The Meishan Hanlu Sightseeing Festival invites a thousand to enjoy retro porridge cooked in a three-foot cauldron

At the press conference, the "No. 1 Mountain-Sea Plain Retro Porridge in the World" was unveiled for the first time. (Photo by Lü Yanting)

Chiayi County’s Cultural Affairs Bureau welcomes the spring in Meishan, hosting the “2018 Meishan Hanlu Culture and Sightseeing Festival” over two consecutive weekends—January 6, 7, 13, and 14 next year. On the 27th, the bureau announced that on the 6th, not only will they recreate the “No. 1 Mountain-Sea Plain Retro Porridge in the World,” cooked in a giant iron pot with a diameter of 3 meters for a thousand guests, but there will also be a retro Xiaomei Market, promotion of the Meishan 9 Gifts, along with free reservation-based bamboo weaving DIY experiences and literary trail guided tours. They invite everyone to join them in Chiayi to feel the warmth of the locals and warm your hearts together.

This morning, the bureau held a press conference where the “No. 1 Mountain-Sea Plain Retro Porridge in the World,” specially prepared by 60-year veteran chef Wu Zheng-an from Meishan Township, was unveiled for the first time. County Magistrate Chang Hua-kuan, County Council Secretary-General Huang Shang-wen, and Bureau Director Hsu Yu-jen, among others, joined in cooking the porridge. Magistrate Chang said that the thousand-person cauldron of porridge gathers Chiayi’s finest local ingredients, including free-range chicken, black pork, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, tea leaves, white croaker fish balls, and shrimp. In one meal, you can enjoy Chiayi’s mountain and sea delicacies—a taste you won’t forget.

In addition, to create distinctive souvenirs for the Meishan area, the organizers selected the top 9 Meishan souvenirs through online voting and multi-party evaluations. These include Meishan high mountain tea, soy sauce, oolong tea seed oil, cultural and creative goods, Xi Xiang Tang, and more. These cover representative local gifts from Meishan, and with the help of designer Chen Jun-liang, the packaging of the souvenirs has been redesigned to incorporate more imagery unique to Meishan.

During the four-day event, in the afternoons, there will be “Rock ‘n’ Roll for Everyone” performances and sales events alongside the “Retro Xiaomei Market.” Between 2:00 and 3:30 PM, a 90-minute show will feature more than 11 special groups and performers, including Pang Chia-chia leading his dedicated band in an improvised performance, Tsou tribe young man Wen Han-long, and Golden Melody Award-winning Best Taiwanese Male Singer Xu Fu-kai. Hsu Yu-jen said that the event isn't just about sports marketing and artistic performances, but also includes premium brand gifts, aiming to strongly drive local industrial development and a cultural boom through various themes.