The Jewels of Taiwan

This is yet another idea from my interest in broadcast media. This one is inspired from the article “Taiwan: China on the Edge”, from the 2007 edition of Passport to World Band Radio. This article concentrates on the radio scene in Taiwan. However, there is a POD that I’m planning on exploiting that is in 1949, when two companies managed to go their separate ways, only in OTL to reunite that same year. However, since I’m assuming here that not a lot of people here are familiar with the broadcast media scene in Taiwan, I’ll start from the beginning.


Like with the "Hier ist der Rundfunk AFN in Deutschland" TL, any comments are well-appreciated.

Prologue

Origins


1923: First radio station in China established in January in Harbin by American E.G. Osborn. This station was known as the Radio Corporation of China.

1925: The Japanese government established the first radio station in Formosa on 17 June. Known simply as Taiwan Radio, it was based in Taipei and it demonstrated radio technology to the Taiwanese.

1926: The Radio Corporation of China goes on the air for the first time.

1927: In March, a privately-owned radio station is established in Shanghai. That year, warlords shut down the Radio Corporation of China, partly because it was not a station run by Chinese citizens.

1928: The Republic of China becomes interested in radio and a radio station is established. This station was based in Nanking and was owned by the KMT. On 1 August the station was on the air for the first time. At the same time, on 1 November the Traffic Bureau of the Formosan government began experimental broadcasting; this transmitter replaced Taiwan Radio.

1931: JFAK, the first licensed radio station, is established on 15 January. It is known as the Taipei Broadcasting Station. In keeping with Japanese custom, a listening fee of ¥1 was instituted.

1932: JFBK, in Tainan, is established on 1 April. This station relayed programming from JFAK.

1934: On 20 June, radiotelephone service begins between Tokyo and Taipei. NHK, the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation, takes over the Taipei Broadcasting Station (JFAK and JFBK) and on 12 September JFAK and JFBK relay NHK programming.

1935: NHK’s reach is extended thanks to the founding on 11 May of JFCK, based in Taichung.

1937-1945: The Second Sino-Japanese War forces the ROC-owned Nanking-based radio station to first to Hankou, then to Chungking.

1937: An external service in Amoy is started by JFAK, aimed at China’s Fuchien province. A month later JFAK starts up an external service aimed at the South Pacific.

1942: JFDK in Chiayi starts broadcasting on 31 August. Later that same year, in Minxiong, a 100 kW transmitter was added.

1944: JFEK begins broadcasting in Hwalien on 15 May. This is the last NHK station to be established in Formosa.

1945: By now the ROC owns 39 stations, now collectively called the China Broadcasting System (CBS). A separate company was founded called the Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC), which managed the CBS. On 15 August Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek personally visited CBS Nanking to give news of the Japanese surrender. The BCC soon inherited NHK’s stations in Formosa, now known as Taiwan, and thus the radiotelephone service between Tokyo and Taipei is ended and NHK relays are stopped.

1947-1949: The CBS and BCC are moved to Taiwan, along with the ROC government. By 1949, the CBS is now reduced to five stations in Taipei (former JFAK), Tainan (former JFBK), Taichung (former JFCK), Chiayi (former JDFK), and Hwalien (former JFEK). Around this time the CBS and BCC became separate entities, with the BCC managing the national and regional radio networks in Taiwan and the CBS focusing their broadcasting towards Mainland China.

POD: In OTL, this separation of the CBS’s and BCC’s duties was short-lived, and in the CBS’s first board meeting it was reincorporated into the BCC. In TTL, the BCC and CBS remain separate organizations. Thus, the CBS remain under direct government supervision because of its role as broadcaster of programming towards Mainland China. The BCC, however, goes through a different timeline, and both the CBS and BCC are different companies in the new millennium.

Part I
The Birth of the Modern CBS & BCC

Telling the story of the birth of the modern-day Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC) and Central Broadcasting System (CBS; from 1949 all the way to the 1980’s officially known as the China Broadcasting System) is also retelling the story of Taiwan. The BCC and CBS as it is known today were born around the same time as modern-day Taiwan was born. As Taiwan grew and progressed, so did the BCC and CBS. As a result, the CBS and BCC are as Taiwanese as Taiwan itself. Considering the twin origins of Taiwan’s media system, from both Nationalist China and the Japanese era, this is impressive. Today Taiwan has one of the freest media systems in the world, with private radio companies coexisting with the CBS and the BCC. This is also the story of private media in Taiwan.

