The annual Dream Parade will fill the streets between the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial and Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei tomorrow afternoon with a bit of Brazilian carnival, Mardi Gras and Burning Man zaniness.
The first parade was organized by Gordon Tsai (蔡聰明), the founder of the Dream Community (夢想社區) in what is now New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止), in 2002, though the Taipei City Government began co-sponsoring the event several years ago.
Each year the parade is centered around a different theme that seeks to embody the unique mix that is the heart of Tsai’s dream for his community: community building, creativity and pageantry.
Photo courtesy of the dream community
The theme this year is “Crazy Village,” and teams of float builders, artistisans, musicians and performers from Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, France, India and Brazil were invited.
This is in addition to the scores of teams organized by residents of the Dream Community — whose housing contracts require them to take part in one major art festival or parade annually — high schools and universities around Taipei, social groups and drumming teams from schools in Aboriginal communities nationwide.
The term “team” should be considered a rather loose designation, because the groups can range from well-organized school troupes and their supporters, to a couple of friends who decide to create their own costumes, puppets or floats. However, the young drummers take things a bit more seriously: They will be competing for musical instruments and other prizes for their schools as part of the National Dream Cup Samba Drum competition.
Photo: CNA
■ The parade will run from 3pm to 6pm, rain or shine.
■ The starting point is Liberty Square; participants will move up Zhongshan S Road (中山南路) to Renai Road (仁愛路), where they turn right and head toward Linsen S Road (林森南路) before making a U-turn that sends them back to Ketagalan Boulevard.
■ There will be a post-parade party with live music on Ketagalan Boulevard from 6pm to 9pm.
The Lee (李) family migrated to Taiwan in trickles many decades ago. Born in Myanmar, they are ethnically Chinese and their first language is Yunnanese, from China’s Yunnan Province. Today, they run a cozy little restaurant in Taipei’s student stomping ground, near National Taiwan University (NTU), serving up a daily pre-selected menu that pays homage to their blended Yunnan-Burmese heritage, where lemongrass and curry leaves sit beside century egg and pickled woodear mushrooms. Wu Yun (巫雲) is more akin to a family home that has set up tables and chairs and welcomed strangers to cozy up and share a meal
Dec. 8 to Dec. 14 Chang-Lee Te-ho (張李德和) had her father’s words etched into stone as her personal motto: “Even as a woman, you should master at least one art.” She went on to excel in seven — classical poetry, lyrical poetry, calligraphy, painting, music, chess and embroidery — and was also a respected educator, charity organizer and provincial assemblywoman. Among her many monikers was “Poetry Mother” (詩媽). While her father Lee Chao-yuan’s (李昭元) phrasing reflected the social norms of the 1890s, it was relatively progressive for the time. He personally taught Chang-Lee the Chinese classics until she entered public
Last week writer Wei Lingling (魏玲靈) unloaded a remarkably conventional pro-China column in the Wall Street Journal (“From Bush’s Rebuke to Trump’s Whisper: Navigating a Geopolitical Flashpoint,” Dec 2, 2025). Wei alleged that in a phone call, US President Donald Trump advised Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi not to provoke the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over Taiwan. Wei’s claim was categorically denied by Japanese government sources. Trump’s call to Takaichi, Wei said, was just like the moment in 2003 when former US president George Bush stood next to former Chinese premier Wen Jia-bao (溫家寶) and criticized former president Chen
President William Lai (賴清德) has proposed a NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special eight-year budget that intends to bolster Taiwan’s national defense, with a “T-Dome” plan to create “an unassailable Taiwan, safeguarded by innovation and technology” as its centerpiece. This is an interesting test for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), and how they handle it will likely provide some answers as to where the party currently stands. Naturally, the Lai administration and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are for it, as are the Americans. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is not. The interests and agendas of those three are clear, but
RSS