Chiu Ruey-fa recalled that when he made his first lantern as a child he spent hours assembling the bamboo frame, gluing red and yellow transparent paper onto it and carefully positioning the candle inside.
When it was finished, he announced that he had made a boat, still his favorite lantern theme, he said.
The first lantern Chiu bought for his daughter was a plastic goldfish on a pole. It took them a while to find batteries for it at home to make the orange fish glow gently in the dark, he said.
Now, at the age of 65, Chiu waited patiently with his grandson in a line outside Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall to get one of the small pink rabbit lanterns handed out by Taipei City Government — a 30cm2 by 40cm2 cardboard package and a small light emitting diode (LED) that would take them a few minutes to put together without the use of scissors and tape.
“It’s amazing — this design,” Chiu said. “It requires almost no effort, and it’s safe and fun.”
Simple, creative and -environmentally friendly paper-cut lanterns have been a standard feature of the festival since 1994 when Hung Hsin-fu (洪新富) first introduced the idea to the organizers.
Hung, the designer of this year’s mini gift lantern, said he strives to integrate traditional and modern elements into his work, so that people of different generations can enjoy the fun of putting together their own lantern.
“Making a lantern is very much a family activity,” Hung said. “It’s the memory of children learning from their parents or older siblings that makes the Lantern Festival special.”
After taking nine months to come up with ideas for a rabbit lantern, Hung said, he had to modify the design about 30 times to meet the festival’s requirements.
“The most difficult part was trying to make it simple. Although it’s foolproof, it’s definitely not ‘lazy-proof,’” the 44-year-old said.
One of the other objectives of handing out gift lanterns is to promote Taipei City and the local government.
“Through the distribution of lanterns, we try to give our citizens a sense of the major events in the city, “ said a city official surnamed Lee (李) who is overseeing the lantern project.
This year’s rabbit lanterns symbolize fertility, which echoes the city’s New Birth Incentive Program, Lee said.
Last year, the lanterns were decorated with flower illustrations to promote the launch of the Taipei International Flora Exposition, she said.
This year, the city government ordered 80,000 gift lanterns, all of which will be distributed at the city’s main lantern festival venues.
Because it was such a big order, the lanterns cost the city government about NT$25 each, Lee said.
However, Hung said the government should focus more on the sustainable development of the traditional art instead of viewing lanterns simply as holiday gifts.
“They could also be used as souvenirs for foreign tourists, which would be a perfect demonstration of Taiwan’s soft power,” he said.
The paper-cut lantern industry only makes about NT$60 million a year, he said.
His views were echoed by Pauline Wu, who represents TVKing Co, the company commissioned by the New Taipei City (新北市) government to organize this year’s Pingsi Lantern Festival.
“We had to push ourselves to come up with creative new ideas for lanterns because it is a highly competitive business and people get bored if you present only zodiac lanterns every year,” she said.
This year, the festival handed out LED-powered lanterns that represent mining headlamps, a echo of Pingsi’s history as a coal mining town, she said.
“We have received a lot of positive feedback, especially from foreign visitors,” she said.
Chiu said he is happy with whatever format the lanterns take, as they all come with stories of family life.
“When my grandson grows up and sees the lanterns, he will remember this moment he shared with his grandpa,” he said.
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