This year's Taipei Lantern Festival will begin on Feb. 6 in the Xinyi business district, with more than 100 lanterns in nine different lantern theme zones featured in the weeklong festival.
The festival, which will run through Feb. 15, will feature various lantern designs based on the theme of the Year of the Ox at different places in the district, including the Sun Yat-sen Memorial, Taipei City Hall and Renai Circle (仁愛圓環).
Unveiling the city's handheld lantern design yesterday, Taipei City's Department of Civil Affairs invited the public to participate in the annual festival — a major part of the Lunar New Year celebrations.
PHOTO: CNA
Huang Lu Ching-ru (黃呂錦茹), commissioner of the department, said that this year's budget of more than NT$80 million (US$2.3 million) was the highest ever.
The department expects the festival to attract more than 5 million visitors this year.
A total of 80,000 free handheld lanterns will be given out at the main entrance of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on Renai Road starting at 2pm from Feb. 5 to Feb. 9, and at the main entrance of Taipei City Hall starting at the same time on Feb. 7 and Feb. 8. More information is available online at www.taipei-festival.com.
The handheld lantern is designed in the shape of a small bull sporting a leaf-shaped hat. Lantern designer Lin Chia-wei (林佳葦) said the Chinese character for ox (牛) is inscribed at the bottom of the lantern, with the character being reflected on the ground when the lantern is lit.
In related news, the Taipei City Government is encouraging the public to take advantage of its free bus service to the Dihua Street Lunar New Year market in Datong District (大同).
The market around Dihua Street is a major shopping hub for Taipei residents preparing for the Lunar New Year holidays. The street is one of the city's oldest and most traditional shopping hubs selling Chinese medicine, traditional snacks and dry goods.
Taipei City Commerce Office director Liu Chia-chun (劉佳均) said the free buses would run from 12pm to 10pm everyday through Jan. 25, with stops at Dihua Street, Wanhua Municipal Sports Center, Zhongshan MRT station and Mackay Memorial Hospital.
For those planning extravagant banquets during the holidays, Liu said Taipei's Binjiang Market was a good option for finding top-notch cooking ingredients from fresh seafood to exotic imports. From this Saturday to Jan. 25, Binjiang Market will be open between 6am and 5pm to allow ample time for holiday shopping.
The office also recommended Huayin Street — which is filled with stores selling leather accessories and high-quality clothing — for holiday shoppers.
For tasty snacks, it recommended Ningxia Night Market, and for electronic goods and other gifts, the MRT's Underground Mall and the streets behind Taipei Railway Station, a commercial district packed with shops offering products ranging from toys to suitcases.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS