The 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival officially debuts in Kaohsiung, the public is reminded to abide by the epidemic prevention regulations

(Taiwan Immigrants’ Global News Network) – The 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival (台灣燈會) will be held in Kaohsiung City and the Kaohsiung City Government has organized a "Local Lantern District" (地方燈區) activity which will start on February 1st, and the nationwide "Central Lantern District" (中央燈區) exhibition will start on February 15^th and run until February 28th. However, due to the threat of the Omicron variant, Mayor Chen Chi Mai (陳其邁) said that the lighting ceremony on February 1 will be cancelled, and the opening of the Central Lantern District on February 15 remains to be observed, depending on the epidemic situation.

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The "Gate of Time and Space" next to the Whale Bank in the Kaohsiung Music Center. Photo/Provided by Kaohsiung City Bureau of Cultural Affairs

The "Gate of Time and Space" (時空之門) next to the Whale Bank (鯨魚堤岸) of the Kaohsiung Music Center (高雄流行音樂中心) is an artistic light installation with a height of 5 meters. The LED screen rotates interspersed with black and white and color images. From a distance, it looks like a crack in the road and the work is full of surreal and magical feeling. This is one of the works for the "2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung" (2022台灣燈會在高雄) called "I_Glory Pier" (I_光榮碼頭) created by Taiwanese multi-discipline artist He Tsai Jou (何采柔).

Shi Zhe (史哲), deputy mayor of Kaohsiung City, said that this time, the Taiwan Lantern Festival will be held in Love River Bay, of which Pier 13 was the well-known glory pier in Kaohsiung. It once saw the departure of hundreds of thousands of Japanese and Taiwanese soldiers and tens of thousands of young Taiwanese nationals sent to mainland China to fight in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. There once used to be an endless queue of Japanese expatriates returning to Japan after the war. It was also the departure point of hundreds of thousands of young people who went to Kinmen (金門) and Matsu (馬祖) to serve at the front lines.

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The public is reminded to abide by the epidemic prevention regulations. Photo/Provided by Kaohsiung City Government

The two light exhibition districts in Wei Wu Ying (衛武營) and in Ai He Wan (愛河灣) have a large area and open space and they are designed with scattered light districts. The works include public art, street furniture, lighting, and video installations, which are planned for the long term. The public is reminded that while visiting the lantern festival during the Lunar New Year, the public is reminded to pay attention to the epidemic prevention regulations. At the same time, from February 1^st to the 6^th, the lights will not be turned off for the works, but no activities will be held.