The Taipei County Government said yesterday it would step up its efforts to have Pingsi Township’s (平溪) Sky Lantern Festival ratified as a world cultural heritage event.
County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) expressed its displeasure with the Council for Cultural Affairs’ recent rejection of the county government’s proposal to apply with UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee for the lantern festival to be added to its World Heritage List.
The council rejected the proposal on the grounds that Taiwan is not a UN member, he said.
Chou said that as the nation’s top agency on cultural affairs, the council should be helping the county government rather than shooting down its efforts.
He said the county government would seek other means to achieve its objective, adding that if the county did not move fast enough, it could be surpassed by South Korea and other Southeast Asian countries, which could seek to have their own sky lantern activities listed as world cultural heritage property.
“A South Korean mission visited Taipei County in February to gain a better understanding of the Pingsi Sky Lantern Festival and surrounding activities,” Chou said.
Pingsi Township has long been a center of sky lantern activities, with the small town attracting about 30,000 people to the event in February every year.
As of last year, the World Heritage List included 878 items the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value.
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