First Look at the Beigang Lantern Area of the 2017 Yunlin Lantern Festival – Packed with Mazu Culture and Local Delicacies

Text and Photos byDouglas Fang

I explored the Beigang Lantern Area before the official start of the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin, worried that it might get too crowded once the festival officially begins. During the Lunar New Year holidays alone, the number of visitors coming to worship at Beigang Chaotian Temple was already huge, and the crowds continued even after the holiday ended. It’s hard to imagine how many people will flood into Beigang when the lantern festival kicks off. Personally, I think the Beigang Lantern Area is definitely worth checking out.

Beyond the main lantern displays, Beigang’s local snacks and cultural charm are sure to keep you entertained all day long. The Beigang Lantern Area opens four days earlier than the main Huwei Lantern Area, and on its opening day, February 7th, Beigang Chaotian Temple will also host a Lantern Festival evening party featuring performances by several popular singers. Interested visitors can check the temple’s official Facebook page for more details.

Friends who haven’t decided how to plan their Yunlin lantern viewing trip should quickly revisit the following two articles!!!!

▲How to Enjoy the Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin

▲Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin – Activity Guide

This year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin features three sub-areas within the Beigang Lantern Area: the Shuidao Tou Lantern Area, the Sightseeing Bridge Lantern Area, and the Alleyway Lantern Area. Unlike the Huwei main area, there isn’t a central lantern in Beigang, but if one had to be named, Beigang Chaotian Temple could definitely be considered the centerpiece of the Beigang Lantern Area.

To complement this year’s lantern festival, Beigang Chaotian Temple invited a world-renowned lighting designer — the same expert who once lit up the Statue of Liberty — to make the temple the most dazzling “lantern” in the Beigang Lantern Area.

Beigang Lantern Area / Shuidao Tou Lantern Area

I personally found the Shuidao Tou Lantern Area quite interesting. Aside from the lantern displays, it also introduces Beigang’s local Mazu culture and traditional cuisine.

The Shuidao Tou Cultural Park is located near Beigang Bridge. Built during the Japanese colonial period in 1930, it’s a historic structure. The tallest building in the park is the Beigang Water Tower, which has a very unique design. Constructed with reinforced concrete, it’s a ten-sided building. During the lantern festival, the tower will be illuminated at night, complemented by colorful lights on the surrounding walls, adding a touch of romance to the classical architecture.

As mentioned earlier, what I really liked about the Shuidao Tou sub-area is how it uses lanterns to showcase Beigang’s Mazu culture and local food. For the Mazu culture part, there are lanterns related to the Mazu procession, including the Report Horse, Dragon and Phoenix Lions, Tiger God Eating Firecrackers, Thousand-Mile Eyes and Wind-Following Ears, as well as the Mazu palanquin.

For the local food section, there are lanterns shaped like local dishes such as noodles in broth, fried dough sticks, oyster omelets, and pork balls. Each lantern is accompanied by detailed text panels providing explanations, ensuring that visitors don’t just take photos but also gain a deeper understanding of the local culture. This approach encourages tourists to return to the city after the festival, drawn by their newfound interest in these traditions.

When I visited, some of the Mazu culture-related lanterns, such as the Thousand-Mile Eyes and Wind-Following Ears, as well as the Mazu palanquin, were still under construction. The lanterns for the Thousand-Mile Eyes and Wind-Following Ears are expected to be quite tall, possibly around the height of a single-story building. I’m looking forward to seeing the final versions when the festival officially opens.

Beigang Lantern Area / Sightseeing Bridge Lantern Area

When I visited, the Sightseeing Bridge Lantern Area hadn’t yet started its trial lighting at night, so only the bridge’s original lighting was on. There are quite a few bird-shaped lanterns at this sub-area, positioned at various angles and heights. It’s easy to imagine how spectacular the display will be once the lights are fully on.

The platform that previously held the Thousand-Mile Eyes and Wind-Following Ears lanterns, which were damaged by a typhoon, hasn’t been reused until now. This year, the Taiwan Lantern Festival has integrated it with the “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix” theme of the adjacent Sightseeing Bridge. Two lanterns resembling white cranes have been placed there, and they’re not small in size.

