Hearts in Taiwan

Hearts in Taiwan

Annie Wang and Angela Yu

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.
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Trailer: Our hearts in Taiwan
00:02:02

Trailer: Our hearts in Taiwan

Here’s what the Hearts in Taiwan podcast is all about. Meet Annie Wang and Angela Yu and get to know our motivation for this project.Connect:instagram.com/heartsintaiwanfacebook.com/heartsintaiwanheartsintaiwan.comC...

Mom, are we Taiwanese?
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00:33:00

Mom, are we Taiwanese?

Annie and Angela decode the distinction among people whose families come from Taiwan: who identifies as Chinese and who identifies as Taiwanese, and why. Our journey begins when we combine Wikipedia research with qu...

Our First (Not Just) Book Club
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00:18:23

Our First (Not Just) Book Club

Angela and Annie introduce Not Just Book Club with Hearts in Taiwan, where we share what we're reading, watching, and listening to. First up: Interior Chinatown by Taiwanese American author Charles Yu, and Taiwanese...

Coming to America
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00:29:13

Coming to America

America is known as the land of opportunity. What did that mean for young adults living in Taiwan in the 60s and 70s? We asked our parents about their immigration experiences and whether America lived up to their ex...

Not Just Book Club: PEN15
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00:24:29

Not Just Book Club: PEN15

We stan Maya and Anna of PEN15. In our second (Not Just) Book Club with Hearts in Taiwan, we unpack how one particular episode captures the experience of adolescence as an Asian American among mostly white peers in ...

Wang or Wang?
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00:26:49

Wang or Wang?

This one is for everyone whose name is pronounced differently in America than it would be in your family’s original language. Angela and Annie discuss how even a simple name like Wang can be a hallmark of assimilati...

Not Just Book Club: Stereotype-Smashing Musicians
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00:17:55

Not Just Book Club: Stereotype-Smashing Musicians

We've been inspired lately by musicians who are making waves in genres where Asians are vastly underrepresented. Angela unpacks what The Linda Lindas' punk performances mean to her, and Annie finds flow with rapper ...

Massacres and Cover-ups, Part 1
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00:37:10

Massacres and Cover-ups, Part 1

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 1 of a 2-par...

Massacres and Cover-ups, Part 2
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00:31:38

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-par...

Flavors of Taiwan
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00:35:46

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 ...

What does it mean to be Taiwanese?
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01:34:31

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 ...

Made in Taiwan
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00:41:29

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:Taiwan Covid Relief (DM or email us wi...

Twinkies and Bananas
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00:54:59

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 m...

Taiwanese by the numbers
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00:43:56

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 numb...

Hearts (and ears) in Japan
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00:39:51

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...

50 shades of green (and blue)
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00:53:51

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 Am...

Mock debate: Taiwanese independence
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00:21:57

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 Taiwa...

Raising the next generation
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00:49:14

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' palat...

Overthinking and overachieving: our Season 1 retrospective
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00:37:23

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...

Trailer: Hearts in Taiwan Season 2
00:01:19

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/heartsintaiwanfacebook.com/heartsintaiwanheartsintaiwan.comCon...

Reliving Loveboat with Abigail Hing Wen
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00:56:09

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 Butle...

Seeing Taiwan through our mothers’ eyes, featuring the creators of Amah Faraway
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00:51:55

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 tr...

Bringing Taiwanese values to entrepreneurship with Carey Lai
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00:52:22

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 Ca...

Our first jobs in Silicon Valley
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00:18:16

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 diffe...

Inner critics: the secret to success or perpetual dissatisfaction?
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00:40:35

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 te...

Becoming Taiwanese: Identity formation with Evan Dawley
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01:05:25

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 c...

Recognizing the struggle of the American Dream with Jane Kuo
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00:59:46

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. He...

What does the Presbyterian Church mean to Taiwanese Christians?
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00:47:19

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...

Can you be Chinese and Taiwanese at the same time?
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00:51:45

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 identi...

Taking back the narrative about Asian Americans (feat. Joanna Ho)
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00:41:23

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 react...

Learning our parents’ love languages through their stories
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00:13:10

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 the...

Taiwanese Home Cooking with Joy Huang
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00:33:47

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 mo...

Dumplings for everyone
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00:32:56

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 Spoti...