A five-foot-tall “Bogong Tower” prays for your blessings — the 2014 Joyful Blessings City is here, Up!

▲ Main lantern designed around Bogong (Photo / Taipei City Hakka Cultural Theme Park official website)

Tourism Center / Comprehensive Report

The first-ever national cultural lantern festival themed around Hakka culture, the “2014 Joyful Blessings City,” opens on the 17th at Taipei’s Hakka Cultural Park. The main lantern is designed around the Hakka guardian deity “Bogong,” and the event site features six blessing zones and five themed scenic areas. On the evening of the 17th, three types totaling 400 thanksgiving lanterns will be given out for free to the public.

Liu Chia-chun, Director of the Taipei City Government’s Hakka Affairs Commission, said the main lantern was inspired by the Hakka guardian deity “Bogong” because in Hakka communities, Bogong is the most symbolic figure — where there is a Bogong, there are Hakka people. The 400 thanksgiving lanterns are themed around the “Yimin Festival,” “Flower Drum Festival,” and “Peace Opera.”

The six blessing zones are designed around family, career, health, love, wealth, and offspring. In the “Hundred Sons, Thousand Grandchildren Zone” within the blessing area, visitors can see a 100-kilogram Hakka “Hundred Sons” artwork created by nationally renowned lantern artists and multiple designers.

The five themed scenic areas feature common elements of Hakka life — lanterns, oil-paper umbrellas, floral fabric, gna (a type of basket), conical hats, and blue shirts. Among them, the “Star-Picking Forest Zone” uses the most lantern decorations, including up to 600 star-shaped lights, 180 shaped lamps, and 400 gna and blue shirt-shaped displays.

2014 Joyful Blessings City

Location: Taipei City Hakka Cultural Theme Park, No. 2, Section 3, Tingzhou Road, Taipei City
Exhibition period: October 17 to 26
Opening hours: 09:00–18:00, closed on Mondays
Admission: Free