The annual New Year’s countdown show at Taipei 101 is set to fire off 16,000 fireworks over 360 seconds, one of its longest and biggest displays ever.
This year’s show has adopted the theme “Towards a Better Future” and involves animation, music and a light show in addition to the fireworks, and took about six months to prepare, Taipei 101 chairman Chang Hsueh-shun (張學舜) told a news conference yesterday at the building, the world’s tallest when it opened in 2004.
“We hope to use the theme this year to heal people’s hearts and also drum up morale so that the people of Taiwan, along with the international community, can look toward a better future of peace, happiness and a merry 2022,” Chang said.
Photo: CNA
A range of special fireworks displays are to be on show during the six-minute display, including dynamic wing and heart-shaped fireworks, he added.
“As long as the weather is good, the beautiful fireworks will look like angels spreading their wings in the sky, and in a way reflect warmth and hope,” Chang said.
The fireworks show would follow Taipei’s New Year’s Eve countdown party at Taipei City Hall Square, which is to include some of the hottest names from the country’s entertainment industry.
Indie bands EggPlantEgg (茄子蛋) and Accusefive (告五人), singer and songwriter A-Lin (黃麗玲), pop-rock group Tizzy Bac (鐵之貝克), rock duo Power Station (動力火車) and Malaysian pop singer Fish Leong (梁靜茹) are just some of the big names set to entertain revelers.
Taipei’s countdown party is known as one of Taiwan’s biggest New Year’s Eve celebrations.
To mark the beginning of 2018, 16,000 fireworks were fired from Taipei 101 over 360 seconds to mark the start of the new year.
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
ADAPTING: The CECC said the policy change would happen this week at the earliest, while PCR testing stations would be used to diagnose people and prescribe drugs The general public would be able to use a positive rapid test result that has been confirmed by a doctor for COVID-19 diagnosis starting later this week at the soonest, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday, as it reported 79,441 new local infections and 53 deaths. The center on Saturday announced that it was expanding the rapid test diagnosis policy to people living in indigenous townships and outlying islands, starting today. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, yesterday said the policy might be further expanded to include “all people” this week, at the soonest. He