New Taipei City Goes Christmas Crazy: A Thousand People Take to the Streets, Singers Perform All Day

By Liu Jiawen, compiled and reported

This Saturday is Christmas Eve—have you decided where to go yet? On December 24th, New Taipei City will be buzzing from morning till night, featuring a thousand-strong street parade carnival, a Christmas shopping carnival, and a star-studded Christmas evening party that will follow one after another. The evening party kicks off at 7 PM that day, and the lineup includes well-known artists and groups such as Rainie Yang, Sodagreen, Lu Guangzhong, Pang Wen Yin, and Pin Guan. They’ll celebrate the joyful Christmas Eve with the public at the Civic Plaza of New Taipei City Hall.

The street parade carnival begins at 4:30 PM on Saturday (the 24th), with numerous teams signed up to participate, including mounted police, fire department hunks, police marching bands, samba carnival troupes, unicycle stunt teams, Christmas beauties, and passionate belly dance squads. Over a thousand participants will strut their stuff to see who has the most creative outfit. The parade route starts with an assembly on Chongqing Road, goes straight down Zhongshan Road, turns left onto XinFu Road, and finally heads to the Civic Plaza of New Taipei City Hall. To accommodate the event, partial traffic control will be in place on nearby sections of Zhongshan Road, Chongqing Road, XinFu Road, and XinZhan Road.

Meanwhile, the Christmas Shopping Carnival will turn Banqiao Fuzhong Commercial Circle into a pedestrian-only shopping zone. In addition to a Christmas market, there will be live music performances, large-scale street installations, DIY experiences, and more. Shoppers spending over NT$300 that day will receive a free Christmas scarf. Additionally, from now until January 15, 2011, anyone with a New Taipei City purchase receipt—regardless of the amount—can log in to the New Taipei City Shopping Month website (www.ntpcshopping.com.tw/index.php) to enter a lucky draw. The grand prize is a recreational vehicle worth nearly NT$900,000.

Official website for the “2011 New Taipei City Joyful Christmas City” event: tour.tpc.gov.tw/2011christmas/