At least four major parties are scheduled to take place in Kenting on the first weekend of April and top sponsors like MTV, HBO and Sony Music are lending their pull. At least three raves and Spring Scream, a concert now in its ninth year and the oldest of the events, will vie for the attention of the estimated 8,000 plus young people who will flood the southern beach resort from April 3 to 6, even though this is the first year without a public holiday on Tomb Sweeping Day, which previously created a three-day weekend.
Spring Scream, April 3 to 6, will include four music stages with each stage featuring nine or 10 bands per day. Over the four days, about 150 bands will perform with highlights including Japan's Mimie-chan and Oklahoma's 40 Minutes of Hell. Once a pioneer, it is now one of three events to take place in the foothills of the Kenting National Park.
Advanced tickets cost NT$1,200 and go on sale today at a number of outlets around Taiwan, including Witches Pub, Zeitgeist and Apa Cafe in Taipei, Russel's in Taichung, The Armory in Tainan, and Pig Dog in Kaohsiung. Last year only 2,000 advanced tickets were available and sold out several days before the event. This year there will be even fewer, but the festival is offering an electronic ticket purchasing system that involves ATM machines and the Internet. For details check www.springscream.com. On site, tickets will cost NT$1,000 per day.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MOONLIGHT PRODUCTIONIS
The only party on the beach this year will be the Golden Beach Music Festival (金灘音樂祭), which has taken over Kenting's Dawan Beach from the Moonlight Party, which last year claimed highest attendance with 10,000 over the three--day weekend and 5,000 on Saturday night alone. The Golden Beach festival is sponsored by MTV and the Pingtung County Government. Friday and Saturday from 4pm to 2am it will feature acts including singing star Chang Cheng-yue (章震嶽), the band Sticky Rice (糯米團) Hong Kong's DJ Tommy and DJ Chozie. Admission is NT$500 for one night or NT$700 for both nights, paid at the door.
The Moonlight Party, April 3 to 5, has moved to a field near the base of Tajian Mountain (
The third party in the hills above Kenting, Spring Love, is organized by the Taipei nightclub 2F and is sponsored by HBO. It will take place Friday and Saturday nights near the Sea View Lodge (海天青會館), dubbed "Love Mansion" for the event, and will feature top Japanese and Sony Music recording artist DJ Takkyu Ishino. Two day passes cost NT$1,000 in advance (sold at 2F) or NT$1,200 at the door. In the intense competition to spur pre-event sales, advanced tickets provide entrance to Friday night's Golden Beach party and opportunities to purchase round-trip bus tickets to Kenting from Taipei or Taichung for NT$800. For more information, check www.spunite.com.
Additionally, numerous Kenting bars and restaurants will take advantage of the influx of partiers, hosting their own events. For complete coverage of Kenting Spring Weekend, check next Friday's Taipei Times.
Taiwan’s overtaking of South Korea in GDP per capita is not a temporary anomaly, but the result of deeper structural problems in the South Korean economy says Chang Young-chul, the former CEO of Korea Asset Management Corp. Chang says that while it reflects Taiwan’s own gains, it also highlights weakening growth momentum in South Korea. As design and foundry capabilities become more important in the AI era, Seoul risks losing competitiveness if it relies too heavily on memory chips. IMF forecasts showing Taiwan widening its lead over South Korea have fueled debate in Seoul over memory chip dependence, industrial policy and
“China wants to unify with Taiwan at the lowest possible cost, and it currently believes that unification will become easier and less costly as time passes,” wrote Amanda Hsiao (蕭嫣然) and Bonnie Glaser in Foreign Affairs (“Why China Waits”) this month, describing how the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is playing the long game in its quest to seize Taiwan. This has been a favorite claim of many writers over the years, easy to argue because it is so trite. Very obviously, if the PRC isn’t attacking Taiwan, it is waiting. But for what? Hsiao and Glaser’s main point is trivial,
May 18 to May 24 Gathered on Yangtou Mountain (羊頭山) on Dec. 5, 1972, Taiwan’s hiking enthusiasts formally declared the formation of the “100 Peaks Club” (百岳俱樂部) and unveiled the final list of mountains. Famed mountaineer Lin Wen-an (林文安) led this effort for the Chinese Alpine Association (中華山岳協會). Working with other experienced climbers, he chose 100 peaks above 10,000 feet (3,048m) that featured triangulation points and varied in difficulty and character. The list sparked an alpine hiking craze, inspiring many to take up mountaineering and competing to “conquer” the summits. A common misconception is that the 100 Peaks represent Taiwan’s 100 tallest
In a sudden move last week, opposition lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) passed a NT$780 billion special defense budget as a preemptive measure to stop either Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) or US President Donald Trump from blocking US arms sales to Taiwan at their summit in Beijing, said KMT heavyweight Jaw Shaw-kong (趙少康), speaking to the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday night in Taipei. The 76-year-old Jaw, a political talk show host who ran as the KMT’s vice presidential candidate in 2024, says that he personally brokered the deal to resolve
RSS