The story begins well before Mao Tse-tung announced the formation of the People’s Republic of China. In anticipation of the separation of the CBS’s and BCC’s duties and functions, in 1948 the BCC sends a delegation of BCC workers to the United Kingdom to examine the operations of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The purpose was to examine the BBC model and thus to see how this model could be applied to Taiwan. The delegation was pleased with the results, and thus when they returned home they brought with them a few BBC people. However, before they left, the delegation was ordered by the ROC government that when they return, they should do so to Kaohsiung, in Formosa.

1949 soon became the year that launched the BCC and CBS into two different companies with two different missions. The BCC changed the most, and it began in 1949. In this year, the BCC began transmissions of the newly-created BCC National Programme, which was the BCC’s version of the BBC Home Service. Regional programming, under the umbrella name of the BCC Regional Programme, also began broadcasting from the five stations inherited by the BCC. The five stations also got new names: the former JFAK at Taipei became BCC Northern Taiwan, JFBK (at Tainan) became BCC Southern Taiwan, JFCK (in Taichung) became BCC North Central Taiwan, JFDK (at Chiayi) became BCC South Central Taiwan, and JFEK (at Hwalien) became BCC Eastern Taiwan. BCC Northern Taiwan created the BCC National Programme and a common evening segment (the predecessor of the BCC Perspective Programme) for the other BCC stations whilst broadcasting its own Regional Programme. The other four BCC stations relayed the BCC National Programme from BCC Northern Taiwan. They too had their own regional programming, whilst relaying the common evening segment from BCC Northern Taiwan. This became the model for future BCC radio services.

At the same time, the Legislative Yuan passes a law transforming the BCC into a public corporation under a Government contract to provide public-service programming to the Chinese people. Replicating Japan’s system that financed NHK’s Formosa relays during the Japanese era, a listening fee of NT$5 was instituted to finance the BCC. This law managed to keep the BCC away from direct government supervision; however they knew that the ROC government could easily take away the contract so as a result the BCC managed to keep a neutral tone.

The CBS, however, was still the legal national broadcaster of the Republic of China and as such remained under direct government supervision, with its funding part of the annual national budget. Thus it was seen by many Taiwanese as a mouthpiece of not only the KMT, but also of the ROC government. What’s more, the CBS broadcasted the same programming as it did when it was on the Mainland. The BCC and CBS initially shared the same transmitters, and it remained this way until the late 1950s. At the CBS, broadcasting within Taiwan was given a low priority; instead it focused its energies at broadcasting to Mainland China in the hope that someday, thanks to CBS programming, the Chinese people would rise up and overthrow their Communist overlords and embrace the ROC. This was augmented on 10 October by the launch of the Voice of Free China, which until the 1970’s was the only international radio service broadcasting from Taiwan.

However, because of the perceived attitude of the CBS as being the mouthpiece of the government, many Taiwanese preferred listening to the BCC. To the Taiwanese, the BCC was seen as a broadcaster to be trusted, especially since the ROC government did not dictate the programming. For the few Mainland Chinese who dared to listen to the CBS’s broadcasts to the Mainland, however, it was their connection to another China that Chairman Mao called “imperialist” – if they believed that the ROC was the only legitimate government over all of China, then the CBS would be their lifeline to what they could believe to be the real China. Mainly, though, the few Chinese who listened to the CBS listened to it primarily because it was another source of information not controlled by the Communists. For DXers (radio enthusiasts) who listened to the Voice of Free China, it was another window on China.

Another part of the Taiwanese media scene also had its origins well before 1949. When the Republic of China was on the Mainland from 1912 to 1949, as soon as radio technology became available they encouraged private media ownership. In 1949, in addition to the broadcasts of the BCC and the CBS, there were scores of privately-owned radio stations. However, around this time they didn’t have a clear programming policy, and in the absence of a national regulator of the broadcast media (let alone a national licensing authority) the Government Information Office (GIO) assumed responsibility for regulating the broadcast media scene of Taiwan and licensing of stations.

With its first year behind them, the BCC and CBS were looking forward to the 1950’s. Indeed, it would be a time of change for all Taiwanese broadcast media.

What do you think so far?