The following is an excerpt from the 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin official website by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, ROC, introducing the Sightseeing Bridge sub-area:
Spanning Yunlin and Chiayi, the Beigang Sightseeing Bridge is an arch bridge designed in the shape of a dragon, with its red structure and triple-arch design symbolizing prosperity. It connects Beigang Chaotian Temple and Xingang Shuixian Temple, exuding an auspicious aura and serving as a famous landmark in Beigang.

The theme of the lantern area is inspired by the historical pilgrimage to Bengang. This pathway was once the essential route for worshippers heading to Chaotian Temple, hence the “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix” theme, symbolizing “hundreds of temples returning to the mother temple” — the central Mazu temple in Taiwan, Chaotian Temple. It represents the thriving branching of Mazu worship from Beigang and gathers deities and worshippers from all over to pay homage to Mazu here.

In terms of design, the lantern area highlights the characteristics of Beigang as the homeland of lantern art. Nearly a hundred sets of traditional bird-shaped lanterns are installed along the bridge, each meticulously crafted by local lantern artists. Paired with dynamic lighting effects on the bridge, the display creates the grand vision of “a hundred birds soaring,” bringing the “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix” scene to life.

Beigang Lantern Area / Alleyway Lantern Area

One of my personal highlights of the Beigang Lantern Area this year is the Alleyway Lantern Area. Winding through narrow alleys, visitors can explore the past glory of the Beigang Lantern Festival through the displayed lanterns.

With every turn in the alleys, you never know what kind of lantern awaits you in the next one. The entire area offers a sense of exploration and adventure. You can refer to the alleyway lantern area from last year’s independently organized Beigang Lantern Festival — this year, the scale is even bigger (extended reading:[Travelogue | Yunlin Beigang] 2016 Beigang Yuanxiao Lantern Festival (2/21–3/6))

The following is an excerpt from the 2017 Taiwan Lantern Festival in Yunlin official website by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, ROC, introducing the Alleyway sub-area:

Conceived with the concept of promoting Yunlin’s traditional craft heritage and tourism industry, and aiming to preserve culture and revive the former glory of Bungang, this lantern area uniquely combines Beigang’s traditional lanterns, electric lanterns, and art floats with the landscape features of the old streets and alleys, creating a nostalgic and retro-themed lantern zone.

The creative elements of this lantern area incorporate small electric lanterns and art floats by Teacher Yan Santai, traditional lanterns by Teacher Wu Dengxing, vintage-style lanterns by Teacher Lin Congxian, basin puppet art installations by Teacher Chen Weiguang, 3D storybook houses with colorful paintings by Teacher Huang Zhiwei... and more. Additionally, the lighting environment pairs nostalgic lanterns with LED lights, while also showcasing exhibitions of various traditional crafts from Yunlin. This combination presents the festive and classic ambiance of a traditional retro lantern festival within the Beigang alleyway lantern area, alongside a modern and innovative visual experience, reinvigorating the charm and cultural value of Beigang’s traditional lantern festivals.

On the day of my visit, some streets were still in the final stages of setup and tidying up, while others had already begun their test lighting.

In addition to lantern decorations at the beginning and end of each street, there were also these three lanterns strung together on bamboo poles along the roadside—quite evocative of a retro vibe. Paired with some of the older buildings in the alleys, it felt as though we had traveled back to an era when technology wasn’t so advanced.

The walls here also display related photos of past Beigang lantern festival events, art floats, and more… Each photo tells a story from that particular era.

Overall, the Taiwan Lantern Festival’s Beigang Lantern Area in Yunlin may not feature overly flashy light displays, but every alleyway and every lantern carries its own unique story. Through these stories, we can gain a deeper understanding of Beigang’s culture—definitely a place worth visiting.

If you’ve previously attended the Beigang Lantern Festival organized locally, then you absolutely must check out this year’s Taiwan Lantern Festival Beigang Lantern Area in Yunlin. The scale is much larger than the self-organized event, and the variety of lanterns is abundant—all newly crafted this year.

Douglas Fang explores the world with me — food discovery × attraction exploration × visual documentation