An estimated 1 million revelers were expected to crowd the plaza and streets around Taipei City Hall last night to welcome in the New Year and watch the Taipei 101 fireworks show and an all-night pop music concert.
Despite drizzle and a chilly wind, revelers started to gather at the Taipei City Hall plaza early yesterday afternoon as they tried to secure a spot with the best view of the party and the fireworks show.
Popular performers, including Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), Wang Lee-hom (王力宏), Mayday (五月天), S.H.E. and Crowd Lu (盧廣仲), were scheduled to fuel the passion of the crowd with non-stop performances.
PHOTO: HUANG SHU-LI, TAIPEI TIMES
PRESIDENT
At about 11:55pm, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) were scheduled to join the performers, celebrate the countdown to the New Year and enjoy the fireworks show.
The show this year was expected to feature 22,000 rounds of fireworks — 6,000 more than last year — for a planned 188-second show costing NT$30 million (US$930,000).
Ma was attending Taipei City’s countdown party last night for the first time in his capacity as president. He had declined to attend the event last year because of security concerns.
National security organizations began inspecting Taipei City Hall and the surrounding area about a week ago to prepare for security measures. Ma was only scheduled to be at the event for about 10 minutes, leaving immediately after the fireworks show.
All MRT lines were running a 24-hour service yesterday to transport revelers. Trains were scheduled to run a rush hour schedule starting at 5pm, with an average of 3 minutes between each service.
Taipei Rapid Transit Corp spokesman Chao Hsiung-fei (趙雄飛) said the number of passengers was expected to exceed 2 million yesterday, about 500,000 more than the number last year.
OTHER CITIES
New Year countdowns and fireworks were also scheduled in various other cities around the nation.
In Kaohsiung, residents were scheduled to welcome the New Year with a fireworks display that would light up the sky over the Ferris wheel on top of the Dream Mall and a New Year’s Eve party that was to last until 3am this morning.
Several cities and counties were also taking advantage of their favorable geographical locations to welcome the first rays of sunlight of the New Year.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
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