The Tourism Bureau yesterday unveiled the design of the main attraction for next year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival, a huge bamboo lantern that changes shape and swings as if it were moving in the wind.
The festival, which opens on Feb. 26 in Hsinchu City, is to feature a 15m-tall installation art lantern, comprised of 108 bamboo sticks and glass made in Hsinchu.
With the help of a mechanical device, the lantern’s form would change from a cylindrical shape, to a round form and to an oval shape, and it also moves as though it were swaying in the wind.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu City Government
The bureau last year announced that the nation’s flagship tourism event would be held in Hsinchu, which would also be the first time the city has hosted the event.
The Hsinchu City Government and the Tourism Bureau unveiled the design of the festival’s main lantern in a ceremony at the Taipei Grand Hotel.
This year has been a difficult one for everyone as the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all activities, Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅).
However, Taiwan is a blessed place, due to the collective efforts of the central and local governments to contain the spread of the pandemic, he said.
“People in other countries are still experiencing the effects of the pandemic, but we can gather here to celebrate the Taiwan Lantern Festival,” he said.
The festival would show to the world Taiwan’s success in containing COVID-19, while also giving people hope that the pandemic would soon end and their lives would return to normal, he said.
“We are glad to have the chance to work with the Tourism Bureau to hold the festival. In the past, the city government was not willing to hold the event due to various considerations. However, since 2018, we have been pursuing the opportunity to host such an event and invite the public to witness the development of this small but great city,” he said.
Hsinchu might be small, with a population of about 450,000, but it is filled with energy, Lin added.
Thanks to the Hsinchu Science Park, the city is home to many highly educated, high-income earners, he said, adding that it also has the highest birth rate in the nation.
Although the city has 300 years of history, the oldest in northern Taiwan, the average age of its residents is 39, he said.
The lantern festival would mark its 32nd edition, Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said, adding that he has been trying to combine technology and local culture in the festivals, starting with this year’s event in Taichung.
“The Hsinchu Science Park is the heart of technology in Taiwan. We hope that the festival will be a combination of optical technology and art. The nation’s strength in design can also be applied in the creation of art. The festival would surely be a huge hit when local culture and industry are added to it as well,” he said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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