Facinating. Interesting way to go about a TL.

Thanks David. Well my favourite hobby is shortwave radio, and from there I'm a radio and television fanatic. I blame Marconi.

Another installment - what do you think so far?

Part II
Living in Interesting Times

The 1950’s were an interesting time to be living in, arguably. For many people, these were the good times. Not so in the Republic of China on Taiwan. This was mainly because the ROC government refused to recognize that they were defeated by Communists. Thus, they were in the middle of two conflicting ideas. On the one hand, the ROC had to adjust to being the government of several islands, not Mainland China; the biggest island being Taiwan. On the other hand, though, they still believed that because they were the government of all China, the ROC shouldn’t really settle down unless the Mainland was liberated. At the same time, the economy was booming and people were starting to join the middle class. As a result, many people were buying radio sets, and thus they willingly paid the NT$5 listening fee. Because of this, they were able to hear not only what the ROC government was telling the Mainland in their name via the CBS, but they were also able to hear scores of private radio stations and the BCC. These people were adding onto the amount of people who preferred the BCC over the CBS.

Behind the scenes, the CBS and BCC were adjusting to reality, and they responded to each differently. In 1950, there was some interest brewing in FM technology among BCC staff, and they were keen to exploit it; however the first FM station, an experimental transmission, was on the air in 1953. In 1955 the first non-experimental FM radio station, BED23, 103.3 in Taipei, was on the air, replacing the experimental transmission. Initially, this station originally relayed the BCC Regional Programme. Taiwan therefore joined West Germany, Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands as being among the first countries to adopt FM on a widespread scale. However, another force helped to shape BCC programming: the presence of American troops, beginning in 1950, which were brought in by President Truman because of the Korean War. The Americans were used to a different style of presentation in terms of radio, and the BCC took notice.

The next year, the BCC launched the Light Programme, which was an American-style radio network that broadcasted mainstream light entertainment and music, including homegrown versions of such popular American radio shows like Amos ‘n’ Andy and The Lone Ranger. The Light Programme introduced the concept of the soap opera to the Taiwanese, and many Taiwanese liked the concept of the soap opera. The popularity of the soap opera forced the CBS (which distrusted popular genres like soap operas, as a rule) to begin airing to the Mainland BCC-produced and in-house-produced soap operas. In addition, many Taiwanese liked the Light Programme’s airing of American-style and Europop music as complimentary to the homegrown light music. The BCC Light Programme was a success among Taiwanese, and in 1957 the Light Programme was the most popular BCC radio network. Ironically, the BBC’s own Light Programme began airing in 1945, and thus it can be said that the BBC Light Programme and the BCC Light Programme had some similarities with each other.

A few new networks were also introduced by the BCC in this decade. In 1953, the BCC launched the Information Programme, which was meant to be a news/current affairs network, going into detail with the news. Magazine-style shows were also aired to deal with specific topical issues. In contrast with the CBS’s news broadcasts (which favored the ROC government and was very pro-ROC), the BCC took a neutral tone with its news, often analyzing it to examine the causes and often taking in different viewpoints. This style of news, which was more or less consistent with the “newsreading” tradition of other public broadcasters, was popular and very influential. Although the ROC government was critical of this new style, primarily because it included in criticism of the ROC government, the CBS soon mimicked it for its newscasts.

In 1955, three new networks debuted: the Country Programme, the Traffic Programme, and the Educational Programme. The Country Programme was designed to be for rural communities who were neglected by the existing services, as well as including in broadcasts in Chinese dialects, including the Hakka language. The Traffic Programme, by contrast, was made up of (very catchy) traffic reports, 5-minute news headlines, weather forecasts, some light music, and a few public service announcements; the Traffic Programme quickly became the second most-popular BCC radio network. Finally, the Educational Programme was meant to be a “distance education” type of service, however at the beginning it included in Chinese and Western classical music, cultural programming, sports coverage, and children’s programming. The BCC Educational Programme also gave to the BCC the interval signal that would later be used in the BCC’s external services: a 10-second clip of meditative music, popularly known as “tai chi music”.

