It is being billed as the ultimate shopping experience for a nation of shoppers. It is a 14-day consumer marathon, with thousands of shops, stalls and vendors selling their goods through the day and much of the night to an expected one million customers.
The location is Tihua Street (
Yesterday Mayor Ma Ying-jeo (
Hundreds of university students have been drafted for the occasion. Dressed in bright matching waistcoats they help give the streets a holiday atmosphere, as they good naturedly cajole passersby and offer candies and traditional sweets. Most goods are cheap, but you can try bargaining -- sometimes you can get the "softest" price if your smile is right.
The festival has been split into three main zones. Tihua Street is where the local or traditional foods are sold and where the main action is. A large section of the street has been closed off for pedestrians. It is here that you can buy specialities such as dried jellyfish (
Huayin Street (
Linhsia Road (
The festival is an attempt by Taipei City officials to promote an authentic cultural tradition in the heart of the city. The area was first put on the map in 1851 by a trader from Fujian Province who was driven out of China. It expanded through the Japanese period from 1895-1945, when it became an important center for the trade in cloth and tea. After retrocession the area, which was called Ta Tao Cheng (
"We welcome everybody in the world to come and observe and understand our traditional culture, which is a shopping culture," says Chang Chin-chen (
"Anyone can come. You can buy something or just feel the buying atmosphere. It is the biggest festival of the year."
Another recommended stop is the Hsiahai Chenghuang Temple (
The Hsiahai City God -- whose image sailed across the Taiwan Strait from China in 1821 with hundreds of exiled villagers -- has his place in the temple. According to the temple's information brochure, The temple was sited according to the principles of geomancy and is deliberately small and like the "cave of a hen." The City God -- every Chinese town has one -- protects its citizens and ensures they will be prosperous in business.
The whole area surrounding Tihua Street is steeped in history. The visible signs of another era are everywhere if you keep your eyes open and look up occasionally, to note the western-style two story buildings which date from the 1860's, or the Colonial Baroque architecture of the Japanese period.
If you get the chance, walk a little bit further up Tihua Street, toward Minsheng Road, beyond the bustle, where the pace slows and the lighting dims as fluorescent signs give way to single bulbs dangling from cracked ceilings. There are arcades, with small temple and incense shops, stock rooms full of boxes and cartons, small warehouses for textiles or dried vegetables and fruits, even a small poultry depot.
This is a part of Taipei that is strongly connected with its past and the Big Street Shopping Festival celebrates this tradition.
Big Street Shopping Festival Opened: Yesterday, for 14 days Starts: 12pm and finishes 10pm 'til late Where: Tihua Street, Huayin Street, Linhsia Road. Between Nanking E. Rd. and Minsheng Rd., and the Tanshui River and Linhsia Road
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