Taiwan has begun celebrations for the Lantern Festival, which lands on Monday, February 6th. Already, a number of large-scale events have been launched around the nation, with the excitement set to peak on Sunday night as Taiwan rings in the festival in the early hours of Monday morning.
The Taiwan Lantern festival is being held in the town of Lukang, in Changhua County, central Taiwan this year. Some 300,000 visitors flooded into the festival grounds for a soft opening on Saturday. The spectacular display of lanterns will be open for two weeks beginning on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung Lantern Festival, which began during the Lunar New Year holidays in late January, has already seen three million visitors. It was set to wrap up on Sunday night with a firework display. One of the highlights of the display will be a brand-new creation called "sky lantern fireworks", which are capable of floating in the sky for 20 seconds.
As for real sky lanterns – the northern Taiwan community of Pinghsi held its third sky lantern launch this year on Saturday. President Ma Ying-jeou wrote an auspicious phrase on a twenty-foot paper lantern before launching it into the sky. Some 150,000 participants set off a total of 1,600 sky lanterns.
Meanwhile, Tainan City in southern Taiwan was gearing up for its traditional beehive fireworks in the community of Yanshui. That involves setting up huge structures filled with fireworks and setting them off right in the middle of crowded squares.
Some 70 of those structures were to be launched on Sunday night; one of them was eight meters long and five meters high and contained 100,000 of the beehive fireworks. The community was also preparing to set off a dragon-shaped structure at 9pm on Monday.
The Taiwan Lantern festival is being held in the town of Lukang, in Changhua County, central Taiwan this year. Some 300,000 visitors flooded into the festival grounds for a soft opening on Saturday. The spectacular display of lanterns will be open for two weeks beginning on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung Lantern Festival, which began during the Lunar New Year holidays in late January, has already seen three million visitors. It was set to wrap up on Sunday night with a firework display. One of the highlights of the display will be a brand-new creation called "sky lantern fireworks", which are capable of floating in the sky for 20 seconds.
As for real sky lanterns – the northern Taiwan community of Pinghsi held its third sky lantern launch this year on Saturday. President Ma Ying-jeou wrote an auspicious phrase on a twenty-foot paper lantern before launching it into the sky. Some 150,000 participants set off a total of 1,600 sky lanterns.
Meanwhile, Tainan City in southern Taiwan was gearing up for its traditional beehive fireworks in the community of Yanshui. That involves setting up huge structures filled with fireworks and setting them off right in the middle of crowded squares.
Some 70 of those structures were to be launched on Sunday night; one of them was eight meters long and five meters high and contained 100,000 of the beehive fireworks. The community was also preparing to set off a dragon-shaped structure at 9pm on Monday.