By this time, in addition to the FM station in Taipei, the BCC now included six national radio networks and a network of regional stations. For many Taiwanese, the listening fee was money well-spent. However, the BCC was concerned that the listening fee alone would not fund the BCC’s mandate. Thus, in that same year, the BCC Trust was established. Revolutionary for its time, it is made up of listening fee funds plus donations; in addition, it was meant to make the BCC accountable to the Taiwanese. Thus, BCC funds were to be spread equally among all services, including experimental ones. As part of this accountability, an auditing firm would be hired to conduct yearly audits; however it was strictly forbidden from influencing the programming of the BCC. The idea of the BCC Trust was also popular among Taiwanese – at last there was something that would make the BCC independent from government control of BCC funding.

As for the CBS, there was nothing really new, other than the big reorganization of 1951. There, the CBS was now in two sections: the Mainland China Broadcasting Section (MCBS) and the Free China Broadcasting Section (FCBS). The MCBS consisted of the CBS broadcasts to the Mainland; the FCBS consisted of the Voice of Free China and broadcasts in Mandarin to the Overseas Chinese community. Around 1953, the MCBS decided to specialize their broadcasts. Thus, four radio networks were formed: the News Network, the Variety Network (music-based programming), the General Network (speech-based non-news programming), and the Dialect Network (programming in Chinese dialects). MCBS broadcasts were still jammed by the PRC authorities; however there was a small audience that dutifully listened to MCBS broadcasts.

The 1950’s were also a great time for private broadcasters. A 51% increase in station licenses among private broadcasters was reported by the Government Information Office around this time. At the same time, there were calls for a FCC-like regulator to be established in Taiwan; these calls were mainly heard on deaf ears by the ROC government, who believed that the GIO was doing a good enough job. Nevertheless these demands didn’t go away. Thus, to help organize the private broadcasters, as well as co-ordinate programming among private radio stations, the first broadcasting associations were set up. In 1954, the Commercial Broadcasters Union of China became the first broadcasting association to be established; this was followed in 1956 by the establishment of the National Association of Broadcasters of the Republic of China.

However, some winds of change were already blowing. In 1956, five additional FM stations were licensed: two BCC stations (one in Kaohsiung and another in Chiayi) and three privately-owned FM stations, all located in Taipei. FM radio indeed began to take off; this would help define the Taiwanese media scene in the 1960s. Also in that same year, the BCC began an experimental television using the American NTSC system, with transmitters in Taipei, Hwalien, Kinmen, Chiayi, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Tainan. These transmitters tested the NTSC I (monochrome) and NTSC II (color) systems, both using the original 525-line system (System M) and by modifying it to a 625-line system (System N). The bad picture quality of the 625-line system (because of its economization of bandwidth usage) led the BCC to modify the system so that the picture quality would be comparable to that of NTSC-M (in fact, it turns out that this system, now known as NTSC-Nc, is similar to Brazilian TV using the PAL-M system and the Japanese variant of NTSC). This NTSC-Nc system would not be introduced until the 1960’s; in the meantime the next year those transmitters using VHF frequencies would now be properly licensed and thus created the first television service in Taiwan – the BCC Television Programme. As soon as the Television Programme was launched, television set sales were up; however 35% of Taiwanese already had television sets, primarily to watch the television service intended for soldiers of the American military. Since some American soldiers befriended some Taiwanese, the American soldiers began the TV revolution by buying television sets for their Taiwanese friends. This helped to establish the dominance of the NTSC television standard in Taiwan and a big reason why the BCC did not test PAL-based television systems. The Television Programme would also change the nature of broadcasting in the 1960s.

Very intriguing subject matter, a very interesting timeline, you should continue with this.

Thanks Aozhouhuaren. I'm already thinking on what to do with the 1960s, but then comes another question: other than Sputnik, was satellite technology/standards conversion already avaliable in the 1960s? If so, then this could have a role in this TL.

Part III
A Lantern Festival of Broadcasting

“You are listening to the Standard FM Programme of the Broadcasting Corporation of China.”

With that first sentence, the first ever FM-only network of the BCC was on air at the Lantern Festival in 1957. In addition to its FM stations in Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Chiayi, new FM stations were built in Hwalien, Danshui, Tainan, Kending, Taichung, Kinmen, and Miaoli. These all became part of what was known as the BCC Standard FM Programme. This network, renamed the Cultural Programme in 1962, was dedicated to cultural programming.

