Skies light up as New Year begins

Revelers surround the stage during New Year's Eve celebrations organized by the Taipei City Government in Taipei last night. PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

Fireworks of gold and silver symbolizing a prosperous future and a robust economy illuminated the skies near Taipei 101 last night as tens of thousands of revelers packed the streets of the city's Xinyi District to welcome the year 2008.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators were expected to gather around Taipei 101 to watch the 188-second-long fireworks and join in the New Year activities.

A total of 12,000 rounds of fireworks were expected to be launched, reaching as high as 500m, in contrast with the 9,000 rounds used in last year's fireworks display.

The message "2008 Taiwan," with a pink heart replacing the dot in the letter "i" was to be displayed on Taipei 101 following the fireworks show.

Several well-known performers, including Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) and Aska Yang (楊宗緯), were scheduled to participate in the New Year concert.

Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was also to address the crowd on issues such as the city's preparations for the Summer Deaflympics next year and the 2010 Taipei International Gardening and Horticulture Exposition.

To accommodate the massive crowds that were expected to gather in and around the Xinyi District, the Taipei Rapid Transit System offered an around-the-clock service for the first time yesterday.

Asked for comment earlier yesterday, Michael Liu (劉家豪), an assistant vice president at Taipei 101, said it was still too early to conclude that Taipei 101 would not hold a similar fireworks show in future years.

Liu said that all the floors of the building were expected to be fully occupied in the coming year, which would make it difficult for the shopping center to obtain approval from all the companies on higher floors to display messages on the building.

Without the facility to display messages, it would be difficult for any patrons to sponsor the fireworks show, he said, adding that Taipei 101 could seek funding from its board of directors to make future firework shows possible.