Qualla: East Asia https://qualla.com/east-asia en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:39:52 GMT Qualla episodic false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: East Asia https://qualla.com/east-asia Battle of Penghu https://qualla.com/battle-of-penghu/ In 1683, over 400 warships clashed in the waters around Penghu as the Qing dynasty finally crushed the last holdout kingdom loyal to the fallen Ming, ending decades of resistance on the Taiwan Strait.

Read more: Battle of Penghu on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/h/v/battle-of-penghu-wp/wshv-battle-of-penghu-combined.mp3 4:18 full Penghu Air Raids https://qualla.com/penghu-air-raids/ Photo credit Wing1990hk, CC BY-SA 3.0. From October 1944 to August 1945, Allied bombers systematically pounded Japanese naval and air installations on the Penghu Islands, turning a fortress that had guarded the Taiwan Strait for decades into rubble.

Read more: Penghu Air Raids on Qualla

Image: Wing1990hk | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/h/v/penghu-air-raids-wp/wshv-penghu-air-raids-combined.mp3 3:41 full Anping Tree House https://qualla.com/anping-tree-house/ Photo credit Venation, CC BY-SA 3.0. A banyan tree spent decades consuming an abandoned warehouse in Tainan, threading its roots through brick walls and ceilings until nature and architecture became inseparable -- then the city turned it into a tourist attraction.

Read more: Anping Tree House on Qualla

Image: Venation | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/anping-tree-house-wp/wsj6-anping-tree-house-combined.mp3 3:56 full Eternal Golden Castle https://qualla.com/eternal-golden-castle/ Photo credit Chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Built in the 1870s to repel Japanese invasion, this bastion fortress in Tainan saw action in two wars before its own occupiers stripped its cannons for scrap -- and today visitors can paddle boats around its moat.

Read more: Eternal Golden Castle on Qualla

Image: Chensiyuan | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/eternal-golden-castle-wp/wsj6-eternal-golden-castle-combined.mp3 3:41 full Former Tait & Co. Merchant House https://qualla.com/former-tait-co-merchant-house/ Photo credit 王彥翔, CC BY-SA 3.0. Built in 1867 by a British trading company that exported camphor and sugar from treaty-port Taiwan, this white colonial building in Tainan has since served as a Japanese salt office, a government bureau, and now a wax museum documenting the island's immigrant history.

Read more: Former Tait & Co. Merchant House on Qualla

Image: 王彥翔 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/former-tait-co-merchant-house-wp/wsj6-former-tait-co-merchant-house-combined.mp3 3:51 full Fort Provintia https://qualla.com/fort-provintia/ Photo credit arurakufuyuki, CC BY-SA 4.0. Built by the Dutch in 1653 and surrendered to the legendary pirate-king Koxinga nine years later, this Tainan fort preserves documents of the now-silent Siraya language and is being redesigned by architects with Dutch roots.

Read more: Fort Provintia on Qualla

Image: arurakufuyuki | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/fort-provintia-wp/wsj6-fort-provintia-combined.mp3 4:19 full Fort Zeelandia https://qualla.com/fort-zeelandia-taiwan/ Photo credit Johannes Vingboons, Public domain. A 17th-century Dutch fortress in Tainan whose walls were mortared with sugar, sand, and ground seashells, and whose fall to Koxinga ended 38 years of European colonial rule on Formosa.

Read more: Fort Zeelandia on Qualla

Image: Johannes Vingboons | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/fort-zeelandia-taiwan-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 4:57 full Koxinga Shrine https://qualla.com/koxinga-shrine/ Photo credit Mk2010, CC BY-SA 4.0. A Tainan temple honoring the Ming loyalist who expelled the Dutch from Taiwan, whose worship was banned by one dynasty, co-opted by another, and endures still.

Read more: Koxinga Shrine on Qualla

Image: Mk2010 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/koxinga-shrine-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 4:00 full March 19 Shooting Incident https://qualla.com/march-19-shooting-incident/ The 2004 assassination attempt on Taiwan's president and vice president in Tainan, one day before the election, that divided a nation and remains one of the island's most contested political mysteries.

Read more: March 19 Shooting Incident on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/march-19-shooting-incident-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 4:10 full National Museum of Taiwan Literature https://qualla.com/national-museum-of-taiwan-literature/ Photo credit Wpcpey, CC BY 4.0. Taiwan's first national literature museum, housed in a 1916 Japanese-era prefectural hall that survived American bombing, Qing bureaucracy, and decades of bureaucratic neglect before becoming a home for the island's multilingual literary heritage.

Read more: National Museum of Taiwan Literature on Qualla

Image: Wpcpey | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/national-museum-of-taiwan-literature-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 3:52 full Old Tainan Magistrate Residence https://qualla.com/old-tainan-magistrate-residence/ Photo credit Outlookxp, CC BY-SA 4.0. A 1900 English colonial-style residence in Tainan that has served as a Japanese governor's home, a military barracks, a government office, a concert hall, a cafe, and now a cultural living center.

Read more: Old Tainan Magistrate Residence on Qualla

Image: Outlookxp | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/old-tainan-magistrate-residence-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 3:27 full Siege of Fort Zeelandia https://qualla.com/siege-of-fort-zeelandia/ Photo credit Johannes Vingboons, Public domain. The nine-month siege of 1661-1662 in which Ming loyalist Koxinga's 25,000 troops overwhelmed a Dutch garrison of fewer than 2,000, ending European rule on Taiwan and launching the island's first Chinese dynasty.

Read more: Siege of Fort Zeelandia on Qualla

Image: Johannes Vingboons | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/siege-of-fort-zeelandia-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 5:29 full State Temple of the Martial God https://qualla.com/state-temple-of-the-martial-god/ Photo credit Tess1223, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 1663 Tainan temple built in a former Ming royal palace, where the god of war doubles as the patron saint of accountants and the construction uses no nails.

Read more: State Temple of the Martial God on Qualla

Image: Tess1223 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/state-temple-of-the-martial-god-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 5:00 full Tainan Art Museum https://qualla.com/tainan-art-museum/ Photo credit Taiwania Justo, CC BY-SA 4.0. A museum in two buildings spanning a century of architecture: a 1930s Art Deco police station and a contemporary gallery designed by Pritzker laureate Shigeru Ban in the shape of a flame tree.

Read more: Tainan Art Museum on Qualla

Image: Taiwania Justo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/tainan-art-museum-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 3:28 full Tainan Confucian Temple https://qualla.com/tainan-confucian-temple/ Photo credit Nick-D, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taiwan's oldest Confucian temple, built in 1665 as the island's first academy and known ever since as the First Academy of Taiwan, where formal education began under the Kingdom of Tungning.

Read more: Tainan Confucian Temple on Qualla

Image: Nick-D | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/tainan-confucian-temple-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 4:53 full Tainan Wu Garden https://qualla.com/tainan-wu-garden/ Photo credit Pbdragonwang, CC BY-SA 3.0. One of Taiwan's Four Great Gardens, built by a salt magnate in 1828 on land once owned by the interpreter who helped Koxinga conquer Fort Zeelandia.

Read more: Tainan Wu Garden on Qualla

Image: Pbdragonwang | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/6/tainan-wu-garden-wp/wsj6-undefined-combined.mp3 3:53 full Dutch Pacification Campaign on Formosa https://qualla.com/dutch-pacification-campaign-on-formosa/ Photo credit Johannes Vingboons, Public domain. In 1635, the Dutch East India Company crushed indigenous resistance in southwestern Taiwan, transforming a vulnerable trading post into a colonial power that united twenty-eight aboriginal villages under a fragile peace.

Read more: Dutch Pacification Campaign on Formosa on Qualla

Image: Johannes Vingboons | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/7/dutch-pacification-campaign-on-formosa-wp/wsj7-dutch-pacification-campaign-on-formosa-combined.mp3 6:42 full Kingdom of Tungning https://qualla.com/kingdom-of-tungning/ Photo credit ZanziCoins, CC BY 4.0. Born from a pirate lord's defiance of the Qing dynasty, the Kingdom of Tungning became the first ethnic Han Chinese state in Taiwan and held the island for twenty-two years before falling to an admiral with a personal vendetta.

Read more: Kingdom of Tungning on Qualla

Image: ZanziCoins | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/7/kingdom-of-tungning-wp/wsj7-kingdom-of-tungning-combined.mp3 7:00 full 2021 Kaohsiung Building Fire https://qualla.com/2021-kaohsiung-building-fire/ On October 14, 2021, a fire tore through a crumbling thirteen-story tower in Kaohsiung's Yancheng District, killing forty-six people and exposing decades of neglect toward the city's most vulnerable residents.

Read more: 2021 Kaohsiung Building Fire on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/2021-kaohsiung-building-fire-wp/wsj8-2021-kaohsiung-building-fire-combined.mp3 5:22 full Cihou Fort https://qualla.com/cihou-fort/ Photo credit WEI, WAN-CHEN（魏琬臻）, CC BY-SA 4.0. Perched on a hillside guarding the northern entrance to Kaohsiung Harbor, Cihou Fort has watched over three centuries of shifting sovereignty, from Qing cannons to Japanese warships to Cold War gun emplacements.

