Ghostly scenes? Taiwan also welcomes the colorful Xinshe Flower Sea Festival

By / MOOK Scenic Spots Editorial Team, compiled and reported

To celebrate the 12th anniversary of the "Xinshe Flower Sea," this year’s event is themed "Xinshe Flower Sea Journey – Roaming Along Provincial Highway 3" and will be grandly held from November 11 to November 26 at the Second Farm of the Council of Agriculture’s Crop Research Institute. This year’s Xinshe Flower Sea covers a total area of nearly 31 hectares, with the flower sea landscape area spanning about 15 hectares. It is divided into two main themes: the "Earth Tablecloth" and the newly introduced "Edible Landscape" arranged with fruits and vegetables. Among these, there is also a 2-hectare buckwheat field created in response to the popularity of the Korean drama "Goblin," which is highly eye-catching.

This year’s flower sea exhibition area features a large magpie installation art piece as the centerpiece, with the Earth Tablecloth and Edible Landscape as the main themes, complemented by geometric-patterned flower-seeded areas as a backdrop. It combines four exciting featured exhibition booths to present four key aspects: "Sustainable Development, Beautiful Life, Premium Agricultural Products, and Agricultural Technology." With the policy goal of revitalizing the local economy through agricultural excellence, visitors are invited to explore the magnificent and colorful Xinshe Flower Sea and enjoy the beautiful, blissful rural scenery gently caressed by autumn winds.

The "Main Exhibition Area" covers approximately 3 hectares and includes installations such as the "Welcome Fruit and Vegetable Zone" crafted from fruits into three-dimensional green sculptures, the "Happy Flower Garden" featuring magpie families and orchids, and the "Mushroom Mushroom New Paradise" showcasing Xinshe’s specialty shiitake mushrooms. These art pieces create an atmosphere of a happy flower sea and a romantic journey along Provincial Highway 3, along with the vibrant flower walls of Xinshe Flower Sea, attracting the attention of visitors.

The 10-hectare "Flower Sea Landscape Area" is planted with a vast expanse of colorful flowers such as cosmos, zinnias, buckwheat, sunflowers, and sunn hemp. Additionally, next to the "Main Exhibition Area," there is a "Premium Flower Area" covering about 2 hectares, presented in a checkerboard layout to showcase the vibrant Earth Tablecloth exhibition area.

This year breaks away from the traditional theme pavilion approach by integrating central government, municipal authorities, Taichung’s mountain-city region agencies, and agricultural associations to set up four featured exhibition booths: the "Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Exhibition," the "Wenxin Orchid Special Exhibition," the "Agricultural Specialty Area," and the "Leisure Agriculture Exhibition Area." Through different exhibition themes, they showcase the agricultural achievements of the Council of Agriculture, the distinctive produce of leisure agriculture areas, and the rich cultural elements of agricultural communities. This allows the public to not only experience the colorful spectacle of the flower sea but also learn about various agricultural policies and new technologies promoted by the government, highlighting the diverse facets of Taiwan’s agriculture and rural areas.