Lanterns! Fireworks! Action!

By Derek Lee
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Feb 10, 2006, Page 13

The Blasting Handan parade is a test of courage for local Taitung men who wear only red short pants in the firecracker bombardment. PHOTO: LIN KUO-HSIEN, TAIPEI TIMESN

The fantastic spectacle of Lantern Festival is reaching its climax this weekend, the official mark for the end of the Lunar New Year holiday season. According to Chinese astrology, this Lunar New Year is the Year of Dog and therefore the theme of dog lanterns dominates stages at the various festivals being held in Taiwan.

During the last decade, the scope of lantern festival has grown over the years in most of the country's major cities. Several of them are promoting such the occasion as a major tourist attraction.

For instance, the Taipei City Government is already displaying a 22m-tall lantern this year to generate public interest in the festival. Jason Hu (胡志強), mayor of Taichung City, came up with the ingenious idea of introducing a non-Chinese dog, Snoopy, as the signature theme lantern for the first time and win approval from the city's citizens.

As expected, the wild Yanshuei Beehive Rockets Festival in Yanshuei Township, Tainan County and the Blasting Handan in Taitung City will be held. Ensure you take safety helmets to protect against getting hurt by the barrage of fireworks.

The ``sea of lanterns'' in Tainan. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAINAN CITY GOVERNMENT

The Yanshuei Festival is a two-day event starting tomorrow and carrying on until Sunday, at Wu Temple (武廟) from 6pm. The Blasting Handan parade is held over three days and in different locations, beginning from Sunday evening, 7pm, in Nanjing Square in Taitung city. A second show will be presented from 8pm at Tianhou Temple (天后廟) on Monday. The last show is expected to be held on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 7:30pm at the Prairie in Taitung Beach Park.

The Yanshuei Beehive Rockets Festival last year was a blast. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

The 2006 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Tainan City will be one of the most prominent events of the year. In its second year, the Taiwan Lantern Festival will begin at the National Anping Harbor Historic Park (安平港國家歷史風景區) on Sunday.

The state-sponsored lantern lighting ceremony will be hosted by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Previous presidents traditionally attended the event held at Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. After Chen was elected to office in 2000, he moved the official festival venue to other cities. This year's lantern theme is "Pan Hu Recreates the Heavens" (槃瓠再開天). Pan Hu is said to be a divine hound in Chinese mythology.

Lantern festival scenes from Taipei County. PHOTO: JIAN CHUN-YU, TAIPEI TIMES

According to the Tainan City Government and the Tourism Bureau, which are organizing the event, in addition to the major lantern theme, there will be two other lantern themes, 12 traditional lantern floats, 17 modern-style lantern floats, a "sea of lanterns" on roads around Anping Harbor and its main access routes, a "wishing lantern" area, lanterns made by Taiwan's indigenous peoples and religious lanterns with Buddhist, Taoist and Christian themes.

Lantern festival scenes from Taichung. PHOTO: CHAN CHAO-YANG

The magnificent lantern masterpiece, Pan Hu Recreates the Heavens, overlooks Anping harbor and is in the shape of a mountain, with three dogs perched on its side.

"The male dog, eyes to the front, is in a powerful and majestic pose as the protector of home and country. The female dog sits with an affectionate attitude at the side of her mate, while their pup plays with a globe-shaped holographic lantern. The idea is to portray a land of stability, ethnic harmony, prosperity, peace and happiness," the organizers said in a press release.

Lantern festival scenes from Tainan. PHOTO COURTESY OF TAINAN CITY GOVERNMENT

"The lantern is 21.5m high, including its 4m octagonal base, and weighs about 20 tonnes. The two adult dogs are made of perforated stainless steel plates, while the pup has been fashioned by traditional lantern-making techniques. The lantern is fitted with 45,000 white lamps and colored LEDs, along with 6,000 100-watt lamps. The mountain is painted with colors from a 1,440-watt computerized lamp and eight computerized patter-projecting lamps. It can rotate 360? and has a computerized sound and light shop," the organizers said.

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.