Read more: Cihou Fort on Qualla

Image: WEI, WAN-CHEN（魏琬臻） | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/cihou-fort-wp/wsj8-cihou-fort-combined.mp3 4:30 full Fengbitou Archaeological Site https://qualla.com/fengbitou-archaeological-site/ Photo credit Fcuk1203, CC BY-SA 3.0. On a 9.7-hectare plateau in southern Kaohsiung, the Fengbitou Archaeological Site preserves five thousand years of human habitation, from the earliest cord-marked pottery of Taiwan's Tapenkeng culture to Qing dynasty remains.

Read more: Fengbitou Archaeological Site on Qualla

Image: Fcuk1203 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/fengbitou-archaeological-site-wp/wsj8-fengbitou-archaeological-site-combined.mp3 5:26 full Former British Consulate at Takao https://qualla.com/former-british-consulate-at-takao/ Photo credit The Nature Box, CC0. Taiwan's oldest surviving Western building sits on a hilltop above Kaohsiung Harbor, a red-brick reminder of the century when the British Empire forced open the ports of Qing-era Formosa.

Read more: Former British Consulate at Takao on Qualla

Image: The Nature Box | CC0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/former-british-consulate-at-takao-wp/wsj8-former-british-consulate-at-takao-combined.mp3 5:05 full Former Japanese Navy Fongshan Communication Center https://qualla.com/former-japanese-navy-fongshan-communication-center/ Photo credit Pbdragonwang, CC BY-SA 3.0. Built in 1919 as the Imperial Japanese Navy's first radio station in Taiwan, this Kaohsiung compound spent the next century cycling through identities: civilian transmitter, wartime intelligence post, political interrogation facility, military prison, and finally a cultural heritage site.

Read more: Former Japanese Navy Fongshan Communication Center on Qualla

Image: Pbdragonwang | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/former-japanese-navy-fongshan-communication-center-wp/wsj8-former-japanese-navy-fongshan-communication-center-combined.mp3 4:49 full Formosa Boulevard Metro Station https://qualla.com/formosa-boulevard-metro-station/ Photo credit Kevin765432, CC BY-SA 4.0. Deep beneath a Kaohsiung intersection, the world's largest glass artwork transforms a transit hub into a cathedral of light, commemorating the 1979 pro-democracy protest that gave the station its name.

Read more: Formosa Boulevard Metro Station on Qualla

Image: Kevin765432 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/formosa-boulevard-metro-station-wp/wsj8-formosa-boulevard-metro-station-combined.mp3 4:55 full Kaohsiung Metro https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-metro/ Photo credit Joe Lewis, CC BY-SA 2.0. Kaohsiung's metro system took two decades to build, survived a foreign worker scandal, a tunnel collapse, and chronic ridership shortfalls, and still managed to become one of Taiwan's most artistically ambitious transit networks.

Read more: Kaohsiung Metro on Qualla

Image: Joe Lewis | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-metro-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-metro-combined.mp3 5:54 full Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-museum-of-fine-arts/ Photo credit ．怪貓．, CC BY 2.0. Taiwan's third public art museum sits at the heart of a forty-hectare park in Kaohsiung, where a sculpture hall four stories tall catches natural light through a skylight and an ecology park with marshes and a lake surrounds the galleries.

Read more: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts on Qualla

Image: ．怪貓． | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-museum-of-fine-arts-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-museum-of-fine-arts-combined.mp3 5:12 full Kaohsiung Museum of History https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-museum-of-history/ Photo credit 高偉格(othree), CC BY 2.0. A Japanese Imperial Crown-style building completed in 1939 as Kaohsiung's city hall, now preserving the multicultural layers of southern Taiwan's largest port city.

Read more: Kaohsiung Museum of History on Qualla

Image: 高偉格(othree) | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-museum-of-history-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-museum-of-history-combined.mp3 4:59 full Kaohsiung Prison Riot https://qualla.com/kaohsiung-prison-riot/ Photo credit The Central News Agency(CNA Taiwan), CC BY 3.0. In February 2015, six inmates at Kaohsiung Prison seized weapons and took the warden hostage in a 14-hour standoff that exposed deep fractures in Taiwan's justice system.

Read more: Kaohsiung Prison Riot on Qualla

Image: The Central News Agency(CNA Taiwan) | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/kaohsiung-prison-riot-wp/wsj8-kaohsiung-prison-riot-combined.mp3 4:18 full Love River https://qualla.com/love-river/ Photo credit Benjiho, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 12-kilometer waterway that earned its romantic name from a typhoon's accident, Love River has survived centuries of pollution and reinvention to become the cultural spine of Kaohsiung.

Read more: Love River on Qualla

Image: Benjiho | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/love-river-wp/wsj8-love-river-combined.mp3 4:57 full National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts https://qualla.com/national-kaohsiung-center-for-the-arts/ Photo credit Jimmy3357569, CC BY-SA 4.0. Built on a former military training ground, Weiwuying is the world's largest performing arts center under a single roof, its wave-shaped canopy inspired by the banyan groves that once shaded soldiers.

Read more: National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts on Qualla

Image: Jimmy3357569 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/national-kaohsiung-center-for-the-arts-wp/wsj8-national-kaohsiung-center-for-the-arts-combined.mp3 5:16 full Port of Kaohsiung https://qualla.com/port-of-kaohsiung/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's largest harbor began as a natural lagoon the Dutch called Takao in the 1620s and grew into a node on the Maritime Silk Road handling over 10 million container units a year.

Read more: Port of Kaohsiung on Qualla

Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/port-of-kaohsiung-wp/wsj8-port-of-kaohsiung-combined.mp3 5:05 full Republic of China Military Academy https://qualla.com/republic-of-china-military-academy/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. Founded in 1924 as the Whampoa Military Academy with Chiang Kai-shek as superintendent and Zhou Enlai running political instruction, this school trained officers who would fight on both sides of China's civil war.

Read more: Republic of China Military Academy on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/republic-of-china-military-academy-wp/wsj8-republic-of-china-military-academy-combined.mp3 5:23 full Shoushan (Kaohsiung) https://qualla.com/shoushan-kaohsiung/ Photo credit The Nature Box, CC0. Called Ape Hill by the Dutch, renamed for a crown prince by the Japanese, and now home to thousands of Formosan rock macaques, this coral limestone mountain has watched over Kaohsiung Harbor for five millennia.

Read more: Shoushan (Kaohsiung) on Qualla

Image: The Nature Box | CC0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/8/shoushan-kaohsiung-wp/wsj8-shoushan-kaohsiung-combined.mp3 5:07 full Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum https://qualla.com/fo-guang-shan-buddha-museum/ Photo credit Yuan mdx, CC BY 4.0. Housing a tooth relic of the Buddha and 48 underground time capsules meant to be opened one per century, this sprawling museum complex in southern Taiwan reimagines Buddhist heritage for the modern world.

Read more: Fo Guang Shan Buddha Museum on Qualla

Image: Yuan mdx | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/fo-guang-shan-buddha-museum-wp/wsj9-fo-guang-shan-buddha-museum-combined.mp3 5:21 full Fo Guang Shan Monastery https://qualla.com/fo-guang-shan-monastery/ Photo credit Huicheng1967, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taiwan's largest Buddhist monastery was built on 30 hectares of hillside purchased in 1967 by a monk who would spend the next half century transforming Chinese Buddhism into a global movement.

Read more: Fo Guang Shan Monastery on Qualla

Image: Huicheng1967 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/fo-guang-shan-monastery-wp/wsj9-fo-guang-shan-monastery-combined.mp3 5:29 full Fo Guang Shan https://qualla.com/fo-guang-shan/ Photo credit Huicheng1967, CC BY-SA 4.0. From a single hillside purchased in 1967, Fo Guang Shan grew into a global Buddhist organization spanning 173 countries with 3,500 monastics, driven by a philosophy that insists Buddhism must serve the living world.

Read more: Fo Guang Shan on Qualla

Image: Huicheng1967 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/fo-guang-shan-wp/wsj9-fo-guang-shan-combined.mp3 5:37 full Lotus Pond, Kaohsiung https://qualla.com/lotus-pond-kaohsiung/ Photo credit AngMoKio, CC BY-SA 3.0. An artificial lake in Kaohsiung ringed by over a dozen ornate temples, where dragons swallow visitors whole and a 72-meter Taoist god rises from the water.

Read more: Lotus Pond, Kaohsiung on Qualla

Image: AngMoKio | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/lotus-pond-kaohsiung-wp/wsj9-lotus-pond-kaohsiung-combined.mp3 5:18 full Old City of Zuoying https://qualla.com/old-city-of-zuoying/ Photo credit 小鄧, Public domain. A Qing-era walled city in Kaohsiung whose stone gates have survived rebellions, invasions, superstition, and the Japanese military to become first-class historic sites.

