In the WBSC Premier 12 championship final on November 24, 2024, the Chinese Taipei baseball team shocked the world with its 4-0 win against Japan. Not only was this Taiwan's first professional baseball championship win in history, but it was also symbolic: Taiwan, once a Japanese colony, overcame the odds to beat Japan at its own game. The Taiwan team's stellar performance has renewed national interest in baseball, a sport that was not always as popular in Taiwan as it is today. How did Team Taiwan defeat its longtime rival, Japan? We invited Tzu-hsuan Chen to tell us how. Chen is a professor at National Taiwan Sport University's Graduate Institute of Physical Education and an expert in baseball culture. He also happens to be a lifelong baseball fan. Chen draws on his extensive knowledge of Taiwan's baseball history to illustrate how baseball's status in Taiwan has evolved from the mid-1900s to today. For example, Taiwan won the Little League World Series many times in the past, but why didn't these Little League wins translate into championship wins for Taiwan's professional league? How did baseball, a game once reserved exclusively for Japanese colonizers, evolve to become Taiwan's national pastime? Tzu-hsuan Chen answers these questions and more in this episode of "Now You Know." More about Professor Tzu-hsuan Chen: - Professor at National Taiwan Sport University's Graduate Institute of Physical Education - Expert in baseball culture and sports media studies - Columnist for The Reporter - Former Major League Baseball (MLB) commentator at Fox Sports Taiwan In "Now You Know: Taiwan's Resilience," experts react to claims from online posts, news headlines and AI-generated predictions about Taiwan's defense strategies, digital security, politics, and much more. From military preparedness to countering fake news, each episode unpacks a key aspect of Taiwan's resilience amidst rampant speculation to get to the heart of the Taiwan-related issues you care most about.