Kinmen County Stadium held a “National Sports Day” hiking event today (the 9th). With heavy promotion of limited-edition blue-and-white porcelain tableware giveaways, Mount Wu was flooded with thousands of people early in the morning, leading to chaotic scenes of people and vehicles competing for space. One woman even fainted and was hospitalized. The 3,000 giveaways were quickly claimed, sparking outrage among those who missed out, and turning what should have been a pleasant holiday event into a scene of widespread complaints.
To attract hikers, the county stadium had previously promoted via media that participants would receive a set of blue-and-white porcelain tableware. Before 7 a.m. today, thousands of people—many bringing along children and elderly family members—had already arrived, all scrambling to reach the summit to collect vouchers, then come back down to exchange them for the gifts. The surging crowd moving back and forth made for a much livelier scene than the local tradition of climbing Mount Wu on the ninth day of the Lunar New Year to pray for blessings.
The 3,000 vouchers prepared by the organizers were gone within minutes of the event starting at 7:30 a.m., yet the hiking trail remained packed, with frequent instances of people and vehicles competing for space. An elderly woman fainted due to low blood sugar, prompting an emergency call for an ambulance to navigate through the crowds to reach her. She was safely transported to the hospital after some evasive maneuvering, and fortunately, she is in stable condition.
But those who didn’t manage to get the giveaways refused to let it go, complaining about poor crowd control and scheduling that led to the chaos. Organizers quickly brought out cardboard for people to sign their names, promising to distribute the giveaways afterward, which helped calm the turmoil—but left many still fuming.
Many people took to Facebook to comment that the mainland-made blue-and-white porcelain tableware given away as prizes, which cost only around NT$60 per set, had such a strong appeal that it drew a massive “pilgrimage” crowd to the usually quiet Mount Wu. They wondered how “the Buddha” might feel about it. Others joked that it was all Jay Chou’s fault for making “Blue and White Porcelain” such a hit song, attracting so many people.
(China Times)