Read more: Old City of Zuoying on Qualla

Image: 小鄧 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/old-city-of-zuoying-wp/wsj9-old-city-of-zuoying-combined.mp3 5:22 full Republic of China Air Force Academy https://qualla.com/republic-of-china-air-force-academy/ Photo credit 玄史生, CC BY-SA 3.0. Founded in Nanjing in 1928, Taiwan's air force academy has been relocating ahead of wars and revolutions for nearly a century before settling in Kaohsiung.

Read more: Republic of China Air Force Academy on Qualla

Image: 玄史生 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/republic-of-china-air-force-academy-wp/wsj9-republic-of-china-air-force-academy-combined.mp3 4:44 full Spring and Autumn Pavilions https://qualla.com/spring-and-autumn-pavilions/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Twin octagonal towers on Lotus Pond in Kaohsiung built because the Goddess of Mercy appeared on a dragon in the clouds and told people to put her there.

Read more: Spring and Autumn Pavilions on Qualla

Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/spring-and-autumn-pavilions-wp/wsj9-spring-and-autumn-pavilions-combined.mp3 4:24 full Zuoying Naval Base https://qualla.com/zuoying-naval-base/ Photo credit Solomon203, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's largest naval installation, where a billion-dollar expansion program shares a coastline with villages preserving the mainland Chinese culture of 1949 exiles.

Read more: Zuoying Naval Base on Qualla

Image: Solomon203 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/9/zuoying-naval-base-wp/wsj9-zuoying-naval-base-combined.mp3 5:03 full Kucapungane https://qualla.com/kucapungane/ A 600-year-old Rukai aboriginal village of 163 slate houses in the mountains of southern Taiwan, abandoned since the 1970s and reachable only on foot over unstable terrain.

Read more: Kucapungane on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/c/kucapungane-wp/wsjc-kucapungane-combined.mp3 5:06 full 2016 Southern Taiwan Earthquake https://qualla.com/2016-southern-taiwan-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. A magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck during Lunar New Year, killed 117 people, and exposed cooking-oil cans packed inside the walls of a collapsed 17-story building.

Read more: 2016 Southern Taiwan Earthquake on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/d/2016-southern-taiwan-earthquake-wp/wsjd-2016-southern-taiwan-earthquake-combined.mp3 5:31 full Siraya Language https://qualla.com/siraya-language/ Photo credit Kwamikagami, CC BY-SA 3.0. A Formosan language dormant since the nineteenth century, now being reawakened by children in Tainan who can speak and sing in the tongue of their ancestors.

Read more: Siraya Language on Qualla

Image: Kwamikagami | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/d/siraya-language-wp/wsjd-siraya-language-combined.mp3 5:23 full Siaolin Village https://qualla.com/siaolin-village/ Photo credit bellenion, CC BY-SA 4.0. A Taivoan indigenous village in Kaohsiung buried by 23 million cubic meters of debris in Typhoon Morakot, killing 471 people and erasing a community that had existed since 1904.

Read more: Siaolin Village on Qualla

Image: bellenion | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/g/siaolin-village-wp/wsjg-siaolin-village-combined.mp3 5:28 full Dongji Island https://qualla.com/dongji-island/ Photo credit Philoschen, CC BY-SA 4.0. A remote Penghu island where a fisherman pulled a fossilized ivory tusk from the sea, a cargo ship sank and was left where it lay, and a lighthouse has stood since 1911.

Read more: Dongji Island on Qualla

Image: Philoschen | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/h/dongji-island-wp/wsjh-dongji-island-combined.mp3 5:16 full South Penghu Marine National Park https://qualla.com/south-penghu-marine-national-park/ Taiwan's ninth national park protects a cluster of volcanic islands where abandoned villages crumble beside columnar basalt cliffs and 254 species of fish patrol some of the healthiest coral reefs in the archipelago.

Read more: South Penghu Marine National Park on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/h/south-penghu-marine-national-park-wp/wsjh-south-penghu-marine-national-park-combined.mp3 4:32 full Mako Guard District https://qualla.com/mako-guard-district/ For four decades, the Imperial Japanese Navy's base on the Pescadores Islands controlled the Taiwan Strait -- a quiet outpost that became a staging ground for the Pacific War's opening campaigns.

Read more: Mako Guard District on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/n/mako-guard-district-wp/wsjn-mako-guard-district-combined.mp3 4:11 full Penghu Guanyin Temple https://qualla.com/penghu-guanyin-temple/ Photo credit Jgfhhgf942zo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Founded in 1696 as part of the Qing navy's defense network, this seaside temple has survived French bombardment, Japanese occupation, and postwar suppression -- and still draws thousands each summer for its fireworks festival.

Read more: Penghu Guanyin Temple on Qualla

Image: Jgfhhgf942zo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/n/penghu-guanyin-temple-wp/wsjn-penghu-guanyin-temple-combined.mp3 4:51 full Penghu Refugee Camp https://qualla.com/penghu-refugee-camp/ Photo credit 舟集 Boattoad, CC BY-SA 4.0. For eleven years, a converted military base on a windswept Penghu island sheltered Vietnamese boat people who had risked everything to cross the South China Sea -- a chapter Taiwan has only recently begun to remember.

Read more: Penghu Refugee Camp on Qualla

Image: 舟集 Boattoad | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/n/penghu-refugee-camp-wp/wsjn-penghu-refugee-camp-combined.mp3 4:36 full Penghu Tianhou Temple https://qualla.com/penghu-tianhou-temple/ Photo credit 舟集工作室, CC BY-SA 4.0. Usually considered the oldest Mazu temple in Taiwan, this Penghu shrine houses a 700-year-old wooden idol and a 1604 stone stele that records the moment a Chinese commander expelled the Dutch from the islands.

Read more: Penghu Tianhou Temple on Qualla

Image: 舟集工作室 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/n/penghu-tianhou-temple-wp/wsjn-penghu-tianhou-temple-combined.mp3 4:38 full Pescadores Campaign (1895) https://qualla.com/pescadores-campaign-1895/ Photo credit 日本軍, Public domain. The last battle of the First Sino-Japanese War played out across the Penghu Islands in just three days -- but cholera killed more Japanese soldiers in the aftermath than Chinese defenders did during the fighting.

Read more: Pescadores Campaign (1895) on Qualla

Image: 日本軍 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/n/pescadores-campaign-1895-wp/wsjn-pescadores-campaign-1895-combined.mp3 4:33 full 1941 Chungpu Earthquake https://qualla.com/1941-chungpu-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. Ten days after Pearl Harbor, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake devastated southern Taiwan -- and terrified residents, convinced American bombers had arrived, fled into the hills.

Read more: 1941 Chungpu Earthquake on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/t/1941-chungpu-earthquake-wp/wsjt-1941-chungpu-earthquake-combined.mp3 4:49 full Alishan Forest Railway https://qualla.com/alishan-forest-railway/ Photo credit BenjaminWKI, Public domain. Built to haul cypress logs down from Taiwan's mountains, this 86-kilometer narrow-gauge railway climbs from sea level to 2,216 meters through Z-shaped switchbacks, 50 tunnels, and 77 wooden bridges -- and has become one of Asia's great train journeys.

Read more: Alishan Forest Railway on Qualla

Image: BenjaminWKI | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/v/alishan-forest-railway-wp/wsjv-alishan-forest-railway-combined.mp3 5:03 full Alishan National Scenic Area https://qualla.com/alishan-national-scenic-area/ Photo credit Lenaakong, CC BY-SA 4.0. At dawn, visitors ride a narrow-gauge train to the summit to watch the sun rise over Yushan and a sea of clouds -- a ritual that has made Alishan, alongside Taroko Gorge and Sun Moon Lake, one of Taiwan's three most iconic landscapes.

Read more: Alishan National Scenic Area on Qualla

Image: Lenaakong | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/v/alishan-national-scenic-area-wp/wsjv-alishan-national-scenic-area-combined.mp3 5:09 full 1904 Douliu Earthquake https://qualla.com/1904-douliu-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The first major earthquake in Taiwan recorded by modern seismographs killed 145 people in 1904 -- a modest magnitude 6.1 event whose shallow depth turned a moderate tremor into a catastrophe.

Read more: 1904 Douliu Earthquake on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/w/1904-douliu-earthquake-wp/wsjw-1904-douliu-earthquake-combined.mp3 4:52 full Chaotian Temple https://qualla.com/chaotian-temple/ Photo credit Ketchupheinz, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 300-year-old temple in Beigang Township where more than a million pilgrims arrive each year to honor Mazu, the deified protector of seafarers whose cult crossed the Taiwan Strait from Fujian.

Read more: Chaotian Temple on Qualla

Image: Ketchupheinz | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/w/chaotian-temple-wp/wsjw-chaotian-temple-combined.mp3 4:27 full Xiluo Bridge https://qualla.com/xiluo-bridge/ Photo credit Cpc3711, CC BY-SA 4.0. A nearly two-kilometer span over Taiwan's longest river whose construction was interrupted by World War II and completed with American aid, Xiluo Bridge is a monument to persistence across colonial eras.

