The annual Taipei Lunar New Year Festival begins tomorrow on Dihua Street and the nearby commercial district, offering high-quality dried foodstuffs and various other products to celebrate the New Year.
The festival, which runs until Feb. 12, will center on six of the capital’s commercial areas — Dihua Street, Ningxia Night Market, Huayin Street, the commercial area behind Taipei Main Station, Taipei Underground Shopping Center beneath Civic Boulevard and Bingjiang Market.
Huang Ching-sung (黃錦松), director of the Dihua Street Stores Association, said prices of dried foodstuffs had not increased since last year, but traditional medicine had gone up by between 5 percent and 10 percent this year.
Dihua Street, one of the oldest and most traditional shopping hubs selling Chinese medicine, dried foodstuffs and processed goods, is cooperating with Japan’s Hokkaido City this year and will also offer Hokkaido delicacies from fresh seafood to ramen noodles.
Taipei City Commerce Office director Liu Chia-chun (劉佳均) invited residents and visitors to visit Bingjiang Market, which is joining the other commercial hubs in the festival for the first time this year, and shop for top-notch cooking ingredients, from fresh seafood to exotic imports.
Bingjiang Market director Chen Shu-huei (陳淑慧) said visitors could expect to find fresh king crabs and other exotic seafood.
More information about the festival is available on the official Web site at www.2010newyear.com.tw.
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