Episode #167- Who Was The Fake Asian?

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 76 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1703 a curious character arrived in London claiming to be a native of the island of Formosa. These days Formosa is better known as Taiwan, but in early 18th century it was a place barely understood by most Europeans. The Formosan visitor, George Psalmanazar, was eager to teach his English hosts everything there was no to know about his home island. The only problem was that Psalmanazar was a fraud. He was a European who had never travelled east of Germany. He concocted elaborate tales about Formosa's history, politics, and religion. Psalmanazar even invented his own language, that was complex enough to pass as authentic. The oddest thing about this case was that Psalmanazar in no way disguised his appearance.He was a light-skinned, blond haired, European who was able to convince most people he encountered he was from East Asia. How did he get away with this? Tune-in and find out how naughty priests, Halley's comet, and the hearts of 20,000 sacrificed children all play a role in the story. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's a story that once on a faraway island, there lived a group of people who worshipped
0:13.1	the sun, moon, and stars as their gods.
0:17.5	They praised the sun at daybreak, the moon at twilight, and the stars through the night.
0:24.6	They made animal sacrifices to earn the blessings of these celestial bodies.
0:30.8	But then, some 1200 years ago, two philosophers emerged from the desert.
0:38.0	These two men were named Zerobel and Chor Matchin, and while living the life of ascetics
0:45.0	in one of their home island sandy wastes, they heard the voice of God, or the voice of
0:52.4	a God.
0:54.4	The voice allegedly called out, quote, I am the Lord of the sun, moon, and stars of the
1:01.2	heaven and the earth, the sea, and all the things that are in them.
1:05.5	I govern the creatures by the sun and moon and the ten stars, and without me they cannot
1:10.8	exist.
1:12.0	Go and tell your people that God has appeared to you, and say, if they will worship and
1:17.5	adore him, he will be their protector, and will appear to them in the churches, which they
1:22.8	build to his honor.
1:25.3	And promise them in my name that if they worship and obey me, they shall receive great rewards
1:31.6	after this life.
1:33.2	End quote.
1:35.2	The two desert philosophers heard and obeyed, so they headed for the most holy site on
1:41.8	their island, the mountain of Tainelio, where they found a throng of their countrymen,
1:47.7	dutifully making their sacrifices to the sun.
1:51.7	The two would be prophets climbed to the most visible spot at the base of the holy mountain,
	...

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