Read more: Xiluo Bridge on Qualla

Image: Cpc3711 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/x/xiluo-bridge-wp/wsjx-xiluo-bridge-combined.mp3 4:12 full Jiji Railway Station https://qualla.com/jiji-railway-station/ Photo credit Takoradee~commonswiki, CC BY 2.5. A tiny cypress-wood station built in 1933 on Taiwan's longest branch line, Jiji survived threats of closure and a devastating earthquake to become one of the island's most beloved heritage railways.

Read more: Jiji Railway Station on Qualla

Image: Takoradee~commonswiki | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/z/jiji-railway-station-wp/wsjz-jiji-railway-station-combined.mp3 4:13 full Sun Moon Lake Wen Wu Temple https://qualla.com/sun-moon-lake-wen-wu-temple/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Perched above Sun Moon Lake in the Chinese palace style, the Wen Wu Temple unites the God of Literature with the Martial Gods in a three-hall complex born from two drowned shrines and rebuilt through three eras of Taiwanese history.

Read more: Sun Moon Lake Wen Wu Temple on Qualla

Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/z/sun-moon-lake-wen-wu-temple-wp/wsjz-sun-moon-lake-wen-wu-temple-combined.mp3 4:19 full Sun Moon Lake https://qualla.com/sun-moon-lake/ Taiwan's largest body of water sits at 748 meters in the central mountains, a lake shaped like a sun and a moon whose shores hold indigenous heritage, colonial-era hydroelectric dams, and five million annual visitors.

Read more: Sun Moon Lake on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/j/z/sun-moon-lake-wp/wsjz-sun-moon-lake-combined.mp3 5:26 full China Airlines Flight 611 https://qualla.com/china-airlines-flight-611/ Photo credit Anynobody, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 25 May 2002, a Boeing 747 disintegrated over the Taiwan Strait twenty minutes after takeoff, killing all 225 people on board -- the consequence of a botched tail repair made twenty-two years earlier.

Read more: China Airlines Flight 611 on Qualla

Image: Anynobody | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/0/china-airlines-flight-611-wp/wsm0-china-airlines-flight-611-combined.mp3 6:04 full Lukang Tianhou Temple https://qualla.com/lukang-tianhou-temple/ Photo credit Suzuki1314 at Chinese Wikipedia, Public domain. One of Taiwan's oldest Mazu temples, the Lukang Tianhou Temple holds a collection of sacred statues spanning four centuries, including a Dark-Faced Mazu blackened by generations of incense and a Gold Mazu cast from 150 kilograms of pilgrim-donated gold.

Read more: Lukang Tianhou Temple on Qualla

Image: Suzuki1314 at Chinese Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/8/lukang-tianhou-temple-wp/wsm8-lukang-tianhou-temple-combined.mp3 4:46 full Lukang https://qualla.com/lukang/ Photo credit 林高志, CC BY-SA 4.0. Once Taiwan's second-largest city and a thriving deer-hide port, Lukang declined when its harbor silted up and it refused the railroad -- a stubbornness that accidentally preserved one of the island's richest collections of historic temples and streetscapes.

Read more: Lukang on Qualla

Image: 林高志 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/8/lukang-wp/wsm8-lukang-combined.mp3 5:21 full Changhua Roundhouse https://qualla.com/changhua-roundhouse/ Photo credit billy1125 from Hualien, Taiwan, CC BY 2.0. The last surviving railway roundhouse in Taiwan, Changhua Roundhouse has sheltered steam locomotives since 1922 and was saved from demolition by a community that refused to let its turntable stop spinning.

Read more: Changhua Roundhouse on Qualla

Image: billy1125 from Hualien, Taiwan | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/9/changhua-roundhouse-wp/wsm9-changhua-roundhouse-combined.mp3 4:25 full Taichung Power Plant https://qualla.com/taichung-power-plant/ Photo credit Chongkian, CC BY-SA 3.0. The world's fourth-largest coal-fired power station sits on Taiwan's central coast, burning 14 million tonnes of coal annually to keep the island's lights on while generating a pollution controversy that is reshaping the nation's energy policy.

Read more: Taichung Power Plant on Qualla

Image: Chongkian | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/9/taichung-power-plant-wp/wsm9-taichung-power-plant-combined.mp3 4:36 full Paper Dome https://qualla.com/paper-dome/ Photo credit Ho.siminn, CC BY-SA 3.0. A church built from 58 cardboard tubes survived two earthquakes in two countries, traveling from Kobe to rural Taiwan as a symbol of shared resilience.

Read more: Paper Dome on Qualla

Image: Ho.siminn | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/b/paper-dome-wp/wsmb-paper-dome-combined.mp3 4:27 full Taomi Village https://qualla.com/taomi-village/ A Taiwanese bamboo-farming village destroyed by the 1999 earthquake reinvented itself as one of Asia's most celebrated eco-tourism destinations, powered by frogs, fireflies, and collective will.

Read more: Taomi Village on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/b/taomi-village-wp/wsmb-taomi-village-combined.mp3 4:25 full Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden https://qualla.com/wufeng-lin-family-mansion-and-garden/ Photo credit Mk2010, CC BY-SA 4.0. One of Taiwan's grandest family compounds spans nearly two centuries of architecture, from a thatched farmhouse built in 1837 to ornate halls that hosted operas for a devoted son's elderly mother.

Read more: Wufeng Lin Family Mansion and Garden on Qualla

Image: Mk2010 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/b/wufeng-lin-family-mansion-and-garden-wp/wsmb-wufeng-lin-family-mansion-and-garden-combined.mp3 4:39 full Dongshi Forestry Culture Park https://qualla.com/dongshi-forestry-culture-park/ Photo credit Ping an Chang, CC BY-SA 4.0. A Cold War-era logging center in Taiwan's mountains, once funded by the U.S. government, burned in a wildfire and was reborn as a 225-hectare cultural park where lotus ponds fill old timber storage basins.

Read more: Dongshi Forestry Culture Park on Qualla

Image: Ping an Chang | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/dongshi-forestry-culture-park-wp/wsmc-dongshi-forestry-culture-park-combined.mp3 4:14 full Luce Memorial Chapel https://qualla.com/luce-memorial-chapel/ Photo credit Lute66, CC BY 3.0. Designed by I. M. Pei and Chen Chi-kwan, this tent-shaped chapel on a Taiwanese university campus rises from four warped concrete leaves that echo both Le Corbusier's experiments and ancient Chinese forms.

Read more: Luce Memorial Chapel on Qualla

Image: Lute66 | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/luce-memorial-chapel-wp/wsmc-luce-memorial-chapel-combined.mp3 4:35 full National Museum of Natural Science https://qualla.com/national-museum-of-natural-science/ Photo credit Ralff Nestor Nacor, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taiwan's premier science museum opened in 1986 with no permanent collection, by design, built instead around hands-on discovery, a medieval Chinese water clock, and a tropical rainforest under glass.

Read more: National Museum of Natural Science on Qualla

Image: Ralff Nestor Nacor | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/national-museum-of-natural-science-wp/wsmc-national-museum-of-natural-science-combined.mp3 4:16 full National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts https://qualla.com/national-taiwan-museum-of-fine-arts/ Photo credit Jeanette, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taiwan's only national-grade fine arts museum covers 102,000 square meters in Taichung, housing an outdoor sculpture park, a stone tablet forest of master calligraphers, and a digital art center that bridges tradition and technology.

Read more: National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts on Qualla

Image: Jeanette | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/national-taiwan-museum-of-fine-arts-wp/wsmc-national-taiwan-museum-of-fine-arts-combined.mp3 4:42 full Rainbow Village https://qualla.com/rainbow-village/ A retired soldier, alone in a crumbling military village marked for demolition, picked up a paintbrush at age 86 and covered every surface in color, accidentally creating one of Taiwan's most visited street art destinations.

Read more: Rainbow Village on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/rainbow-village-wp/wsmc-rainbow-village-combined.mp3 4:31 full Weierkang Club Fire https://qualla.com/weierkang-club-fire/ A natural gas leak in a Taichung restaurant killed 64 people in 1995 after blocked emergency exits, unbreakable windows, and fleeing employees trapped diners inside, forcing Taiwan to overhaul its fire safety laws.

Read more: Weierkang Club Fire on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/c/weierkang-club-fire-wp/wsmc-weierkang-club-fire-combined.mp3 4:02 full 1935 Shinchiku-Taichu Earthquake https://qualla.com/1935-shinchiku-taichu-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. The deadliest earthquake in Taiwan's recorded history struck at dawn on April 21, 1935, killing 3,276 people, and the ruins of the Longteng Bridge that collapsed that morning still stand in Miaoli as a monument to the destruction.

