colonialism Archives | Island Folklore

The Dutch East India Company and Its Taiwanese Legacy

This is the story of how the Dutch East India Company arrived in Taiwan, named it, yanked it from its slumber and pushed it upon the world stage!

The Taiwan Jingū (Grand Shrine of Taiwan) was chief among Taiwan’s 66 official Shinto shrines. What happened to it? Find out here!

Taiwan’s Bunun people are an indigenous Formosan nation of famed warriors and skilled hunters.

The fascinating, global story of early Taiwanese money.

A tongue-in-cheek guide to the bizarre and multifaceted history of Taiwanese toponyms.

The story of an old Taiwanese chieftain who dared to march against the Empire of Japan.

This is the legendary tale of a petty criminal who became an outlaw and a folk hero in Taiwan.

In the late 1600s, the pirate king, Koxinga, ruled over the island of Taiwan. Today, he is a Taiwanese folk hero and this is his story.