Taiwan began to celebrate the Lantern Festival on Friday, with cities and counties illuminated with lights and fireworks in a series of events that are set to run through the middle of next month.
The Taipei Light Festival started at the Taipei Expo Park, featuring a golden goat-shaped lantern to celebrate the Year of the Sheep, which can also be translated from the Chinese as “goat.”
Visitors can enjoy not only the 12.5m-tall main display, but music and light shows staged every 30 minutes from 7pm through 11pm during the festival, which ends on March 8.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times.
The annual Taiwan Lantern Festival also began on Friday, held this year in Taichung at three different venues — in the city’s Wuri (烏日) and Fengyuan (豐原) districts and Taichung Park.
All three locations showcase lanterns made for the Year of the Sheep, with the main display in Wuri District, at 23.4m tall, scheduled to be launched on March 5.
In southern Taiwan, people in Yunlin County, Tainan and Kaohsiung are treated to the sights and sounds of their own respective lantern festivals.
In Tainan, the annual Yue Jin Lantern Festival in Yanshui (鹽水) District, expanded this year to feature 40 lanterns created by artisans from home and abroad, up from 24 last year. The lanterns are installed around a lake and historic alleyways and popular tourist sites as part of the festival that lasts until March 15.
In Kaohsiung, visitors can see laser shows on water screens and fireworks displays over the Love River. Fourteen artisan lanterns adorn areas along the landmark river and the city’s Central Park.
The 23-day 2015 Kaohsiung Lantern Festival is scheduled to run through March 15.
Hualien City is hosting a lantern festival on the east coast, dazzling visitors with light and water shows accompanied by music.
Traditional lanterns are arranged around the city and towns around Hualien County to light up main roads, railway stations and squares.
In Penghu County, fishermen in Shiyeu Township celebrate the Lantern Festival in their own unique way. On the Lantern Festival, fishermen take a day off and put up lanterns and lights on their boats at Wai-an Fishing Harbor, brightening the port with more than 1,000 lanterns and lights.
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
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
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
RSS