The late 1950s and 1960s were a time that changed the nature of broadcasting, forever. If there was ever a decade where things could change as fast as they did, it would have to be the 1960s. Although the ROC government still controlled Taiwan, there were changes in the air that would be truly manifested in the 1970s. Many of these changes were foretold in the domestic media situation.

Perhaps the greatest change was the arrival of television in 1956 (or 1950, if the stations for the American military can be counted). Channel 2, as the BCC Television Programme was known as then, was the first television station, based in Taipei and formally began in 1957. It also began broadcasting in color (using the NTSC-M system) from the first official day of broadcasting. Initially, it only aired from 19:00 to 23:00 Taipei time; by 1967 it aired from 07:00 to 23:30. Programming at the beginning consisted of a newscast, followed by a drama series that was different every day, then a comedy, then a TV magazine, followed by yet another newscast. This was too limited for a television service, especially in terms of the American Forces Television stations that aired for practically 24/7 with a variety of programming.

Thus, in 1951, possibly in anticipation, a person by the name of Michael Wang Shi-kai paid a visit to Mexico. There he was in the midst of the transmission of a telenovela called “Angels from the Street”. There he met the production crew, and he was impressed by what he saw. When he returned, he decided to do a Taiwanese version of this particular telenovela. However, he knew that 1950s Taiwanese society would not accept such an idea: thus he stuck with radio soap operas. When the BCC Television Programme began operations, Mr. Wang paid a visit to the BCC to submit his idea for a soap opera-esque short drama, to begin airing in 1958 over a period of four months; this idea was his vision of a Taiwanese version of “Angels from the Street”. It eventually aired, amid much controversy, under the name of “Little Buddha” and it became an overnight hit. Mr. Wang soon became a household name, and thus is given the credit for not only translating the soap opera format to television, but also for “humanizing” the soap opera format and thus presenting the real Taiwan to the Taiwanese. It is rumored that Chiang Kai-shek was a fan of the show; this is based on a telephone conversation between Mr. Chiang and Mr. Wang where Chiang told him he liked the show and asked the question “when can we have more?”

The BCC, over time, expanded the Television Programme’s viewing hours and in 1958, another FM-only radio network, the BCC Music FM Programme (renamed in 1962 as the Music Programme), was established. Music FM aired Chinese and Western classical music, including jazz, Chinese and Western opera, and Broadway musicals. Also in this year, the common evening segment in the BCC Regional Programme was expanded to the Light, Music, Traffic, Cultural, and Educational Programmes as the BCC Perspective Programme; in addition a viewing fee (for television) was established at NT$10 to finance the BCC Television Programme.

The Commercial Broadcasters Union of China and the National Association of Broadcasters of the Republic of China were also interested in television. The NABROC, though, was the first to develop a television channel (based on the American television model) and awarded the contract to provide a television channel to the member station China Television Company, also known as CTV. CTV began airing in 1961 and was quickly known as Channel 10. It aired initially at the same time that the BCC Television Programme aired, which now was from 17:00 to 23:00, and its viewing hours were expanded as the BCC Television Programme’s viewing hours expanded. The CBUC responded in 1965 with the Chinese Television Service, also known as CTS (and also known as Channel 6). Unlike CTV, which used an American-style network model, CTS was organized along the lines of the British ITV system.

Both private TV networks also had to contend with a regional television network, originally for eastern Taiwan, known as Eastern Television (ETTV; established in 1963; also known as Channel 5), and a TV network owned jointly by the Defense and Education Ministries independent of the CBS, known as the Taiwan Broadcasting System (TBS; established in 1968; also known as Channel 7). In 1968 the BCC introduced a second television channel using the new 625-line NTSC-Nc standard over UHF frequencies, and the first 24-hour television. This second television channel (BCC 2) forced the BCC Television Programme to be renamed BCC 1, and BCC 2 quickly became known as Channel 44. BCC 2 was decidedly based on the BBC2 model and was thus less popular than BCC 1; its focus on documentaries, educational, and cultural programming, as well as specialist/minority-interest programming, was considered to be part of the BCC’s mandate. BCC 1 maintained its original formula, though by now it was starting to become more and more similar to the BBC1 model.

