The Pingtung Lantern Festival transforms the Wan-nian Creek light sculpture night spot into a luminous waterway.

Text by MOOK Scenic Spots Family, compiled and reported.

In 2015, Pingtung hosted various events to provide locals and tourists with great places for New Year visits, attracting over 1.45 million visitors. This year, in addition to the Hot Spring Expo, the new Lantern Festival has been added. Centered around Wan-nian Creek, the main attraction is the “Leap of Miracles” centerpiece. Designed around the Year of the Rooster, it features a golden rooster with outstretched wings, combined with light projections showcasing Pingtung’s rich ethnic cultures and local produce. It also symbolizes hope. Along nearly one kilometer of the creek from the Labor Affairs Office to the Jade Emperor Temple, 17 themed light zones line the banks, including art and humanities lights, Farewell to the Five-Cent Tram, Idol Theater, indigenous and Hakka ethnic culture zones, as well as artist-designed light installations like floating cloud lamps.

Once known as “Fan-á-poo-khe” or “A-kao-khe,” Wan-nian Creek meanders through downtown Pingtung and is the city’s lifeblood. However, in the past, it was notorious for pollution from industrial, livestock, and domestic wastewater discharges, once earning the nickname “Wan-nian Stinky.” Thanks to recent efforts by the county government to clean it up, Wan-nian Creek has made a remarkable recovery, regaining its beautiful appearance and now serving as a popular spot for locals to relax morning and evening.

Among them, the “Wan-nian Creek Along the River During the Qingming Festival” was jointly created over three years and across seven student cohorts by teachers and students of Minhe Elementary School located by Wan-nian Creek, along with local history enthusiasts. It intricately depicts landscapes and figures along the creek, even including scenes such as the now-demolished Wu-Liao Bridge and people boating on the creek, fondly remembered by older residents of Pingtung. The “Swaying with Light – Music Nursery” light zone, installed next to the former residence of Li Shu-de, features works shaped like growing musical saplings bearing bright musical note fruits that change colors with the music. It pays deep tribute to the esteemed “Mother of Taiwanese Violin”—Professor Li Shu-de.

The Labor Recreation Center building will present a light sculpture show every half hour from 7:15 PM to 8:45 PM starting January 30. Each show lasts about three minutes, themed around popular New Year symbols loved by locals—auspicious dragons, giant firecrackers, and the blackfin tuna symbolizing “abundance every year,” alongside bountiful agricultural produce, all sending New Year’s greetings to the public.