Read more: 1935 Shinchiku-Taichu Earthquake on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/f/1935-shinchiku-taichu-earthquake-wp/wsmf-1935-shinchiku-taichu-earthquake-combined.mp3 4:26 full Ching Chuan Kang Air Base https://qualla.com/ching-chuan-kang-air-base/ Photo credit 玄史生, CC BY-SA 3.0. A Cold War linchpin turned modern Taiwanese fighter base, CCK has hosted American Starfighters, Christmas shows for 6,000 troops, and even inspired China to build a full-scale replica for attack rehearsals.

Read more: Ching Chuan Kang Air Base on Qualla

Image: 玄史生 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/f/ching-chuan-kang-air-base-wp/wsmf-ching-chuan-kang-air-base-combined.mp3 5:43 full Taiwan Strait https://qualla.com/taiwan-strait/ Photo credit NASA, US, Public domain. The 180-kilometer channel separating Taiwan from mainland China is one of the most heavily contested bodies of water on Earth, where shipping lanes, fighter jets, and wind farms share the same shallow sea.

Read more: Taiwan Strait on Qualla

Image: NASA, US | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/m/taiwan-strait-wp/wsmm-taiwan-strait-combined.mp3 5:30 full Dapu Incident https://qualla.com/dapu-incident/ A dawn raid that bulldozed farmers' crops two weeks before harvest became a turning point for land rights in Taiwan, exposing how eminent domain was routinely abused for private speculation.

Read more: Dapu Incident on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/u/dapu-incident-wp/wsmu-dapu-incident-combined.mp3 4:19 full 2022 Chinese Military Exercises Around Taiwan https://qualla.com/2022-chinese-military-exercises-around-taiwan/ Photo credit 總統府, CC BY 2.0. When Nancy Pelosi stepped off a plane in Taipei in August 2022, China responded by encircling Taiwan with the largest live-fire military exercises since the 1996 crisis, firing eleven ballistic missiles into surrounding waters.

Read more: 2022 Chinese Military Exercises Around Taiwan on Qualla

Image: 總統府 | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/m/x/2022-chinese-military-exercises-around-taiwan-wp/wsmx-2022-chinese-military-exercises-around-taiwan-combined.mp3 5:44 full Peinan Site Park https://qualla.com/peinan-site-park/ Photo credit Benson KC Fang, CC BY-SA 3.0. When railway workers broke ground behind Taitung station in 1980, they unearthed Taiwan's largest prehistoric settlement - thousands of slate coffins, 20,000 jade artifacts, and a civilization that had thrived three thousand years ago.

Read more: Peinan Site Park on Qualla

Image: Benson KC Fang | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/1/peinan-site-park-wp/wsn1-peinan-site-park-combined.mp3 4:06 full Zhiben Hot Spring https://qualla.com/zhiben-hot-spring/ Photo credit The original uploader was Koika at Chinese Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. First discovered by the indigenous Puyuma people, these carbonic hot springs in Taitung County can exceed 100 degrees Celsius and survived a typhoon that collapsed a riverside hotel on live television.

Read more: Zhiben Hot Spring on Qualla

Image: The original uploader was Koika at Chinese Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/1/zhiben-hot-spring-wp/wsn1-zhiben-hot-spring-combined.mp3 4:23 full Green Island, Taiwan https://qualla.com/green-island-taiwan/ Photo credit Ying-lung LU, CC BY-SA 3.0. A volcanic island 33 kilometers off Taiwan's east coast that served as a prison for political dissidents during the White Terror era and now draws tourists to its coral reefs, hot springs, and human rights memorial.

Read more: Green Island, Taiwan on Qualla

Image: Ying-lung LU | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/2/green-island-taiwan-wp/wsn2-green-island-taiwan-combined.mp3 5:37 full Green Island White Terror Memorial Park https://qualla.com/green-island-white-terror-memorial-park/ Photo credit A-giâu, Public domain. Built on the site where Taiwan imprisoned its political dissidents for nearly four decades, this 32-hectare memorial park preserves a hexagonal prison, a human rights monument, and the memory of those who fought for democracy.

Read more: Green Island White Terror Memorial Park on Qualla

Image: A-giâu | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/2/green-island-white-terror-memorial-park-wp/wsn2-green-island-white-terror-memorial-park-combined.mp3 5:48 full Yu Shan https://qualla.com/yu-shan/ Photo credit User:Kailing3, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's highest peak at 3,952 meters once served as Japan's tallest mountain, provided the coded signal for the Pearl Harbor attack, and today appears on the nation's thousand-dollar bill.

Read more: Yu Shan on Qualla

Image: User:Kailing3 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/j/yu-shan-wp/wsnj-yu-shan-combined.mp3 6:05 full Yushan National Park https://qualla.com/yushan-national-park/ Taiwan's largest, highest, and least accessible national park spans 103,121 hectares of the Central Mountain Range, harboring more than thirty peaks above 3,000 meters and the Bunun people who have called these mountains home for three centuries.

Read more: Yushan National Park on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/j/yushan-national-park-wp/wsnj-yushan-national-park-combined.mp3 5:48 full 1999 Jiji Earthquake https://qualla.com/1999-jiji-earthquake/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's deadliest earthquake in a century struck at 1:47 AM on September 21, 1999, releasing energy equivalent to the Tsar Bomba and reshaping the island's landscape, building codes, and national identity.

Read more: 1999 Jiji Earthquake on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/p/1999-jiji-earthquake-wp/wsnp-1999-jiji-earthquake-combined.mp3 6:39 full February 28 Incident https://qualla.com/february-28-incident/ Photo credit Andy P. Jung (容柏輝) (Night Tracks), CC BY-SA 3.0. A cigarette vendor's beating in 1947 Taipei ignited an island-wide uprising that the Kuomintang crushed with military force, killing an estimated 18,000 to 28,000 people and shaping Taiwan's political identity for generations.

Read more: February 28 Incident on Qualla

Image: Andy P. Jung (容柏輝) (Night Tracks) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/p/february-28-incident-wp/wsnp-february-28-incident-combined.mp3 5:27 full Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village https://qualla.com/formosan-aboriginal-culture-village/ Photo credit Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0. Part amusement park, part living museum, this hillside complex in central Taiwan preserves the architecture and traditions of nine indigenous tribal communities alongside roller coasters and a Gothic clock tower.

Read more: Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village on Qualla

Image: Bernard Gagnon | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/p/formosan-aboriginal-culture-village-wp/wsnp-formosan-aboriginal-culture-village-combined.mp3 4:40 full Lintianshan Forestry Culture Park https://qualla.com/lintianshan-forestry-culture-park/ Photo credit Mnb at Chinese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. A ghost town reborn as a heritage village, this former Japanese-era logging settlement in Hualien County preserves a century of forestry history through its dormitories, rail tracks, and the silence of mountains that were once stripped bare.

Read more: Lintianshan Forestry Culture Park on Qualla

Image: Mnb at Chinese Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/q/lintianshan-forestry-culture-park-wp/wsnq-lintianshan-forestry-culture-park-combined.mp3 4:11 full 1951 East Rift Valley Earthquakes https://qualla.com/1951-east-rift-valley-earthquakes/ Photo credit Mikenorton, CC BY-SA 3.0. Over six weeks in late 1951, a devastating swarm of four major earthquakes -- two reaching magnitude 7.3 and one 7.8 -- hammered Taiwan's remote eastern valleys, killing 85 people and destroying 3,000 homes in communities that had barely recovered from war.

Read more: 1951 East Rift Valley Earthquakes on Qualla

Image: Mikenorton | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/x/1951-east-rift-valley-earthquakes-wp/wsnx-1951-east-rift-valley-earthquakes-combined.mp3 4:08 full 2024 Hualien Earthquake https://qualla.com/2024-hualien-earthquake/ Photo credit 總統府 / Official Photo by Shufu Liu / Office of the President Perspective correction made by Basile Morin from the original version., CC BY 2.0. On the morning of April 3, 2024, a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck south of Hualien City -- Taiwan's strongest since the devastating 1999 Jiji quake -- burying hikers under rockfalls in Taroko National Park and leaving much of the gorge closed indefinitely.

Read more: 2024 Hualien Earthquake on Qualla

Image: 總統府 / Official Photo by Shufu Liu / Office of the President Perspective correction made by Basile Morin from the original version. | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/n/x/2024-hualien-earthquake-wp/wsnx-2024-hualien-earthquake-combined.mp3 5:39 full Hehuanshan https://qualla.com/hehuanshan/ Photo credit Kailing3 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5. Taiwan's most accessible high peak offers 360-degree views from 3,416 meters, designated dark skies for stargazing, and the ruins of an abandoned ski lift from the martial law era -- all reached by the highest road on the island.

Read more: Hehuanshan on Qualla

Image: Kailing3 at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 2.5

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/1/hehuanshan-wp/wsq1-hehuanshan-combined.mp3 4:58 full Hualien Railway Culture Park https://qualla.com/hualien-railway-culture-park/ Photo credit Mk2010, CC BY-SA 4.0. The former headquarters of Taiwan's eastern railway line, built in 1932, has been preserved as a cultural park housing narrow-gauge locomotives and the story of how rail connected Taiwan's remote east coast to the rest of the island.

