This year marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. September 11, 2001 when four commercial passenger airplanes were hijacked by terrorists linked to the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda. Two of the planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City causing the twin towers to collapse and a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The passengers and crew of the fourth plane fought the hijackers, and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-american-voices-remembered-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-9-11-ep-362/

Close to 3,000 people were killed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Several different figures have been published, but according to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum 2,977 people were killed.

Do you remember where you were when 9/11 happened?

I remember where I was on September 11, 2001, when I heard that the World Trade Center twin towers in New York had collapsed after being struck by two hijacked planes.

I was actually in Taiwan and all alone in my parent's apartment in Kaohsiung. I had relocated to Taiwan from New York, just a few months before 9/11. The way I found out about the whole thing was a phone call from my Mom telling me what had happened. I remember being in disbelief and immediately turning on the TV and seeing CNN reporting on it.

25 years have passed since that tragic day.

What happens when there's a generation of Americans who have no recollection of 9/11? That's something that my guest on this episode, David has thought about. David found a personal connection to 9/11 through the personal stories of the Taiwanese who died on 9/11. His hope is that by sharing the stories of the Taiwanese who lost their lives on 9/11, younger Taiwanese Americans can find a connection to 9/11.

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/taiwan-american-voices-remembered-on-the-25th-anniversary-of-9-11-ep-362/

The last time that Taipei elected a mayor from the Democratic Progressive Party was Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 1994. At the time it seemed like some kind of a breakthrough because Taipei is known to be a Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang stronghold. During his tenure as mayor of Taipei, Chen Shui-bian had a very high public approval rating of over 70% to nearly 80%. In spite of this he was not reelected for a second term. Instead, the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was elected mayor of Taipei. Now nearly 30 years have passed and none of the DPP mayoral candidates have been able to get elected in Taipei since. Will this year's DPP candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) be able to break the spell?

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/puma-shen-%e6%b2%88%e4%bc%af%e6%b4%8b-dpp-taipei-mayoral-candidates-vision-for-taipei-city-our-full-interview-ep-361/

In this episode you'll learn about more about who Puma Shen (沈伯洋) is and what his vision for Taipei City is.

Puma is an Associate Professor at National Taipei University's Graduate School of Criminology, Co-Founder of Doublethink Lab, Co-Founder of Kuma Academy, and this year's Taipei City mayoral candidate for Democratic Progressive Party.

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https://talkingtaiwan.com/puma-shen-%e6%b2%88%e4%bc%af%e6%b4%8b-dpp-taipei-mayoral-candidates-vision-for-taipei-city-our-full-interview-ep-361/

In July Puma Shen (沈伯洋) who's currently a Legislator in Taiwan's Legislative Yuan came to the U.S. for an eight-day trip. Puma is an Associate Professor at National Taipei University's Graduate School of Criminology, Co-Founder of Doublethink Lab, Co-Founder of Kuma Academy, and this year's Taipei City mayoral candidate for Democratic Progressive Party.

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/meet-puma-shen-%e6%b2%88%e4%bc%af%e6%b4%8b-the-democratic-progressive-party-legislator-running-for-taipei-mayor-ep-360/

It's been nearly 30 years since Taipei has elected a DPP mayor and Puma most definitely has an uphill battle because Taipei voters usually vote for politicians from the Chinese Nationalist Kuomintang. According to a poll released by Taiwan Brain Trust in May, the incumbent Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) led DPP Taipei mayoral candidate Puma Shen (沈伯洋) by more than 20 points.

Puma gave a talk when he was in New York on July 24th and many people showed up to hear him speak. We were at his talk and wanted to share some translated highlights from it. We recorded Puma's entire talk on July 24th and it's on Talking Taiwan's YouTube channel if you'd like to watch it. Incredibly the video now has over 60,000 views!

More exciting news for us…

I've been following Puma's career since he founded Doublethink Lab in 2019, so I was excited to finally have a chance to sit down with him for an interview just 2 days after he officially registered as the DPP candidate for Taipei Mayor. We will share a short clip from the interview at the end this episode before we release the entire interview soon.

Related Links:

https://talkingtaiwan.com/meet-puma-shen-%e6%b2%88%e4%bc%af%e6%b4%8b-the-democratic-progressive-party-legislator-running-for-taipei-mayor-ep-360/