BEIJING, June 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — This episode of CGTN’s three-part documentary exploring Taiwan adopts a unique food-centric perspective in investigating the inseparable cultural bonds that tie the island and the Chinese mainland together.
CGTN documentary ‘Taiwan Through the Ages: Savoring Nostalgia’
Riding his motorbike, Taipei food vlogger Wang Yiqin takes us on a journey around Taiwan Island to investigate the concept of Ko Cha Bi – a phrase used by migrants to Taiwan from Fujian to express their nostalgia for the flavors of home.
In the Gangshan district of Kaohsiung, second-generation restaurateur Liu Yijun is keeping alive the Sichuan food heritage brought to Taiwan by his father. A simple bowl of braised beef noodles stands as testimony to the resilience of the 1949 Taiwan-bound veterans and tells the tale of the juancun – military villages – where they settled and laid down roots with their families.
The story continues across the Straits, on Dongshan Island in Fujian. Back in his ancestral home, Taiwan entrepreneur Lin Shengzhang creates cultural figurines that bridge shared cross-Straits beliefs. Also, there’s Yan Dingzhao, who has fulfilled a half-century dream by bringing his father’s ashes from Penghu to Dongshan. Here, local delicacies including fish noodle soup and oyster omelets resonate with Taiwan’s braised pork rice and oyster pancakes, revealing a shared culinary DNA.
The documentary explores the emotional and spiritual appeal of these totemic flavors and the history they’re associated with. We attend the traditional Dragon Boat Festival in Zhangzhou and discover how the local zongzi – sticky rice wrapped in a bamboo leaf – has become a symbol of kinship ties; we meet the Wufeng Lin family in Taichung and hear about their yearning for their Fujian roots; and we discover how the tradition of making tofu is reflected in two shared place names.
In Dali, Southwest China, Taiwan businessman Lin Yunlian has spent two decades cultivating Taiwan’s high-mountain oolong tea in the kindred soil of Mount Cangshan, on the same latitude. His simple remark “It’s easy to settle,” epitomizes the strength of the cultural roots shared by people on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.
