33 episodes

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.

Hearts in Taiwan Annie Wang and Angela Yu

    • Society & Culture
    • 5.0 • 54 Ratings

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.

    Dumplings for everyone

    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 listener voicemail.
    Credits:
    “PUNCHLINE” and “LITTLE FIRES” from BUNNY MODE courtesy of the artist Jaguar Jonze (@jaguarjonze on IG)
    Resources:
    Good to Eat restaurant (read Gathering Taiwanese American community at Emeryville’s “Good to Eat”)
    First Generation: Recipes from My Taiwanese-American Home by Frankie Gaw
    The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang
    We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story by Simu Liu
    The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford
    Blueprints by Jeanelle Fu
    S02E09 Can you be Chinese and Taiwanese at the same time?
    S01E12 Twinkies and Bananas
    S02E03 Bringing Taiwanese values to entrepreneurship
    S01E14 Hearts (and ears) in Japan
    S01E05 Wang or Wang?
    Appearances:
    Hyphen Magazine A Roundtable On Taiwan's Recent Representation In Western Media
    EYECTV on YouTube How ROC immigrants recognize themselves?
    Ryan Ma on TaiwaneseAmerican.org Cōng yóu Bǐng: A Catalyst for Taiwanese Self-Identity
    YLE Radio (Finnish) Russia, Ukraine, China, and Taiwan
    Featuring:
    Olivia Chen, Twrl Milk Tea
    Angie Lin, Good to Eat
    Grace Hwang Lynch, freelance writer
    Leona Chen, TaiwaneseAmerican.org
    Peter Chu, TAP-SF
    Kimberly Yang, Formosa Chocolates
    Willy Wang, Taiwan Bento
    Stephanie Lin, KRON 4
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 32 min
    Taiwanese Home Cooking with Joy Huang

    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 hobby continued to grow and now you can find her work on Instagram at @joyosity where she is known for her artistic take on baked goods. We asked Joy to share her early influences, tips for food photography, and some of the most lively topics discussed in the Facebook group of over 35,000 people who love to make Taiwanese food.
    Featuring Joy Huang:
    The Cooking of Joy blog: www.cookingofjoy.com @joyosity and #thecookingofjoy on InstagramTaiwanese Home Cooking Facebook GroupResources mentioned:
    Joy Huang on Some Good News by John Krasinski, Bon Appetit, and Food52Taiwanese Restaurant Recommendations around the world (Google MyMap)Joy’s guide to making bread including her sourdough recipeJoy’s beef noodle soup (niu rou mian) recipe (original, latest)Joy’s recipes for various dumplingsTaiwanese American Foundation (TAF) summer conferenceBoston Organics produce deliveryJocelyn Shyong’s homemade pineapple cakes in the Boston area (must be in Facebook Group), or @jjcookery on InstagramEric Sze on Munchies YouTube on white pepper in Taiwanese food and five-spice tooCover art photo credits: Joy Huang
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com


    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 33 min
    Learning our parents’ love languages through their stories

    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!
    Resources:
    Google PhotoScan app
    instagram.com/cutfruitcollective
    instagram.com/parentsarehuman
    instagram.com/asiansformentalhealth
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com


    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 13 min
    Taking back the narrative about Asian Americans (feat. Joanna Ho)

    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. Discussing the novel also compels Annie and Angela to get real about passive and active anti-Blackness in the Asian American community. 
    Featuring Joanna Ho:
    Buy The Silence that Binds Us by Joanna Ho@joannahowrites on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and TikTokBook author visits on joannahowrites.comAbout Joanna: Joanna Ho is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, Eyes that Speak to the Stars, Playing at the Border: A Story of Yo-Yo Ma, and The Silence that Binds Us. She is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. She has been an English teacher, a vice principal, a dean, the designer of an alternative-to-prison program, and a professional development creator partnering with educational leaders around the country. She survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids.
    More resources (primarily for US listeners):
    Gratitude giveaway details on Instagram, Facebook, and TwitterSuicide Prevention Lifeline Network, 1-800-273-TALK (8255)The Trevor Project for LGBTQ+ and questioningAsians for Mental Health therapist directoryResources for survivors of suicide lossTiger parenting (Wikipedia), Panda parenting (Psychology Today)LA riots following 1992 acquittal of officers for beating Rodney King (Wikipedia)Hearts in Taiwan in the news:
    Hyphen Magazine (link coming soon)Radio Taiwan International, Russian ServiceNew York Times articleConnect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 41 min
    Can you be Chinese and Taiwanese at the same time?