The availability of FM radio soon led to an explosion of new radio station licenses and the indirect creation in 1965 of another broadcasting association, the Taiwanese Association of Broadcasters. TAB was the first broadcasting association whose members consisted solely of FM radio stations, and was almost entirely youth-oriented and ultra-populist in terms of programming. In 1967, they launched a television channel called the Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV; also known as Channel 12). By now the VHF television spectrum was saturated, and thus were looking forward to the development of UHF. Indeed, in 1969 they announced that they were going to launch a second television channel on Channel 64, to be called TTV World (Channel 12 would be called TTV Home). By 1968, 87% of all Taiwanese had access to FM radio, and 91% of all Taiwanese had access to at least one television channel.

All this served as a wake-up call for the CBS. As the national broadcaster, the CBS was theoretically supposed to broadcast to Taiwan as well as to the Mainland; however in practice the CBS allowed the BCC to broadcast to Taiwan whilst the CBS focused its attention on the Mainland. Thus, although there was a “Free China Broadcasting Section” of the CBS, the FCBS was devoted entirely to broadcasting the Voice of Free China and broadcasts to the Overseas Chinese community whilst the Mainland China Broadcasting Section got the most attention. What’s more, the fact that two government ministries went behind the CBS’s back to launch the TBS further convinced them that the CBS was becoming out of touch with Taiwan. To serve as a stop-gap, the News, Variety, General, and Dialect Networks were relayed via domestic AM radio throughout Taiwan. In addition, in 1963 the CBS announced that they would begin the implementation of the Chinese Television Network, whose two television channels (Chung T’ien (CTi) and Ta Ti (TTC)) would be exclusively broadcasting throughout the Free Area of the Republic of China (aka Taiwan). Indeed, in 1969 CTi began airing on Channel 4; in 1973 Ta Ti began broadcasting on Channel 38. In the meantime there was still a Mainland focus overall at the CBS, but at least they realized that they were alienating their (small) Taiwanese audience.

The CBS had good reason to worry. Although the CBS and BCC were two separate organizations, since the beginning the CBS and BCC shared the same transmitter network and shared the same HQ building and studios. However, as the CBS and BCC became more and more independent of each other, it was deemed unwieldly and unwise for this to continue, especially as the BCC branched out into television, using the former gymnasium as TV studios. Both companies decided that the current building, a former high school, would be too small for just one of them and extremely small for the both of them together, so each company commissioned a different building to house their separate HQs. The BCC’s building, to be known as Broadcasting House, was completed in 1957 on a piece of land on Sungchiang Road in Taipei, across the road from a temple. The CBS retained occupancy of the former joint HQ until their new HQ was completed in 1966 on a parcel of land on Pei-an Road, in front of the Grand Hotel in Taipei. The CBS and BCC soon no longer shared the same transmitter network.

The BCC also had some additional news. Like the CBS before them in 1951, in 1968, on the BCC’s 40th anniversary, the BCC went through the first of several reorganizations. The BCC was soon divided into two sections: BCC Radio and BCC Television. All of the BCC’s radio networks were now under the umbrella of a dedicated radio department, whilst BCC 1 and BCC 2 were now part of a dedicated television department.

At the same time, the calls for a Taiwanese FCC-type regulator to relieve the GIO of its regulatory and licensing duties got even louder than before. Again the ROC government ignored these calls, probably because the KMT didn’t want to symbolically lose control over the whole of China. The 1970s would change that opinion fast. Already the KMT was losing control over Taiwanese society, where the BCC and private media, including the TBS, were embodying the norms of a new generation. Soon the government would have to reform itself. But how?

What do you think so far?

This is intriguing..

The Taiwanese television industry intrigued me, especially with those cable television networks (as well as the so-called Old Three netwroks) offering same programming, especially the drama series starring the hottest young idols in the Taiwan Mandopop OTL (blame it on Meteor Garden in 2001).

So, this TL is relatively good, but I suggest that the CBS (Central Broadcasting Service) should focus exclusively on shortwave broadcasting dedicated to Mainland China. And I noticed the excessive use of OTL networks in your TL

Regarding BCC Television, I suggest that they should add a third channel dedicated to regional programming (so we will see programs in Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka, and the chosen lingua franca of the Taiwanese aborigines). Unfortunately, I doubt if it's possible for the areas inhabited by indigenous Taiwanese, because at that time, their numbers were relatively small.

And hey, I sensed that "Little Buddha" (the Taiwanese version of the telenovela "Angels from the Street"/"Angeles de la Calle") was shown at 8:00 PM (20:00), Monday to Friday.