A 4.5km long tunnel of glittery lights illuminated Renai Road in Taipei last night, raising the curtain on the 2007 Taipei Lantern Festival, which celebrates the Year of the Pig with various styles of lanterns through March 11.
The Lantern Festival Tunnel was decorated in rainbow colors and accommodated the Year of the Pig (豬, Zhu) theme with hanging lanterns featuring festival mascot "Zhucolate" the pig and his friends Blue, Patauw and Manka.
The time-traveling Zhucolate pig, accompanied by Blue, a Formosan blue magpie; Patauw, a shamaness from the Pingpu tribe; and Manka, a boy from Wanhua district, will educate people on the history and meaning of the festival and encourage them to discover the beauty of Taipei through the four mascots' adventures, said Jason Yeh (
The tunnel, which features various themes and is three times longer than the one built for last year's festival, cost the city government NT$35 million (US$1 million). More than 8 million visitors are expected to participate in the festival, the department said.
The Lantern Festival's main ceremony is scheduled for March 3 at CKS Memorial Hall and is to feature the lighting of a 20m tall pig mascot lantern.
In addition to the theme lantern in the main square at the hall, 16 lanterns representing the qualities of the Chinese zodiac symbol of the pig and traditional cultures will be on display on Xinyi Road and Aiguo East Road.
Each lantern is made using traditional techniques and created by master lantern makers, Yeh said.
The department will hand out 60,000 free Zhucolate pig lanterns from March 2 to March 4 at the CKS Memorial Hall.
The Taipei City Department of Transportation encouraged festival participants to take advantage of public transportation during the festival, as heavy traffic around the festival area was expected.
Details on the festival are available on the Internet at taipei-festival2007.com.
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