art is hand-drawn by artist Jimmy Danko
• Purchasing NFTs
• How the profile picture NFT market works
• Profile picture based NFTs (aka PFP NFTs)
• When PFP NFTs are minted, it's like a random raffle and comparable to opening a pack of Pokémon cards
• How social media has become an asset
• Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs
• The opportunity that NFTs presents for digital artists
• Protecting your access to NFTs and cryptocurrency
• Whether or not creators who intend to sell their NFTs need to already had a large following in order to be successful
• Kaku's advice to join an NFT community on Discord to learn about NFTs
• How artists can make money with NFTs
• The environmental impact of NFTs
• Kaku's advice for people who want to create NFTs
• What Kaku learned from his first NFT drop

Related Links:

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/dj-kaku-trailblazes-nfts-in-asia-ep-157/

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

November 9th would be the 103rd the birthday of the late revolutionary, Taiwan independence activist, and historian Su Beng (史明), who passed away on September 20, 2019. I've been working on his English-language biography and I wanted to remember him on this day.

In this episode of Talking Taiwan, I spoke with Jiho Chang 張之豪 one of the co-authors of The Oral History of Su Beng (史明口述史), a three-volume book that he and others collaborated on while attending the National Taiwan University. In addition to talking about Su Beng's legacy, Jiho shared some personal stories about Su Beng, and talked about Su Beng's role in the Sunflower Movement.

At the end of the episode, I share some of my fondest memories of Su Beng.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• The public funeral/memorial that was organized for Su Beng on October
• Su Beng's lifelong commitment to the cause of Taiwan's independence
• The noodle shop that Su Beng opened in 1950s in Ikebukuro, Japan
• The underground and afterhours activities that happened at the noodle shop
• The third and fourth floors of the noodle shop is being converted into a museum
• How Su Beng's residence in New Taipei has been converted into a museum
• Su Beng's connection to Taiwan's current president Tsai Ing-wen
• How Jiho first heard of and met Su Beng
• The 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis
• The English language version of Su Beng's book, Taiwan's 400 Year History The Chinese language version of Su Beng's book, 台彎人四百年史(The Taiwanese People's 400 Years of History)
• China's Anti-secession Law
• Su Beng's sit-in to protest China's Anti-secession Law in 2005
• How Jiho joined Su Beng's protest of China's Anti-secession Law and got to know Su Beng
• The parallels and comparison between Su Beng and Che Guevara
• How Jiho, Lán Shì-bó / Nâ Sū-phok (藍士博) and others National Taiwan University students started interviewing Su Beng and wrote a three-volume book, The Oral History of Su Beng(史明口述史)
• Su Beng's hospitalization for kidney failure in Japan in 2009
• Su Beng's life in Japan as a student at Waseda University
• Su Beng's family background
• Su Beng's Japanese girlfriend/partner who he met while in China
• Su Beng's love of Kentucky Fried Chicken
• Su Beng's special relationship with his maternal grandmother
• Su Beng's role in the 2014 Sunflower movement

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