Read more: Hualien Railway Culture Park on Qualla

Image: Mk2010 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/2/hualien-railway-culture-park-wp/wsq2-hualien-railway-culture-park-combined.mp3 3:45 full Taroko Gorge https://qualla.com/taroko-gorge/ Photo credit Cmglee, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 19-kilometer marble canyon on Taiwan's east coast where walls rise 300 meters above a blue-green river, Taroko Gorge is one of only three gorges on Earth carved entirely through pure marble.

Read more: Taroko Gorge on Qualla

Image: Cmglee | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/3/taroko-gorge-wk/wsq3-taroko-gorge-combined.mp3 5:29 full Taroko National Park https://qualla.com/taroko-national-park/ Spanning 92,000 hectares across three counties, Taroko National Park protects the world's deepest marble canyon, 27 peaks above 3,000 meters, and the homeland of the indigenous Truku people who gave it its name.

Read more: Taroko National Park on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/3/taroko-national-park-wp/wsq3-taroko-national-park-combined.mp3 5:27 full Shei-Pa National Park https://qualla.com/shei-pa-national-park/ Photo credit Peellden, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's fifth national park shelters the island's second-highest peak, ancient forests drenched in 4,000mm of annual rainfall, and the last wild population of Formosan landlocked salmon.

Read more: Shei-Pa National Park on Qualla

Image: Peellden | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/4/shei-pa-national-park-wk/wsq4-shei-pa-national-park-combined.mp3 6:01 full Smangus https://qualla.com/smangus/ Taiwan's most remote indigenous village - once called Black Village for its isolation - now runs as a communal society inspired by both Atayal tradition and the Israeli kibbutz.

Read more: Smangus on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/7/smangus-wk/wsq7-smangus-combined.mp3 5:32 full Taiping Mountain Forest Railway https://qualla.com/taiping-mountain-forest-railway/ Photo credit Yc9660316, CC BY-SA 4.0. A century-old narrow-gauge railway on Taiwan's Taiping Mountain, where the 'Bongbong Train' still clatters through cloud forest on tracks originally built to haul timber down to the lowlands.

Read more: Taiping Mountain Forest Railway on Qualla

Image: Yc9660316 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/7/taiping-mountain-forest-railway-wp/wsq7-taiping-mountain-forest-railway-combined.mp3 5:51 full 2021 Hualien Train Derailment https://qualla.com/2021-hualien-train-derailment/ Photo credit Fred Hsu, CC BY-SA 3.0. On April 2, 2021, a construction truck rolled onto the tracks near Qingshui Tunnel in eastern Taiwan, derailing a Taroko Express train and killing 49 people in Taiwan's deadliest rail disaster in decades.

Read more: 2021 Hualien Train Derailment on Qualla

Image: Fred Hsu | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/9/2021-hualien-train-derailment-wp/wsq9-2021-hualien-train-derailment-combined.mp3 5:46 full Qingshui Cliff https://qualla.com/qingshui-cliff/ Photo credit Fred Hsu, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's highest sea cliff rises 2,408 meters straight from the Pacific Ocean - a wall of marble and gneiss where two tectonic plates collide, the Suhua Highway clings to its face, and even frogs cannot cross.

Read more: Qingshui Cliff on Qualla

Image: Fred Hsu | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/9/qingshui-cliff-wp/wsq9-qingshui-cliff-combined.mp3 5:41 full Nanfang'ao Bridge https://qualla.com/nanfang-ao-bridge/ Photo credit 玄史生, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's only steel single-arch bridge collapsed into a fishing harbor on a Tuesday morning in 2019, killing six people - its steel cables corroded to less than a quarter of their original strength after 21 years and a single inspection.

Read more: Nanfang'ao Bridge on Qualla

Image: 玄史生 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/e/nanfang-ao-bridge-wp/wsqe-nanfang-ao-bridge-combined.mp3 5:47 full Hsinchu Science Park https://qualla.com/hsinchu-science-park/ Photo credit Weihao.chiu, CC BY-SA 3.0. Modeled on Silicon Valley by a minister who consulted its architect, Hsinchu Science Park became the nerve center of the global semiconductor industry - home to TSMC, UMC, and more than 500 companies that once produced 10% of Taiwan's GDP.

Read more: Hsinchu Science Park on Qualla

Image: Weihao.chiu | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/h/hsinchu-science-park-wp/wsqh-hsinchu-science-park-combined.mp3 6:14 full TSMC https://qualla.com/tsmc/ Photo credit Hunter Trick (TrickHunter), CC BY-SA 4.0. Founded in 1987 with Taiwanese government backing and Philips technology, TSMC invented the dedicated semiconductor foundry model and became the world's most critical chipmaker - manufacturing processors for Apple, Nvidia, and most of the global technology industry.

Read more: TSMC on Qualla

Image: Hunter Trick (TrickHunter) | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/h/tsmc-wp/wsqh-tsmc-combined.mp3 6:41 full Daxi Wude Hall https://qualla.com/daxi-wude-hall/ Photo credit The original uploader was Mnb at Chinese Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. A 1935 martial arts training hall in Daxi, Taiwan, where Japanese colonial police once practiced kendo and judo beneath a roof adorned with dragon-headed fish - now a heritage site that has served as a presidential residence, a military police post, and a children's activity center.

Read more: Daxi Wude Hall on Qualla

Image: The original uploader was Mnb at Chinese Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/j/daxi-wude-hall-wp/wsqj-daxi-wude-hall-combined.mp3 5:41 full Leofoo Village Theme Park https://qualla.com/leofoo-village-theme-park/ Photo credit Rico Shen, CC BY-SA 3.0. Half theme park, half safari - Leofoo Village in Hsinchu County began as a wildlife park in 1979 and evolved into Taiwan's most eclectic amusement destination, where Bengal tigers roam a few hundred meters from an inverted roller coaster and an Arabian dark ride.

Read more: Leofoo Village Theme Park on Qualla

Image: Rico Shen | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/j/leofoo-village-theme-park-wp/wsqj-leofoo-village-theme-park-combined.mp3 5:49 full Shihmen Dam https://qualla.com/shihmen-dam/ Photo credit Honmingjun, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's first multi-purpose dam tamed the Dahan River to feed three million people, but decades of relentless sedimentation now threaten the reservoir that transformed northern Taiwan's economy.

Read more: Shihmen Dam on Qualla

Image: Honmingjun | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/j/shihmen-dam-wp/wsqj-shihmen-dam-combined.mp3 5:33 full Zhongli Incident https://qualla.com/zhongli-incident/ In 1977, a small Taiwanese town erupted in fury over election rigging, producing the first mass political protest since the 1940s and igniting the slow burn toward democracy.

Read more: Zhongli Incident on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/j/zhongli-incident-wp/wsqj-zhongli-incident-combined.mp3 4:35 full Luodong Forest Railway https://qualla.com/luodong-forest-railway/ Photo credit 王彥翔, CC BY-SA 3.0. For 55 years a narrow-gauge railway hauled timber down from Taiping Mountain to the town of Luodong, earning the affectionate nickname 'Bong Bong Train' before flooding silenced it in 1979.

Read more: Luodong Forest Railway on Qualla

Image: 王彥翔 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/k/luodong-forest-railway-wp/wsqk-luodong-forest-railway-combined.mp3 4:12 full Shuanglianpi Wetland https://qualla.com/shuanglianpi-wetland/ A shallow mountain lake in Yilan County harbors such extraordinary plant density that Taiwan's Forestry Bureau considers it a wetland of global significance -- and it is the only place on the island where Trapa bispinosa still grows.

Read more: Shuanglianpi Wetland on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/k/shuanglianpi-wetland-wp/wsqk-shuanglianpi-wetland-combined.mp3 4:25 full Chiang Kai-shek Statues https://qualla.com/chiang-kai-shek-statues/ Photo credit Fred Hsu (Wikipedia:User:Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia), CC BY-SA 3.0. Hundreds of bronze statues of Chiang Kai-shek once watched over Taiwan's parks, schools, and military bases -- and the long, contentious effort to remove them became a defining chapter in the island's struggle with its authoritarian past.

Read more: Chiang Kai-shek Statues on Qualla

Image: Fred Hsu (Wikipedia:User:Fred Hsu on en.wikipedia) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/m/chiang-kai-shek-statues-wp/wsqm-chiang-kai-shek-statues-combined.mp3 5:24 full Cihu Mausoleum https://qualla.com/cihu-mausoleum/ Photo credit Jiang, Public domain. Chiang Kai-shek's body rests in a black marble sarcophagus in his favorite lakeside residence -- still waiting, decades later, for a burial in mainland China that will never come.

Read more: Cihu Mausoleum on Qualla

Image: Jiang | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/m/cihu-mausoleum-wp/wsqm-cihu-mausoleum-combined.mp3 4:35 full Sanxia Car Attack https://qualla.com/sanxia-car-attack/ Photo credit Sinsyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0. On a Monday afternoon in May 2025, a 78-year-old driver accelerated to over 100 km/h through a school zone in Sanxia District, killing three people and injuring eleven others -- an act prosecutors later classified as showing 'oblique intent to kill.'

