Mini-lanterns at the Central
Taiwan Lantern Festival

2009 Central Taiwan Lantern Festival
"Shining Bull Paradise": Celebrate the new year with Ling-Ling and Niu-Niu

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Ann Lee

The Lantern Festival has long been regarded as one of Taiwan's most representative celebrations when it comes to tradition and culture. For this reason, most Taiwanese cities and counties hosting large-scale festival-related events, even those with cartoon character themes, have not departed significantly from conventional planning and organization. However, last year's Central Taiwan Lantern Festival broke with tradition a bit by presenting the public with a festival site that was decorated in a younger, fun-filled amusement park theme. This resulted in a very popular, successful event that also effectively marketed Taichung City to the rest of the world.

Organized and hosted by the Taichung City Government, the 2008 Central Taiwan Lantern Festival was a huge success. Authorized by Walt Disney Company Taiwan Ltd., the city government was able to give participants a much cuter theme with cartoon characters. In addition, the event's double lantern design was such a highlight for festival-goers that this 10-day event drew close to four million vistiors and brought a tremendous amount of business opportunities and revenue to Taichung. Just about everyone who attended this lantern show will testify about how fantastic it was.

In order to keep up with last year's spectacular success, this year's Lantern Festival will also follow an amusement park theme. To mark the Year of the Ox, the double lantern design will be two bulls who happen to be Ling-Ling and Niu-Niu, the well-known mascots of Taichung's own Sinon Bulls baseball team.

This year's festival venue will be the same as last year's, at the WenXin Forest Park. In addition to the main lantern display area, the park will be divided into several other lantern-themed sections, including Creative Lantern and Artistic Lantern areas, a Sea of Lanterns tunnel, a street artist performance area, family activities area and gourmet food area. Another incentive for visiting this year's Central Taiwan Lantern Festival will be the free distribution of about 10,000 mini-lanterns at the site every day.

In addition to the main venue, there will be 10 other sites around Taichung where visitors can also enjoy beautiful lantern displays. These locations will include Taichung City Hall, the city council building, Taichung Park and Taichung Train Station. By expanding the number of festival venues, the city government hopes to encourage visitors from other parts of Taiwan to enjoy the Taichung's diversity of attractions and better understand improvements that Mayor Jason Hu and his team have made to the city's infrastructure. Wherever they go, people will be able to see Taichung's many changes and take in popular spots, whether that's the fancy residential towers in the well-known 7th Redevelopment Zone, the exquisite local gourmet restaurants, big department stores, high-end fashion boutiques, bustling Fengjia and YiZhong Street shopping districts, the Art Museum Parkway district, or the fast-growing Taichung Science Park shopping district.

As you make your way to Taichung, be sure and visit the National Museum of Natural Science and the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, both loved by city residents. These both provide visitors with a good insight into Taichung's rich artistic culture. Taichung is also known for its great shopping spots. Whether you're hunting for trendy clothing or just looking to relax among some great attractions, Taichung will definitely provide a wonderful evening's worth of fun for you to enjoy with friends and family--with locals more than happy to provide tips about where to enjoy these things. Apart from attending this year's Lantern Festival, take the time to explore the city's streets, savor its specialty foods, and visit its artistic/cultural destinations for a well-rounded Taichung experience.

Marketing a city and its great attributes by hosting events tied to national festivals is a big trend among major cities around the world. Brazil's Samba Dance Festival, Pamplona's Running of the Bulls fiesta in Spain, and Germany's Oktoberfest are all great examples of this. Over the past few years, Taichung city has also made its own marketing efforts in this regard by hosting the Central Taiwan Lantern Festival, which evolved from a local celebration to one of the four biggest lantern shows in the country. This continues to tout Taichung city's development to a growing number of tourists, with the goal of helping them get acquainted and fall in love with this dynamic city.

The 2009 Central Taiwan Lantern Festival is a 14-day event, taking place from February 2 to 15, 2009. This massive lantern show is expected to draw approximately three to four million visitors to the event site. If on average each person spends NT$100 at the show, this income, together with other profit earned by local businesses, will mean that Taichung generates over NT$1 billion in business revenue. The Taichung City Government invites you to welcome a wonderful new year with this year's fun-filled Lantern Festival!