Main Lantern of the "2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival" Enshrined, Phoenix Auspiciousness Covers Yunlin

The 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival will open from February 11 to 19 of this year (ROC year 106), and the main lantern, "Phoenix Paying Homage," was enshrined at 2 p.m. on the 9th in the Huwei Main Lantern Area. Yunlin County Magistrate Lee Chin-yung led Secretary-General Huang Yu-shuang and the county government team to attend, together with Director-General Chou Yung-hui of the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Chunghwa Telecom Vice President Li Chia-hsing, Yunlin County Council Speaker Shen Tsung-lung, County Councilors Tsai Chiu-min, Yen Hsu-mao, and Chen Mao-yuan, Huwei Township Chief Lin Wen-pin, Beigang Township Chief Chang Sheng-chih, Yunlin Association of Fellow Townsmen President Huang Ming-te, and Chih Fang Art Director Peng Li-chen, among others, jointly praying for smooth construction and a fully successful lantern festival.

Magistrate Lee Chin-yung said that the main lantern enshrinement ceremony on the 9th was an important milestone for the 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival. With the main lantern enshrined, it meant that the lantern sets in the other lantern areas would also successively enter the site for assembly and positioning. In another 33 days, people across the country would welcome the arrival of the 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival together. He thanked the officials of the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications for their full assistance, and said Yunlin would certainly join hands with the central government to make the lantern festival as perfect as possible.

Magistrate Lee Chin-yung further explained that this Taiwan Lantern Festival, with the largest lantern area scale in past years (50 hectares), would create the twin lantern areas of Huwei and Beigang, containing 21 themed feature lantern areas. Examples included the nation's first "New Residents Lantern Area," encompassing the charms of 5 Southeast Asian countries; the "Environmental Theater," creating coexistence and shared prosperity between people and the land; the "100-Meter Artistic Pavilion," showcasing the elegance of Yunlin as the hometown of lantern festivals; and "Puppetry Through the Ages," incorporating an 8-meter movable giant puppet of Su Huan-chen and Luo Hou. In Beigang, the hometown of decorative lanterns, lantern areas were also planned at the Sightseeing Bridge, Shuidaotou, and the high riverbank, which would recreate the superb works of traditional decorative lantern masters. It was absolutely sure to be spectacular, and everyone was asked not to miss it.