Lights, colors and fireworks will light up the skies above Chiayi City, as the city hosts the nation's 2010 Lantern Festival between Feb. 28 and March 7 to usher in the Year of the Tiger.
Organizers said the theme this year, “Prosperity to our precious island” plays on the similarities in pronunciation between “prosperity” (福, fu) and “tiger” (虎, hu) and promised that the event would leave both residents and tourists impressed.
The festival, now in its 21st year, rotates annually between municipalities, and was held in Yilan County last year. It was recommended by Discovery Channel's Fantastic Festivals of the World in a 2008 episode featuring lantern celebrations.
This year the festival would be even larger in scope and highlight special themes, such as Chiayi City's special cultural achievements, Tourism Bureau Director-General Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said.
“Being set in Chiayi this year, we want to showcase some of the host city's specialties and its beautiful environment,” Lai said. “The main lantern this year will display colors symbolizing the mountains, sunrise and a sea of clouds.”
Lai said the festival would also focus on themes that have not traditionally been part of the event, including a Jurassic dinosaur area.
In response to questions over the event's environmental impact, Lai said that all the lanterns and floats featured this year would be made out of eco-friendly materials and would be recyclable.
Organizers said the event, which is expected draw hundreds of thousands of visitors, would help stimulate the city's economy.
Chiayi Mayor Huang Min-hui (黃敏惠) advised visitors to use public transportation, including rail and bus, to avoid traffic.
Despite the relatively smaller size of the city, Huang said the event had the full backing of the municipal government and promised that it would be a “huge success.”
This will be the first time for the city to host the festival. Neighboring Chiayi County hosted the event in 2007.
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