Tourism Bureau, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Grey-faced buzzards, also called "nanlu ying" or "qingming niao" by locals in central Taiwan, fly northward every March and April, passing over Mt. Bagua. To protect these birds for the long term, the Wild Bird Society Of Changhua County hosts a special event called "Free Buzzard in Mt. Bagua."

The gradual arrival of winter formally announces that Taiwan's peak hot spring season has begun! Taiwan abounds in the gifts of nature—cold springs, hot springs, mud springs, submarine springs—it is a world-famous scenic spot for springs of every variety. Beginning in 2007 the Tourism Bureau, Ministry of Transportation and Communication combined two touristic resources—the unique healthcare aspects of thermal springs and the demand for a modern, healthy diet—to integrate Taiwan's "thermal springs" and "gourmet cuisine" for a plan to launch a "Taiwan Hot Spring Fine-Cuisine Carnival." This event takes center stage throughout Taiwan at the same time each year, with one of Taiwan's 19 thermal spring areas chosen as the year's kick-off location. Not only is the Carnival an opportunity for Taiwanese tourists to soak up the pleasures of thermal springs throughout the country and receive merchandise discounts, overseas tourists are also fascinated and attracted, and the Carnival is a driving force behind the annual autumn/winter Taiwan hot spring tourist boom. During this period, hot spring areas throughout the country hold a series of hot spring/fine-cuisine events and pull together hundreds of county and municipal companies, introducing the scenic beauty of the springs, the local cultural landscape, and special products.

Tradition has it that the "sky lantern" was invented during the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220-265) by Zhuge Liang. At first it was used to transmit military information, different from beacon towers yet ingeniously serving the same function, and is now generally recognized as the earliest ancestor to the hot air balloon. In the early 19th century the Lantern Festival was brought to Taiwan, where every year, at the beginning of the spring planting season, people would release "sky lanterns" into the air as a prayer for the coming year. Because in olden times marriage was for the purpose of "adding a son" and increasing manpower, people went to the temple to pray for blessings and released sky lanterns on which they had written things like "May a son soon be born." and "May the harvests be bountiful." Sky lanterns were released to follow the wind, rising up to the ancestors to report that all was well and to pray for blessings. Slowly this evolved to become a local event for the Yuanxiao Festival in the Pingxi area. Through many, many years of changes, the one thing that never changed was the reflected lives and hopes of the people as the sky lanterns slowly rose aloft. For many years the "Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival" has had a brilliant history. In addition to enjoying its reputation as part of the traditional description of this Yuanxiao or Lantern Festival in Taiwan—"Sky lanterns in the north, beehive fireworks in the south."—the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival was voted by the Discovery Channel as the second biggest New Year's Eve celebration in the world, a festival whose sky lanterns carry the prayers and vows of the people and by which they seek the purification of their souls, a festival that advertises the Taiwan spirit to the world. In addition to the folk performances, lantern riddle contests, and street folk carnivals that are organized every year, the sky lanterns carrying prayers aloft remain the focal point of the entire event. The lanterns are lit, hopes slowly rise, and the flames of prayer dance in the air as the lanterns magically transform into wings of hope and desire, turning the night sky of this mountain town into an expanse of unimaginable beauty. The visual enjoyment of his fantastic and magnificent sight transcends cultural barriers so when festival time arrives each year, Pingxi is always overwhelmed with visitors. The sight of sky lanterns with their lights rising slowing into the sky is for many Taiwanese a beautiful memory and the beginning of happiness and dreams.

To promote Taiwan's tourism in the global community, so as to attract more foreign visitors to the country and increase tourism revenues, Tourism Bureau, MOTC has held the Taiwan Lantern Festival in recent years with the idea of "spreading the roots of folk culture while holding traditional fests at an international level." Lantern parades are traditionally held on the Lantern Day. By combining traditional culture with top-notch technology, Taiwan Lantern Festival presents itself as a shining fest compatible with its international counterparts. The main lantern area is so beautiful that it is merely impossible to appreciate everything at once. Local and overseas folk troupes dedicate their remarkable performances to the festival's goers. Many other performance groups also bring their impressive shows to the audience. The festival has therefore been hailed by local participants and foreign guests alike. In 2007, a Discovery Channel producer and his team came to Taiwan to join the festival, and concluded that this international event is worth some recognition. In fact, Taiwan Lantern Festival has since been chosen by the Discovery Channel to be one of the best festivals in the world. Discovery has made an hour-long documentary that has been shown globally to introduce the dazzling, charming Taiwan Lantern Festival. The 2022 Taiwan Lantern Festival will draw inspiration from tradition to innovate and create breakthroughs. It will combine traditional lantern art and multidisciplinary art technology, while setting up a new collaboration model for artisans and artists –especially lantern specialists. The festival is expected to serve as a space for such artists and artisans to demonstrate their work, and it will also provide interactive experiences for visitors to learn about how traditional lantern art can be passed down from one generation to another. By incorporating creativity and innovation, tradition and modernity can be integrated to diversify this folk festival, making the Taiwan Lantern Festival unique among ethnic Chinese communities around the globe.

