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Lanterns extend the New Year spirit

Actors dressed up as an Aboriginal boy named Kokai and his dog wave during a press conference yesterday introducing the theme of this year's Lantern Festival, entitled ``A Prosperous and Fortunate Taipei.'' PHOTO: CNA

With the Lantern Festival kicking off next week in a bid to extend the Lunar New Year spirit, the theme lantern of the 2006 Taipei Lantern Festival -- an Aboriginal boy Kokai and his dog -- is already standing tall at the exhibition site, inviting residents to join a journey in search of a dog's missing sister.

Besides the 22m tall lantern, the festival, themed"A Prosperous and Fortunate Taipei" that will run between Feb. 11 and 19, will feature a total of 24 other dog-shaped lanterns at Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial to help celebrate the Year of Dog.

By incorporating a story into this year's Lantern Festival, the Taipei City Government is hoping to turn festival attendants into active festival participants.

"This year we have built the festival around a story, and hopefully in joining the characters in the search for the dog, the people attending the show can share in the happiness and fun of the occasion," said Jason Yeh (葉傑生), the Deputy Commissioner of Taipei's Department of Civil Affairs, yesterday during a pre-festival celebration at the memorial.

Festival theme

The theme of the festival features Kokai, a boy from the Da U tribe, who owns two dogs "Wang Wang" (旺旺), in Chinese 旺 means prosperity, and his sister Fu Fu (福福), which in Chinese means fortune and happiness.

After Fu Fu goes missing, Kokai and Wang Wang began an adventure which takes them around the city in search of the little dog. The journey, Yeh said, will involve traveling around 12 of the city's popular attractions, including the Taipei 101 Mall, the Miramar Shopping Mall and Yangming Mountain, where "fortune cookies" are hidden.

Upon collection of the 12 cookies, Kokai and Wang Wang will be expected to find Fu Fu on Feb. 11 at the CKS Memorial, and the missing theme lantern featuring the dog's sister will join the rest of lanterns and light up the festival.

"We hope that the public can follow Kokai's journey and help him to find Fu Fu, while also finding fortune and happiness of their own in the city," Yeh added.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), also attending the event, invited the public to experience the vitality of both the festival and the city.

Wonderful story

"Please join us in enjoying the colorful lantern festival, which has a wonderful story this year," he said.

In addition to the main lantern exhibition area, there will also be a 4km-long "Tunnel of Lights" (點燈河) along Renai Road (仁愛路).

The "tunnel" will comprise five sections of colored Christmas lights wound into shapes suggestive of each section's theme: the history of Taipei, characters from Chinese legends, the modern economic process, environmental protection and a light sculpture called Sunshine Dancers (陽光舞者).

The festival will officially begin after the lighting of the festival's theme lantern at 7:50pm.

There will be lantern shows every night during the festival between 7pm and 11pm.

The city government will also give out a total of 100,000 free handheld dog lanterns at CKS Memorial to those attending the festival between Feb. 10 and Feb. 12.
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