One of 9 new world
architectural
landmarks,Taichung
Metropolitan Opera House
featured in R.O.C. National
Day's Celebration Float Parade

Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in R.O.C. National Day Celebration Float Parade

Words and photos by Taichung City Government
Translated by Sho Huang

To celebrate the 99th birthday of the Republic of China, the Taichung city government, after a lot of thought, decided to present the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in the national float parade. Its unique architectural style, combined with an opera and dance performance, aptly illustrated the city's entry onto the international stage via its appealing cultural characteristics.

The National Day celebration started at 10 a.m. in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei and featured a variety of outstanding performances and displays, presented by Taiwan's cities and counties, with the creative float parade being a special highlight as each float represented a distinctive part local Taiwanese culture.
Among all these floats, the Taichung Metropolitan Opera House was a show-stealer. Using the theme of "Great Cultural Taichung, New World Landmark", the Taichung city government cleverly combined well-known opera pieces and coloful dance performances on its float to represent its global ambitions.

To clearly display its vision of merging Taichung city and county into one special municipality, the city government utilized its creativity in the design of this 12.5-meter-long, 3.8-meter-high float to emphasize its unique cultures. On the platform was a miniature Taichung Metropolitan Opera House, already rated as the nine new world landmarks, a grand-looking globe that symbolized Taichung's world view, beautiful flower arrangements, a statue representing the renowned tenor Luciano Pavarotti, and dancers in classical opera costumes, moving to the famous song "O Sole Mio". This innovative presentation was encouraged and welcomed with loud cheers from the crowds.

To welcome the impending 100th birthday of the R.O.C., the "March for the 100th Happy Birthday Parade" set out at 2 p.m. from National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall. Renai Road was decorated with 36 floats and more than 20 performing groups as crowds cheered from the roadsides. When Taichung's float reached its assigned place, the roundabout on Renai Road, it elicited comments from the impressed, admiring onlookers who praised its beauty, particularly that of the 20 attractive dancers performing in their classical opera costumes.

Taiwan's radiant, lively energy was again demonstrated in this fun-filled float parade, and Taichung City was given yet another opportunity to display its distinctive cultural attributes to a wide audience. All this served to not only wish Taiwan a happy birthday, but also herald the arrival of the international metropolis of Taichung.