Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) This year's Taipei Lantern Festival will light up Shilin and highlight the district's special characteristics such as its world-renowned Shilin Night Market, according to a top city official Thursday.
The 10-day festival, held Feb. 11-20, will encompass areas along three MRT stations in the district, including Jiantan station which serves Shilin Night Market, to showcase a fusion of lanterns with night market culture, Taipei Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun (蔡炳坤) said at a press conference.
Visitors can take the MRT and get off at any of the three stations -- Jiantan, Shilin, and Zhishan -- to visit the festival which will feature stage lanterns at venues including Taipei Performing Arts Center, Shilin Night Market, Shuangxi Riverside Park, Taipei Astronomical Museum, Taipei Children's Amusement Park, National Taiwan Science Education Center, and Meilun Park.
2022 Taipei Lantern Festival creative director Akibo (李明道) told CNA the festival will feature over 50 lanterns and lantern artworks, with the main lantern to be unveiled on Jan. 20.
The festival will also have two stage areas to host shows and performances, which will require visitors to comply with contact-tracing to help prevent against COVID-19, Akibo said.
In response to the growing concern over local coronavirus infections sprouting up in northern Taiwan, Tsai said the festival was still currently scheduled to be held, but adjustments would be made according to the COVID-19 situation.
"Actually, for us, this is already a new normal and under tough situations we have complete SOPs to handle things the right way. So, we will do things according to the pandemic situation," Tsai said.
The 2021 Taipei Lantern Festival was postponed twice from the beginning of last year and ended up being held in December at the end of the year, Tsai said.
The 2021 Taipei Lantern Festival was originally scheduled to take place from Feb. 26 to March 7 but was moved to Dec. 17-26, as most local governments canceled or postponed their municipal lantern festivals earlier last year due to the COVID-19 situation at the time.
"The global situation of the pandemic is still serious, but domestically everyone is working hard to protect our borders and make our communities safer, so for now we will go ahead with our plans but we will make adjustments at any time in response to any situation," Tsai said.
More information on this year's Lantern Festival can be found at https://2022lanternfestival.taipei/tc/index.php
