Lanterns! Fireworks! Action!

It is estimated that this year, visitors to the Lantern Festival will surpass last year's level of 5 million to reach around 6 million.

Many visitors have been impressed by the cleanliness of the park during the festival and Lin Chuan-shan (林傳山) and Lin Chiu-lien (林秋蓮), a couple residing in Tainan City, are proud to say they saw a number of their fellow residents voluntarily pick up trash last year. They hope visitors will also show the same good manners and keep the site clean and orderly.

The 15-day festival will extend from Sunday to Feb. 26. During this period there will be daily lantern light shows, from 7pm to 11pm.

Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) of Tainan City is hoping this cultural activity will lift the profile of his city, in which General Koxinga (鄭成功), in the Ming dynasty, overpowered Dutch colonialists to take control of Taiwan in 1661.