Craftsmen yesterday said they had measures in place to retrieve lanterns and make them less of an environmental hazard in response to concerns about the annual Sky Lantern Festival in New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪).
This year’s festival is being held today at Shihfen Plaza (十分廣場) using lanterns carrying images from Taiwan’s and Japan’s tourism industries.
The Taiwan-themed lanterns feature images from New Taipei City’s Yehliu (野柳) and Jiufen (九份) tourist attractions, while the Japan-themed lanterns feature images of Tokyo’s Skytree, Senso-ji and other tourist spots, organizers said.
Officials from Daisen in Japan’s Akita Prefecture are to attend and help launch the lanterns.
Akita’s Ota Township has a similar tradition of launching sky lanterns, known as the Ota himatsuri, or Ota fire festival, the organizers said, adding that this year’s festival in Pingsi is to be a cultural exchange of sorts between the two nations.
New Taipei City Cultural Development Association director-general Hu Min-shu (胡民樹) said that environmental concerns over the festival are misplaced.
The mostly paper and bamboo lanterns burn almost completely before they fall to the ground, Hu said, while most unburned pieces that fall in the hills in the area decompose.
The wire frame of the lanterns can be recycled, Hu said, and people are motivated to gather them because they can earn NT$30,000 on average from selling the frames.
“Post-festival recycling is a duty and an obligation,” Hu said. “Locals seldom make lanterns from entirely new materials — parts are reused for up to five years.”
Two-thirds of the 300,000 lanterns constructed every year are made from recycled material, Hu said.
Local artisan and founder of start-up The Culture Bank Shao Ai-ting (邵璦婷) said lantern makers are beginning to use bamboo frames and water-soluble paper.
“Finding a balance between tradition and environmental friendliness is not that hard, it just takes action,” Shao said. “I hope we can keep pushing for more environmentally friendly lanterns.”
In an effort to cut down on the environmental harm of falling lanterns, the New Taipei City Government’s Environmental Protection Department announced it would give city-issued garbage bags or lifestyle products in exchange for lantern paper brought to them at specified times throughout the week.
It is working with three businesses in the area to set up recycling stations that would accept the waste lantern paper, the department said, adding that several local establishments would be paying cash for wire frames.
Meanwhile, the Tourism and Travel Department said it would hold a mountain cleanup on Feb. 19 and Feb. 25 led by author Liu Ke-hsiang (劉克襄) and cultural historian Kuo Tsung-neng (郭聰能).
The tourism department said that while collecting festival waste from the hills, the group would visit eight culturally significant spots in the area.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
RSS