Hearts in Taiwan
As kids of immigrants from Taiwan, our Asian identity started with beef noodle soup and ended with Chinese school. Now that we’re adults, we’ve found that we still have a lot to learn about Taiwan’s history and its unique culture. Cousins Annie Wang and Angela Yu share their journey as they discover their family’s heritage and celebrate Taiwanese culture in the context of the Asian American experience.
Episodes
33 episodes
Dumplings for everyone
In our Season 2 finale, Angela and Annie relive the best Taiwanese meal they ate this year, and discuss books that connect us with different parts of our Taiwanese, Chinese, and American heritage. We share our Spotify Wrapped and play a listene...
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Season 2
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Episode 13
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32:56
Taiwanese Home Cooking with Joy Huang
In this episode, we get to know Joy Huang, one of the founders and moderators for the Taiwanese Home Cooking Facebook group. She started her food blog, The Cooking of Joy, because she was inspired to document her mom's Taiwanese dishes. This ho...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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33:47
Learning our parents’ love languages through their stories
Angela’s mom shares a memory from her college days and Angela learns more about her mom as a person through this story. Let us know if you do a similar exercise recording the stories your parents tell you behind their old photos!Resou...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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13:10
Taking back the narrative about Asian Americans (feat. Joanna Ho)
In this episode, we examine the dark side of the model minority myth and the “tiger mom” stereotype. Joanna Ho’s first young adult novel, The Silence that Binds Us, is inspired by a real community’s anti-Asian reaction to teen suicides...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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41:23
Can you be Chinese and Taiwanese at the same time?
About 32% of people in Taiwan identify as both Taiwanese and Chinese, while diaspora from Taiwan in America tend to identify as solely one or the other. We talk about blending Chinese, Taiwanese, and American identity with Michelle Kuo and Albe...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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51:45
What does the Presbyterian Church mean to Taiwanese Christians?
The mass shooting at the Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, CA has sparked conversation about the significance of the Presbyterian Church for many Taiwanese individuals. Annie and Angela interview Christine Lin, a lawyer and ...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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47:19
Recognizing the struggle of the American Dream with Jane Kuo
The Chinese name for America, 美国/美國/měiguó, translates to “Beautiful Country”. We talked with author Jane Kuo about her experience as a 1.5-generation immigrant bridging Chinese, Taiwanese, and American identity. Her family’s pursuit of the Ame...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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59:46
Becoming Taiwanese: Identity formation with Evan Dawley
Who were the Taiwanese before they called themselves Taiwanese? In this episode, we’re going back to school for a crash course in history with Dr. Evan Dawley. We discuss identity on the island before the Japanese colonial period, the influence...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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1:05:25
Inner critics: the secret to success or perpetual dissatisfaction?
We hope that sharing this conversation helps anyone who has chased top grades, Instagram followers, performance ratings and promotions at work, or other external metrics of success. Taking and sharing personality tests teaches us new things abo...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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40:35
Our first jobs in Silicon Valley
Inspired by our conversation with Carey Lai, hosts Angela and Annie share the rocky beginnings of starting their careers in the early ‘00s when nobody was hiring after the dot-com bubble burst. We also share a different way of looking ...
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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18:16
Bringing Taiwanese values to entrepreneurship with Carey Lai
“Budget Conscious | Authentic Relationships | Integrity”—these values distinguish Conductive Ventures from other venture capital firms that hold the keys to which startups get funding in Silicon Valley. Our guest Carey Lai shares how his story ...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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52:22
Seeing Taiwan through our mothers’ eyes, featuring the creators of Amah Faraway
Whether you call your grandmother “amah”, “popo”, “waipo”, “nainai”, “mama”, “grandma”, or something else, she plays a key role in your connection to your heritage. Amah Faraway tells the story of how young Kylie transforms from feelin...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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51:55
Reliving Loveboat with Abigail Hing Wen
Hosts Annie Wang and Angela Yu kick off Season 2 with an interview of Abigail Hing Wen, author of New York Times bestseller Loveboat, Taipei which is currently being filmed in Taiwan starring Ashley Jiao, Ross Butler, Nico Hiraga, and ...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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56:09
Trailer: Hearts in Taiwan Season 2
Hearts in Taiwan podcast is back with a second season! Hosts Annie Wang and Angela Yu share what you can look forward to this year.Connect:instagram.com/heartsintaiwan...
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Season 2
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1:19
Overthinking and overachieving: our Season 1 retrospective
Was it crazy for two women in their 40s with kids, full-time jobs, and no media experience to start a podcast during the pandemic? From our first emails in January, we never would have guessed that by September we’d be wrapping our first season...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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37:23
Raising the next generation
As English-speaking parents living outside our heritage country, we discuss how we go about passing our culture on to our kids. From seeking out Mandarin Immersion schools and caregivers, cultivating our kids' palates to appreciate Taiwanese fo...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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49:14
Mock debate: Taiwanese independence
When we recorded our episode on politics in Taiwan, we practiced a mock debate to help us understand the viewpoints of the green and blue ends of the Taiwanese political spectrum. The issue in question: Should Taiwan formally declare independen...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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21:57
50 shades of green (and blue)
Annie and Angela tackle a taboo topic: politics in Taiwan! From dark green to light green and light blue to dark blue, we attempt to understand why each party believes what they do, and relate our observations to American pop culture. Plus, Ang...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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53:51
Hearts (and ears) in Japan
Japan has some of the more notable cultural influences on Taiwan due to its 50 year occupation of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. We explore some of the marks that Japan has left and its unique approach to colonization of Taiwan. Annie's mom returns ...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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39:51
Taiwanese by the numbers
Just how big is the worldwide Taiwanese community anyway? We look at the numbers past and present that make up Taiwan and its diaspora, and discuss why it’s hard to track and measure the Taiwanese diaspora. The numbers surprise us and also leav...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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43:56
Twinkies and Bananas
Twinkies and bananas - Yellow on the outside, white on the inside. This is how many second generation Asian Americans felt growing up. In the 80s and 90s, when we only saw white or Black representation in American media. We explore how this que...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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54:59
Made in Taiwan
There are so many things that make Taiwan unique and exceptional. From policy making to manufacturing to transportation, and of course food, Taiwan has a lot to celebrate.Links:Taiw...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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41:29
What does it mean to be Taiwanese?
Simple question, hard to answer! Angela and Annie share their journeys exploring their identities with respect to Taiwan, and reflect on definitions contributed by a wide variety of Taiwanese individuals in America and Taiwan. We pitch each oth...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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1:34:31
Flavors of Taiwan
Every culture and region has its own unique flavors, dishes, and culinary history. Food brings people together and is a source of cultural pride - Taiwan is no exception. From beef noodle soup to boba, we celebrate the things that make Taiwanes...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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35:46
Massacres and Cover-ups, Part 2
If you didn't know that the KMT government killed about 20,000 Taiwanese people in a one-month span in early 1947 and imprisoned about 140,000 more during the 40 years after, that's no accident. In Part 2 of a 2-part series, we share the way th...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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31:38
