The Tourism Administration yesterday in a ceremony in the Grand Hotel Taipei unveiled the designs of the main lantern and handheld lanterns of this year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival.
The annual festival is to open in Tainan on Feb. 24 and end on March 10.
The 22m-high main lantern, named Dragon Comes to Taiwan (龍來台灣), features a golden dragon made of carbon 60 and recycled ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) film, the administration said.
Photo: Taipei Times
EVA film is an encapsulation material used in solar panels.
The main lantern’s design was inspired by the flying dragons wrapping around the two stone pillars at the entrance to Tainan Grand Matzu Temple’s (台南大天后宮) court, JFA Artwork Project Design Co project director Camay Peng (彭力真)said.
The festival is also to give away small handheld lanterns to its visitors. The small lanterns are called Small Dragon Bags (小龍包), pronounced same as steamed dumplings in Mandarin.
Photo: CNA
Artist Lin Chia-wei (林佳葦), who designed Small Dragon Bags, said that the lanterns feature the head of a more friendly-looking dragon, which can be opened at the back for children to store small toys.
People can carry them like a handbag or hang them on their necks, Lin said.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said this would be the second time that Tainan hosted the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which was held in the city in 2008.
“The festival this year is significant as it is held for the first time following the merger of the Tainan City and county. It is also held after the Tourism Bureau was upgraded to the Tourism Administration in September last year,” Wang told the participants of the ceremony.
“The main lantern’s name, Dragon Comes to Taiwan, sounds like ‘All comes to Taiwan’ in Hoklo [commonly known as Taiwanese]. We hope the festival would attract visitors from different places, making it an international tourism event,” Wang said.
Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said Tainan is to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the city’s establishment in 1624, as he urged people to join the festival.
“We were not around when the city had its 300th anniversary, and we are not going to be around when it celebrates the 500th anniversary. So we should not miss this milestone,” Huang said.
Visitors in Tainan can see various types of orchids in the Taiwan International Orchid Show during the day and watch lanterns at the festival at night, Huang said.
The Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival (鹽水蜂炮) is to be held on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24 at Wu Temple (武廟) in the city’s Yenshui District (鹽水), he added.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
Taiwan sweltered through its hottest October on record, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, the latest in a string of global temperature records. The main island endured its highest average temperature since 1950, CWA forecaster Liu Pei-teng said. Temperatures the world over have soared in recent years as human-induced climate change contributes to ever more erratic weather patterns. Taiwan’s average temperature was 27.381°C as of Thursday, Liu said. Liu said the average could slip 0.1°C by the end of yesterday, but it would still be higher than the previous record of 27.009°C in 2016. "The temperature only started lowering around Oct. 18 or 19
RSS