The annual two-day Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival, a tradition with more than 100 years of history, began yesterday in Tainan’s Yanshuei District (鹽水), featuring more than 2 million "beehive firecrackers."
The festival, traditionally held on the 14th and 15th days of the first month in the lunar calendar to celebrate the Lantern Festival, started at Yanshui Wu Temple, the main organizer.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) lit the first string of firecrackers to mark the start of the event before boarding a parade float to tour Yanshuei’s main streets, throwing candy to bystanders as a blessing for the public.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
According to the temple, the festival’s procession is to be divided into five routes covering different areas of Yanshuei, with about 200 firecracker sets awaiting participants along the way.
The highlight of the event is to take place this evening at Tainan Municipal Yanshuei Junior High School, where about 2 million firecrackers are to be simultaneously launched from three large LED-lit firecracker towers.
As the temple palanquin passes by spectators may be struck by the firecrackers, which are believed to "end ill fortune, resolve difficulties and bring good luck for the coming year," the Tainan Tourism and Travel Bureau said.
Those intending to attend the festival should wear protective and nonflammable clothing that completely covers the body and face to avoid potential injuries caused by fireworks, the city government said.
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
The National Immigration Agency (NIA) said yesterday that it will revoke the dependent-based residence permit of a Chinese social media influencer who reportedly “openly advocated for [China’s] unification through military force” with Taiwan. The Chinese national, identified by her surname Liu (劉), will have her residence permit revoked in accordance with Article 14 of the “Measures for the permission of family- based residence, long-term residence and settlement of people from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area,” the NIA said in a news release. The agency explained it received reports that Liu made “unifying Taiwan through military force” statements on her online
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck off Taitung County at 1:09pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 53km northeast of Taitung County Hall at a depth of 12.5km, CWA data showed. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Taitung County and Hualien County on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Yunlin County, Kaohsiung and Tainan, the data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage following the quake.
RSS