Read more: Sanxia Car Attack on Qualla

Image: Sinsyuan | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/m/sanxia-car-attack-wp/wsqm-sanxia-car-attack-combined.mp3 4:46 full Wulai Atayal Museum https://qualla.com/wulai-atayal-museum/ A three-story museum on Wulai Old Street preserves the face tattoo traditions, migration stories, and daily crafts of the Atayal people -- Taiwan's third-largest indigenous group.

Read more: Wulai Atayal Museum on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/m/wulai-atayal-museum-wp/wsqm-wulai-atayal-museum-combined.mp3 4:56 full Wulai https://qualla.com/wulai/ Photo credit (WT-en) Ash rex at English Wikivoyage, Public domain. A mountain town south of Taipei where the Atayal word for 'hot and poisonous' became a name, and the hot springs, waterfalls, and indigenous cuisine became reasons to visit.

Read more: Wulai on Qualla

Image: (WT-en) Ash rex at English Wikivoyage | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/m/wulai-wk/wsqm-wulai-combined.mp3 4:49 full 2016 Taoyuan Bus Fire https://qualla.com/2016-taoyuan-bus-fire/ Photo credit 木靈芝, CC BY-SA 4.0. On July 19, 2016, a tour bus carrying Chinese tourists burst into flames on a highway near Taoyuan Airport, killing all 26 people aboard -- an act investigators later determined was deliberate arson by the driver.

Read more: 2016 Taoyuan Bus Fire on Qualla

Image: 木靈芝 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/n/2016-taoyuan-bus-fire-wp/wsqn-2016-taoyuan-bus-fire-combined.mp3 5:16 full Singapore Airlines Flight 006 https://qualla.com/singapore-airlines-flight-006/ Photo credit Terence Ong, CC BY 2.5. A Boeing 747-400 attempted takeoff on a closed runway during a typhoon at Taipei's airport in October 2000, killing 83 people in Singapore Airlines' first fatal accident.

Read more: Singapore Airlines Flight 006 on Qualla

Image: Terence Ong | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/n/singapore-airlines-flight-006-wp/wsqn-singapore-airlines-flight-006-combined.mp3 5:46 full Taoyuan Air Base https://qualla.com/taoyuan-air-base/ Photo credit USAF;, Public domain. A Cold War military airfield in Taiwan where disassembled F-104 Starfighters arrived by cargo plane, spy missions launched over mainland China, and a defecting bomber pilot landed against his own crew's wishes.

Read more: Taoyuan Air Base on Qualla

Image: USAF; | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/n/taoyuan-air-base-wp/wsqn-taoyuan-air-base-combined.mp3 4:40 full Taoyuan Guanxin Algal Reefs Ecosystem Wildlife Refuge https://qualla.com/taoyuan-guanxin-algal-reefs-ecosystem-wildlife-refuge/ Photo credit Jen266508, CC BY-SA 4.0. Along Taiwan's Taoyuan coast, ancient algal reefs built by coralline algae over 7,500 years now survive as one of the world's rarest marine ecosystems, protected since 2014 as a wildlife refuge.

Read more: Taoyuan Guanxin Algal Reefs Ecosystem Wildlife Refuge on Qualla

Image: Jen266508 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/n/taoyuan-guanxin-algal-reefs-ecosystem-wildlife-refuge-wp/wsqn-taoyuan-guanxin-algal-reefs-ecosystem-wildlife-refuge-combined.mp3 4:34 full Taoyuan International Airport https://qualla.com/taoyuan-international-airport/ Taiwan's busiest airport opened in 1979, shed the name of a dictator in 2006, and is now undergoing a massive expansion that includes a wave-roofed terminal designed by a Pritzker Prize laureate.

Read more: Taoyuan International Airport on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/n/taoyuan-international-airport-wp/wsqn-taoyuan-international-airport-combined.mp3 4:55 full 2009 Summer Deaflympics https://qualla.com/2009-summer-deaflympics/ Photo credit User:阿貴, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taipei hosted the 21st Summer Deaflympics in September 2009, building a new stadium, welcoming athletes from 80 nations, and closing with a banquet of beef noodles and mango shaved ice instead of the usual fireworks.

Read more: 2009 Summer Deaflympics on Qualla

Image: User:阿貴 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/2009-summer-deaflympics-wp/wsqq-2009-summer-deaflympics-combined.mp3 4:45 full 2014 Taipei Metro Attack https://qualla.com/2014-taipei-metro-attack/ Photo credit Howard61313, Public domain. On May 21, 2014, a stabbing attack on a Taipei Metro train between Longshan Temple and Jiangzicui stations killed four people and injured 24, shattering the system's reputation as one of Asia's safest.

Read more: 2014 Taipei Metro Attack on Qualla

Image: Howard61313 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/2014-taipei-metro-attack-wp/wsqq-2014-taipei-metro-attack-combined.mp3 5:09 full 228 Peace Memorial Park https://qualla.com/228-peace-memorial-park/ Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. A Taipei park that began as a colonial showpiece in 1900 became a site of broadcast propaganda, then a memorial to one of Taiwan's darkest chapters: the February 28 Incident of 1947.

Read more: 228 Peace Memorial Park on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/228-peace-memorial-park-wp/wsqq-228-peace-memorial-park-combined.mp3 5:04 full 32 Demands https://qualla.com/32-demands/ On the evening of March 7, 1947, Taiwanese representatives delivered 32 demands for democratic reform to their governor, knowing that troops from mainland China were already on the way to crush them.

Read more: 32 Demands on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/32-demands-wp/wsqq-32-demands-combined.mp3 5:06 full Academia Sinica https://qualla.com/academia-sinica/ Photo credit Lysimachi, CC BY-SA 4.0. Founded in Nanjing in 1928 and transplanted to Taiwan during the Chinese Civil War, Academia Sinica is the island's national academy, home to Nobel laureates, a forest park, and an earth god temple.

Read more: Academia Sinica on Qualla

Image: Lysimachi | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/academia-sinica-wp/wsqq-academia-sinica-combined.mp3 5:34 full Ama Museum https://qualla.com/ama-museum/ Photo credit Solomon203, CC BY-SA 4.0. Taiwan's only museum dedicated to the women forced into sexual slavery during Japanese colonial rule survived financial crisis and a pandemic to reopen in a new location in 2021.

Read more: Ama Museum on Qualla

Image: Solomon203 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/ama-museum-wp/wsqq-ama-museum-combined.mp3 5:03 full Beitou Hot Spring Museum https://qualla.com/beitou-hot-spring-museum/ Photo credit Wing1990hk, CC BY 3.0. A grand Edwardian bathhouse built under Japanese rule as East Asia's largest public bath, this building survived decades of neglect, political repurposing, and sulfuric corrosion before local residents rescued it from oblivion.

Read more: Beitou Hot Spring Museum on Qualla

Image: Wing1990hk | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/beitou-hot-spring-museum-wp/wsqq-beitou-hot-spring-museum-combined.mp3 4:34 full Bopiliao Historic Block https://qualla.com/bopiliao-historic-block/ Photo credit Yu tptw, CC BY-SA 4.0. One of Taipei's oldest commercial streets preserves over two centuries of layered architecture -- Qing Dynasty shophouses, Japanese-era plazas, and postwar neglect -- saved from demolition by an elementary school and a gangster movie.

Read more: Bopiliao Historic Block on Qualla

Image: Yu tptw | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/bopiliao-historic-block-wp/wsqq-bopiliao-historic-block-combined.mp3 4:19 full Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall https://qualla.com/chiang-kai-shek-memorial-hall/ Photo credit Jiang, Public domain. Built to honor a dictator, this white marble monument became the staging ground for the very democracy that dismantled his authoritarian legacy -- and Taiwan is still arguing about what it means.

Read more: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Qualla

Image: Jiang | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/chiang-kai-shek-memorial-hall-wp/wsqq-chiang-kai-shek-memorial-hall-combined.mp3 4:46 full Control Yuan https://qualla.com/control-yuan/ Photo credit The original uploader was Allentchang at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. A watchdog branch of government born from imperial China's censor tradition and Sun Yat-sen's five-power theory, housed in a Japanese colonial-era building that has outlasted the constitutional framework it was designed to serve.

Read more: Control Yuan on Qualla

Image: The original uploader was Allentchang at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/control-yuan-wp/wsqq-control-yuan-combined.mp3 5:01 full Dadaocheng https://qualla.com/dadaocheng/ Taipei's oldest commercial district rose on tea exports and British trading houses in the 1850s, survived colonial occupation and wartime upheaval, and still operates the same narrow streets where Taiwan's modern economy began.

Read more: Dadaocheng on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/dadaocheng-wp/wsqq-dadaocheng-combined.mp3 4:33 full Dalongdong Baoan Temple https://qualla.com/dalongdong-baoan-temple/ Photo credit Dudva, CC BY-SA 4.0. Built in 1804 by immigrants from Fujian who named it to "protect those from Tong'an," this UNESCO-recognized temple survived neglect and colonial rule to become one of Taiwan's finest examples of traditional architecture and craftsmanship.

