The design of the main lantern for the official Taiwan Lantern Festival, the traditional extravaganza that follows the Lunar New Year holiday, was unveiled yesterday, featuring a Formosan hare sitting on its hind legs holding a gold ingot.
The lantern, which is 20.5m tall and weighs 30 tonnes, is a symbol of the accumulation of fortune and prosperity for the country and its people, Tourism Bureau director-general Janice Lai (賴瑟珍) said during a ceremony in Taipei to unveil a scale model of the lantern.
The official Taiwan Lantern Festival of the Year of Rabbit — the fourth sign in the Chinese zodiac — will take place this year in Miaoli County.
PHOTO: CNA
Lai said that unlike the main lanterns showcased in the past, this year’s lantern, called “Rabbit Presenting Luck,” will be illuminated by 200,000 LEDs.
It features the concept of environmental protection, she said.
The bureau also introduced a much smaller paper lantern with a flying rabbit design, which will be presented as a gift to visitors to the Miaoli festival.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held at the county’s Jhunan and Toufen sports parks, which have a total of 25 hectares of open space. In addition to the lantern show, the festival will also include booths featuring local cuisine and agricultural products, Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung’s (劉政鴻) said.
The festival will be opened on a trial basis for county residents from Feb. 10 to Feb. 13, followed by a trial opening for the general public from Feb. 14 to Feb. 16, before the official grand opening on Feb. l7. The festival will end on Feb. 28.
The Tourism Bureau has -estimated that the Miaoli festival, which is also part of the celebrations for the Republic of China’s centennial this year, will attract about 6 million local and foreign visitors.
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
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The New Taipei City Government today warned about the often-overlooked dangers of playing in water, and recommended safe swimming destinations to cool off from the summer heat. The following locations in the city as safe and fun for those looking to enjoy the water: Chienshuiwan (淺水灣), Baishawan (白沙灣), Jhongjiao Bay (中角灣), Fulong Beach Resort (福隆海水浴場) and Sansia District’s (三峽) Dabao River (大豹溪), New Taipei City Tourism and Travel Department Director-General Yang Tsung-min (楊宗珉) said. Outdoor bodies of water have variables outside of human control, such as changing currents, differing elevations and environmental hazards, all of which can lead to accidents, Yang said. Sudden
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