The Taipei Bureau of Cultural Affairs (文化局) was struggling yesterday to save its plans to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival at Tachia Riverside Park (大佳河濱公園) as rainy weather and low water in the river threatened to turn bureau director Lung Ying-tai's (龍應台) romantic vision into an organizational fiasco.
Originally an evening of romantic Chinese music and performances of nostalgic folk music had been planned. Ten troupes would give performances while Lung hoped that people would dress in traditional costumes and bring their own instruments for impromptu musical performances.
The highlight of the evening was supposed to be a yacht decorated in the style of the Ming Dynasty. The problem was that there was not enough water in the river for the draft of the boats available.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
According to Koo Kuo-tun (
Floating on the river yesterday instead was a 12m, one-ton sampan, which was modestly adorned with a rapidly painted mock-up of a Chinese-style castle, with ready-made red lanterns, and cheap white window curtains, and which may be used by the organizers if the problems with the original yacht cannot be resolved.
Visibly upset to learn of the news, Lung said that she did not rule out the possibility of canceling the idea if technical problems cannot be resolved.
"I originally had romantic and beautiful thoughts about this, but unfortunately technical problems have persuaded us not to proceed," she said.
While cloudy skies were forecast for today, which would obscure the moon, Lung said she still was encouraging people to participate in the event.
Inspecting the venue yesterday, Lung said that the bureau hoped to give city residents a different Mid-Autumn Festival that everyone would remember.
"I encourage those who haven't attended previous Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations to come out and join us and appreciate the beauty of Chinese music, the moon and the environment in a very Chinese setting," Lung said.
Lung also explained why the bureau was not hosting a barbecue in the park this year -- even though the barbecue had been one of the most popular and traditional activities held on the day of the festival.
"The park doesn't have the facilities, and we would really hate to see this beautiful park trashed," she said.
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