Presenting Taichung City's 12 hundred-year-old temples at once, the festival aims to strengthen regional values whilst showing Taichung's cultural diversity. Based on traditional religious rites and combining the folk events of all participating areas, it promotes Mazu worship at the global stage, drawing fans of culture home and abroad to learn about in Taichung's folk religion.

Taiwan International Festival of Arts is Taiwan's most important art event and Asia's brightest arts and cultural feast. Every year, it draws nearly 70,000 fans to watch performances together. The stage here is in sync with the rest of the globe's, and the audience can feel world's trends right here in Taiwan. The country's high-potential artists gather up at national theatres to show Taiwan's powerful, creative energy.

Since 2010 the Tourism Bureau has actively conducted a whole series of events related to the Taiwan Cycling Festival, enthusiastically inviting the Taiwan public to lay down their "tire" tracks and turn the results of innovation in transportation construction into a new resource for tourism, aiming to make Taiwan into an international-level paradise for leisure cycling. Taiwan has an excellent highway system plus a superior topography so that when cycling, a rider can also appreciate magnificent scenery along the route—and what you have is a cycling tour around the island that boasts a convenient and enjoyable itinerary! The series of activities of the "Taiwan Cycling Festival" focus on bicycle touring and pulls together the tourist and transportation resources of the various county seats to present the specifics of a diverse and local touring culture. Accompanied by beautiful mountains and water scenery, bicycle enthusiasts from around the world can come on a pilgrimage and are provided a varied and rich recreational cycling experience, making the riding of the "iron horse" no longer a simple exercise but rather the perfect experience in body and soul.

The "Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival" is ranked as the third largest folk celebration in the world and is one of the most representative religious events in all of Taiwan. With hundreds of thousands of firecrackers all going off at the same time, it is a cacophony like hundreds of thousands of bees streaming out of their hives. The event attracts huge numbers of onlookers every year and is paired with the "Pingxi Sky Lanterns" in describing Lantern Festival activities: "Sky lanterns in the north, beehive fireworks in the south." Tradition has it that the "beehive fireworks" originated in July/August, 1885 as a cholera epidemic raged in the streets of Yanshui. Owing to the underdeveloped state of medicine at the time, victims of the disease multiplied daily and the local population lived in fear, praying to Guan Di, the god of war, to bring an end to this calamity and save them. Thus on Lantern Festival evening, Guan Di appointed General Zhou Cang as his guide, with Guan Di's palanquin bringing up the rear. Following the palanquin were multitudes of the faithful setting off firecrackers along the road, winding their way throughout the city until the break of dawn, ridding themselves of this plague in one fell swoop. From that time onward, future generations followed this precedent, asking Guan Di to patrol the streets on the evening of the Lantern Festival. The "Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival" event consists of a circuit around the outskirts of the town by palanquins, each symbolically armed to the teeth, with thousands of local inhabitants and visitors clustered around them as they slowly wind their way through the streets. When the line of palanquins comes up to the residential gate of a business, the lead one sets up a large or small "gun deck" (also called a "gun wall") on the street and then lights the fuse. The "gun deck" consists of thousands of rockets that ignite all at the same time, creating a deafening, bee-like sound that fills the air as sparks fly in all directions. Every year the ear-splitting power of these rockets and the excitement that comes in their wake attract crowds of tourists from both Taiwan and abroad to come "rush the beehive barricades"! People believe the "baptism of fireworks" gets rid of calamity and troubles, sweeps away noxious influences and brings increasing good fortune in the new year.

The "Biennial Butterfly Beauty Festival" is a magnificent yearly event that goes from November to March of the following year taking place in the Maolin National Scenic Area. During this period millions of migrating Euploea butterflies (purple in color) cross the ocean and arrive here to winter over. The Maolin National Scenic Area is proud of that fact that it is has one of the only two winter migratory butterfly gorges in the world. The purple Euploea is a rare wintering butterfly. Each winter millions of these butterflies gather together for the flight to the Dawushan Foothills to avoid the cold and to winter in the gorges, there presenting a spectacular ecological sight—the "Purple Butterfly Valley." Tourists from every corner of the world travel every year to Maolin to experience firsthand this magnificent, world-class scene of beautiful purple butterflies dancing in the air, and everyone comes away full of praise and admiration. On an early winter morning as the first rays of the sun shine down on Maolin's Purple Butterfly Valley, we come upon the purple Euploea that, awakened from their slumber, begin fervently to chase the sunrays, peeking through the treetops and the forest. From time to time, a butterfly will stop to display his garment of magical color then soar high and low as he shuttles around the valley. Not only does he provide a superb eco-touristic spot for those watching, but he also brings a small bit of warmth to a winter's day. You are invited and welcome to take advantage of this once-a-year, rare opportunity to appreciate these migrating butterflies and come to Maolin to experience the magnificent dance of the purple Euploea. With everyone's care and concern, the future will bring an endless cycle of this extraordinary sight!

Held along Taiwan's East Coast, Taiwan East Coast Land Arts Festival & Moonlight Sea Concert features large outdoor installation, art studios accessible to the public along Provincial Highway 11, art fairs, and music concerts. The coast's natural environment, indigenous lifestyle, and youth travel are the festival's main themes. 2022 Moonlight Sea Concerts： 6/21、7/14、7/15、8/13、8/14、9/10、9/11、9/12