Read more: Dalongdong Baoan Temple on Qualla

Image: Dudva | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/dalongdong-baoan-temple-wp/wsqq-dalongdong-baoan-temple-combined.mp3 4:20 full Death and Funeral of Lee Teng-hui https://qualla.com/death-and-funeral-of-lee-teng-hui/ Photo credit 總統府, CC BY 2.0. When Taiwan's "Mr. Democracy" died in 2020 at age 97, his funeral united rival political camps, drew tributes from Japan's former prime minister and the Dalai Lama, and became the island's reckoning with the man who ended authoritarian rule.

Read more: Death and Funeral of Lee Teng-hui on Qualla

Image: 總統府 | CC BY 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/death-and-funeral-of-lee-teng-hui-wp/wsqq-death-and-funeral-of-lee-teng-hui-combined.mp3 4:50 full Dihua Street https://qualla.com/dihua-street/ Taipei's oldest street has been a commercial artery since the Dutch colonial era, named after a distant city in Xinjiang, and still draws three-quarters of a million shoppers each Lunar New Year to buy dried goods from stores that have operated for generations.

Read more: Dihua Street on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/dihua-street-wp/wsqq-dihua-street-combined.mp3 4:39 full Grand Hotel (Taipei) https://qualla.com/grand-hotel-taipei/ Photo credit Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A., CC BY-SA 2.0. Chiang Kai-shek built this Chinese palace-style hotel on the ruins of a Japanese Shinto shrine to impress foreign dignitaries, and it became a Taipei icon -- complete with secret tunnels, a catastrophic fire, and dragon heads turned inward to ward off the next one.

Read more: Grand Hotel (Taipei) on Qualla

Image: Roger W from Sarasota, Florida, U.S.A. | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/grand-hotel-taipei-wp/wsqq-grand-hotel-taipei-combined.mp3 4:55 full Huashan 1914 Creative Park https://qualla.com/huashan-1914-creative-park/ Photo credit Wpcpey, CC BY 4.0. A Japanese-era sake winery that became a government liquor factory, produced Taiwan's most popular cheap spirit, sat abandoned for a decade, was illegally occupied by theater artists, and is now one of Taipei's most important creative spaces.

Read more: Huashan 1914 Creative Park on Qualla

Image: Wpcpey | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/huashan-1914-creative-park-wp/wsqq-huashan-1914-creative-park-combined.mp3 4:33 full Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard Protest https://qualla.com/indigenous-ketagalan-boulevard-protest/ Photo credit Solomon203, CC BY-SA 4.0. An ongoing indigenous rights encampment on Taipei's most politically charged boulevard became a rallying point for land rights, environmental justice, and unlikely alliances.

Read more: Indigenous Ketagalan Boulevard Protest on Qualla

Image: Solomon203 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/indigenous-ketagalan-boulevard-protest-wp/wsqq-indigenous-ketagalan-boulevard-protest-combined.mp3 6:01 full Ketagalan Boulevard https://qualla.com/ketagalan-boulevard/ Photo credit Jiang, Public domain. A 400-meter road in Taipei that has been renamed, protested on, and fought over more than any street in Taiwan -- because it leads straight to the seat of power.

Read more: Ketagalan Boulevard on Qualla

Image: Jiang | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/ketagalan-boulevard-wp/wsqq-ketagalan-boulevard-combined.mp3 4:33 full Land Reform in Taiwan https://qualla.com/land-reform-in-taiwan/ A government that had just lost an entire country to revolution arrived on a small island and did the one thing its enemies had promised but failed to deliver: it gave the land to the people who farmed it.

Read more: Land Reform in Taiwan on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/land-reform-in-taiwan-wp/wsqq-land-reform-in-taiwan-combined.mp3 4:50 full Legislative Yuan https://qualla.com/legislative-yuan/ Photo credit Jiang, Public domain. Taiwan's unicameral parliament began as a rubber stamp for dictatorship, spent decades frozen by civil war, and evolved into a legislature so raucous it once won a satirical Nobel Peace Prize for fistfighting.

Read more: Legislative Yuan on Qualla

Image: Jiang | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/legislative-yuan-wp/wsqq-legislative-yuan-combined.mp3 5:55 full Liberty Square (Taipei) https://qualla.com/liberty-square-taipei/ Photo credit Hsing Lo, CC BY-SA 4.0. A plaza built to honor a dictator became the birthplace of Taiwanese democracy, and the name carved above its gate tells the whole story of that transformation.

Read more: Liberty Square (Taipei) on Qualla

Image: Hsing Lo | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/liberty-square-taipei-wp/wsqq-liberty-square-taipei-combined.mp3 5:37 full Lin Family Mansion and Garden https://qualla.com/lin-family-mansion-and-garden/ Photo credit zh:User:Weihao.chiu, CC BY-SA 3.0. Taiwan's most complete surviving traditional Chinese garden was built by a rice merchant's descendants who turned wealth into a private world of pavilions, ponds, and coded symbolism.

Read more: Lin Family Mansion and Garden on Qualla

Image: zh:User:Weihao.chiu | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/lin-family-mansion-and-garden-wp/wsqq-lin-family-mansion-and-garden-combined.mp3 5:15 full Losheng Sanatorium https://qualla.com/losheng-sanatorium/ Photo credit Koika, CC BY-SA 3.0. A 1930s leprosy sanatorium in New Taipei became the center of a bitter battle between transit expansion and the rights of elderly patients who had already been confined there against their will.

Read more: Losheng Sanatorium on Qualla

Image: Koika | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/losheng-sanatorium-wp/wsqq-losheng-sanatorium-combined.mp3 5:30 full Maokong Gondola https://qualla.com/maokong-gondola/ Photo credit Solomon203, CC BY-SA 4.0. A cable car system that stranded a mayor in mid-air on day one, trapped hundreds of passengers on day seventeen, and nearly lost a support pillar to typhoons -- yet became one of Taipei's most beloved attractions.

Read more: Maokong Gondola on Qualla

Image: Solomon203 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/maokong-gondola-wp/wsqq-maokong-gondola-combined.mp3 5:09 full National Museum of History https://qualla.com/national-museum-of-history/ Taiwan's first post-war museum was built from artifacts rescued from a lost homeland, housed in a Japanese-style building remade to look like a Chinese palace, near a botanical garden in the heart of Taipei.

Read more: National Museum of History on Qualla

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-museum-of-history-wp/wsqq-national-museum-of-history-combined.mp3 4:52 full National Palace Museum https://qualla.com/national-palace-museum/ Photo credit Tslai, CC BY-SA 4.0. Born from the collapse of imperial China and smuggled across a war-torn continent in 13,000 crates, this museum's collection tells the story of a civilization's treasures that barely survived the twentieth century.

Read more: National Palace Museum on Qualla

Image: Tslai | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-palace-museum-wp/wsqq-national-palace-museum-combined.mp3 5:25 full National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine https://qualla.com/national-revolutionary-martyrs-shrine/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Jiang assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. Modeled after Beijing's Forbidden City and honoring 390,000 war dead, this Taipei shrine transformed from a Japanese Shinto site into one of the Republic of China's most solemn memorials -- where teachers, postal workers, and healthcare workers now stand alongside soldiers.

Read more: National Revolutionary Martyrs' Shrine on Qualla

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Jiang assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-revolutionary-martyrs-shrine-wp/wsqq-national-revolutionary-martyrs-shrine-combined.mp3 4:37 full National Taiwan Museum https://qualla.com/national-taiwan-museum/ Photo credit Taiwan Junior, CC BY 3.0. Founded in 1908 to celebrate a railway's completion, Taiwan's oldest museum has outlasted an empire, a world war, two name changes, and a political revolution -- all without leaving its original site.

Read more: National Taiwan Museum on Qualla

Image: Taiwan Junior | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-taiwan-museum-wp/wsqq-national-taiwan-museum-combined.mp3 4:29 full National Taiwan University https://qualla.com/national-taiwan-university/ Photo credit CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Founded as an imperial Japanese university in 1928 and transformed after the war into Taiwan's premier institution, NTU has produced four presidents, a Nobel laureate, and the island's largest academic endowment.

Read more: National Taiwan University on Qualla

Image: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-taiwan-university-wp/wsqq-national-taiwan-university-combined.mp3 4:29 full National Theater and Concert Hall https://qualla.com/national-theater-and-concert-hall/ Photo credit Alton.arts at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5. Twin performing arts venues built as a memorial to Chiang Kai-shek became Asia's premiere cultural stage, where Luciano Pavarotti, the Berlin Philharmonic, and Cloud Gate Dance Theater have performed under roofs modeled on Chinese imperial palaces.

Read more: National Theater and Concert Hall on Qualla

Image: Alton.arts at English Wikipedia | CC BY 2.5

]]> Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/s/q/q/national-theater-and-concert-hall-wp/wsqq-national-theater-and-concert-hall-combined.mp3 4:39 full