    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 Albert Wu. Michelle and Albert moved back to their heritage country mid-career and have been sharing their Asian American observations and introspections about living in Taiwan in their weekly newsletter, A Broad and Ample Road.
    Featuring Michelle Kuo and Albert Wu:
    Remembering Michelle’s grandmother in A Broad and Ample RoadReflecting on Albert’s mother in A Broad and Ample RoadIs “Asian-American” a viable category? in A Broad and Ample RoadBreaking Bad review by Albert Wu and Michelle Kuo in the Los Angeles Review of Books, their first collaborationReading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo (陪你讀下去 in Taiwan)Michelle Kuo: @kuokuomich on Twitter and Instagram Albert Wu: @albertowu on TwitterAbout Michelle: Michelle Kuo is a visiting professor in the law program at National Taiwan University. She has worked with Teach for America, the Criminal Justice Institute, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Centro Legal de la Raza, the Prison University Project at San Quentin, RAICES, and the Stanford Three Strikes Project. She has started a nonprofit, Dialogue & Transformation, which works to create dialogue among formerly incarcerated people across the world.
    About Albert: Albert Wu is a global historian, focusing particularly on the transnational connections between Germany and China, the history of religion, and the history of medicine. He is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica. After studying history at Columbia University, he has taught at the American University of Paris, UC Berkeley (where he earned his PhD), and the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison.

    Vocab:
    外省人 waishengren - Family from mainland China who moved to Taiwan to escape Communism in the late 1940s
    本省人 benshengren - Family who was already in Taiwan when waishengren came
    Other resources mentioned:
    Changes in the Taiwanese/Chinese identity of Taiwanese as Tracked in Surveys by the Election Study Center, NCCU (1992-2021)The Ethics of Identity by Kwame Anthony AppiahI've Got the Light of Freedom by Charles M. PayneConnect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    faceboo
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 51 min
    What does the Presbyterian Church mean to Taiwanese Christians?

    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 expert on the history and influence of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan who also conducts research on Taiwanese American identity. The hosts also share their own experiences with Christianity.
    Featuring Christine Lin:
    Respond to Christine’s current research: “Survey of Taiwanese Americans on Identity Issues”, 2022“The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and the Advocacy of Local Autonomy” (PDF) by Christine Louise Lin for Sino-Platonic Papers, 1999“What Impacts a Taiwanese Americans' Political Identity?” by Christine Lin for Chinese America: History & Perspectives–The Journal of the Chinese Historical Society of America, Special Issue: Taiwanese Americans, 2017Christine Lin quoted in “Gunman Targets Taiwanese Faith With Long Pro-Democracy Link” (Associated Press)Contact Christine Lin on LinkedInAbout Christine: Christine Lin is a Taiwanese American lawyer. Her research on the topic of the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan inspired her to pursue a career in human rights, refugee, and immigration law. Currently, she is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies based at UC Hastings College of the Law where she has taught the Refugee & Human Rights Clinic. Previously, she was the Legal Director of Hong Kong Refugee Advice Centre and taught refugee legal assistance clinics at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
    More resources:
    Major branches of Christianity (Wikipedia)Presbyterian Church USA allows same-sex marriages (NPR, 2015)Related episode: “Taiwanese by the Numbers” (Hearts in Taiwan, August 5, 2021)New York Times interview that consulted Christine Lin and interviewed Annie and Angela: "Coming From Separate Worlds in Taiwan, They Collided at California Church" (https://nyti.ms/3mDXG2q)Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com
    Connect:
    instagram.com/heartsintaiwan
    facebook.com/heartsintaiwan
    buymeacoffee.com/heartsintaiwan ← Buy us a boba!
    heartsintaiwan.com

    • 47 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
54 Ratings

54 Ratings

H2304 ,

Insightful podcast!

Enjoy listening as I share the Taiwanese American experience!

Nxy2728 ,

Finally, I feel seen!

Beyond thrilled to have found this fun, enlightening, well produced podcast that speaks so cogently to my experience as a second-generation Taiwanese-American. I keep finding myself nodding emphatically in agreement at many of these important topics and spot-on remarks. Truly can’t get enough. THANK YOU!

ENDHistorian ,

Definitely listen to this podcast!

I love to listen to this podcast because the conversations are always so open and open-ended, and because I always learn more about what being Taiwanese means to Taiwanese people, especially those outside of Taiwan.

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