Laser beams lit up the sky and blazing lanterns dotted the city as the 2006 Taipei Lantern Festival began at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial yesterday, with tens of thousands of people gathering last night to celebrate the official mark of the end of the Lunar New Year holiday.
In celebration of the Year of the Dog, the festival's opening event told the story of Kokai, a boy from the Tao Aboriginal tribe of Lanyu, and his dog "Wang Wang" and their journey in search of Wang Wang's missing sister "Fu Fu."
At the end of the narrative, a 22m lantern swirled around at one end of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, blazing with colors and featuring depictions of Aboriginal song and dance. Surrounding lanterns featured 12 of the city's attractions, including the Taipei 101 skyscraper, the Miramar shopping mall and Yangmingshan.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Good weather yesterday attracted a large crowd to the memorial long before the event began. A long line had formed at 9am for free hand-held dog lanterns provided by the Taipei City Government.
"The design of this year's lantern is cute, and I think this would make a very nice memento for the Year of the Dog," said one girl surnamed Huang, who waited for an hour to receive her lantern.
There will be a lantern show every 30 minutes nightly between 7pm and 11pm during the festival, which runs until Feb. 19.
Lantern festivals began in other parts of the country yesterday. The 2006 Taiwan Lantern Festival was held in Tainan City, with a lantern narrative entitled "Pan Hu Recreates the Heavens," while President Chen Shui-bian (
"We should give Hsieh credit for contributing to the development of Kaohsiung ... My friendship with Hsieh remains the same whether he is in the government or not," Chen said.
In Taichung, Snoopy was featured as a lantern theme for the city's Lantern Festival, with free hand-held Snoopy lanterns a popular draw.
The chaotic Yenshui Beehive Rockets Festival in Yenshui Township (鹽水), Tainan County, meanwhile, attracted a large crowd dressed to protect themselves against injury by the large number of fireworks that were fired at statues of local deities in palanquins.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
Temperatures in northern Taiwan are forecast to reach as high as 30°C today, as an ongoing northeasterly seasonal wind system weakens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said yesterday that with the seasonal wind system weakening, warmer easterly winds would boost the temperature today. Daytime temperatures in northern Taiwan and Yilan County are expected to range from 28°C to 30°C today, up about 3°C from yesterday, Tseng said. According to the CWA, temperature highs in central and southern Taiwan could stay stable. However, the weather is expected to turn cooler starting tonight as the northeasterly wind system strengthens again
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
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