Tourism Bureau, Republic of China (Taiwan)

Yehliu Geopark is open to night-time visits now, and this makes it truly unique. "Time of Rocks in Yehliu" uses colorful light and music to highlight the area's mushroom rocks. Visitors can expect enjoy an indelible experience at the park.

Nantou is Taiwan's only inland county but is home to the famous, unrivalled Sun Moon Lake, the largest freshwater lake. Attracting visitors from abroad, it's an essential tourist destination, and in addition to scenic beauty, the unique landscape has made it an excellent place for biking, marathons, and an annual swimming competition, which is the area's biggest and longest-running event, starting in 1983. Every year around the Mid-Autumn Festival, swimmers from around Taiwan or abroad gather at Zhaowu Wharf to participate in this grand event. The course is 3000 meters long and in 2002 was officially included among the world's famous swimming competitions. Bringing thousands of swimming enthusiasts from Taiwan and abroad, it has become a grand event.

Using the golden sands of Fulong Beach, the artists at the 2020-2021 festival will illustrate Taiwan and the world's mountains and bicycle tours. The artists will go to many schools in the country to teach students to make sand sculptures, and both an international competition and a domestic competition will be held. The festival serves as a stage on which new sand artists can fully express their capabilities.

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.

As the most important platform in Taiwan's fashion industry, Taipei Fashion Week brings Taiwan's fashion to the world twice every year. Earlier in March, Taipei Fashion Week AW21 was held at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, and a much anticipated show on "sustainable fashion" kicked off in the evening on March 11 to unveil the special week. A total of 13 Taiwanese designer brands presented their collections, instilling creative energy to Taipei. Since the beginning of 2020 till now, the world's industries have been severely affected by COVID-19. Without exception, the fashion weeks throughout the world are no longer steadily held. Thus, Taipei Fashion Week SS21 garnered much attention in the globe's fashion community as the few physical shows left, and international media reports came along. In times of rebirth and innovation, Taipei Fashion Week AW21 decided to present itself with a brand new look with five highlights—functionality, sustainability, interdisciplinarity, diversity, and culture. Production-wise, it introduces Taiwan's leading functional-fabric technology to sustainable fashion, bringing about innovative methodologies and thoughts. Design-wise, the fashion week brings together Taiwan's art and culture and the fashion industry, resulting in more collaborations and inspirations. By making fashion a part of daily life, this event illustrates Taiwan as a place of cultural diversity. Taipei Fashion Week AW21 has not only garnered forces throughout the fashion industry, but also invited performing artists, visual designers, and musicians to help to promote Taiwan's designer brands on the global stage. Despite COVID-19, the fashion industry in Taiwan is expected to keep developing its unique aesthetics for a prosperous future. Taipei Fashion Week AW21: 3/10-3/15 Taipei Fashion Week SS22: 10/3-10/17

Held at the high travel season in Taiwan, Formosa Summer Festival presents Taiwan's best summer features at once. Its series of colorful events have drawn many visitors home and abroad to explore Taiwan's beautiful scenery and delicious food, immersing in the country's summer charm.

The plentiful marine products of the Matsu Islands not only attract aficionados from all around, but also the sea birds that soar in the sky overhead as they search for the small fish, like anchovies and herring, that constitute their primary diet. Each year these graceful guests fly in and nest on the uninhabited reefs of Matsu. As a result, in May 2000 the Matsu Islands Tern Refuge was established. The refuge comprises Shuangzi Reef in Dongyin Township, the Sanlian Islets, Zhongdao, Tiejian, Baimiao, and Jinyu in Beigan Township, the Liuquan Reef in Nangan Township, and Sheshan in Juguang Township. The protected birds include the Bridled Tern, the Black-napped Tern, the Roseate Tern, the Crested Tern, the Black-tailed Tern, the Reef Egret, and the Fork-tailed Swift. The best time for tern-watching in Matsu is from July to August. Whether it's taking the bird-watching boat and admiring the scenery of Matsu and the islands as they soar up in the air or taking a leisurely walk along the harbor and underground tunnels to enjoy watching the terns from a unique vantage point, both are wonderful excursions not to be missed while visiting Matsu in the summer. In addition to the bird-watching excursions, you can also enjoy Beigan's Mt. Da'ao, Qinbi Village, and a magnificent coast from the water, and along the way get a great view of Matsu's unique local landscape and the military fortifications that date from an earlier time. A series of activities allow visitors to savor the unique military culture of Matsu and at the same time combine a trip rich in ecological education with total relaxation where they can experience firsthand the beauty of the place, enjoy the local culture, the unique "battleground" environment, and the rich ecology.

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.

Starting in the Qing dynasty, there has been a custom of people seizing sacrificial goods after the Ghost Festival is over. Some say this is to scare away lingering spirits, and is known as "Qianggu" (ghost grappling). The Qianggu competition held in Toucheng is Taiwan's largest and one of Yilan's important traditional events during the seventh lunar month. The tower consists of pillars made of China fir, 11 meters tall and 8 meters wide, with 7 or 8 meter bamboo trestlework on top. Squid, rice dumplings, rice noodles, meat, fish, and other foods are tied to the trestlework. Team members must climb on top of each other to reach the top of the trestlework and pillars, which are covered in oil. Reaching the top, they cut down the food and throw it to the frame below, where it is taken by spectators. Whoever claims the wind banner at the top is declared the winner. There are a variety of other events, including the water lantern old street tour, releasing water lanterns into Zhu'an River a day before the ghost gates close, and Beiguan Battle. There is a period of one month between the first day when the ghost gates open and the last day when Qianggu is held. In addition to remembering the ancestors and their pioneering efforts, the month includes a variety of religious traditional and folk culture events.

Tradition has it that the "Gambling for Moon-Cakes" game was originated by Hong Xu, born in Kinmen's Hongmengang (Houfenggang). When Zheng Chenggong set out and attacked Jinling (Nanjing), Hong Xu was left behind to guard Xiamen. In order to calm the troops and comfort them in their homesickness, on Mid-autumn Festival day he had the soldiers of the garrison play this game, and as time went on it became a rather characteristic activity done in Jinmen on this holiday. "Gambling for moon-cakes" is a dice game, the winning prizes for which are moon-cakes. In the past Kinmen was a barren land and the people were poor. Families all hoped that their children would pass the civil service exams and thus make a name for themselves. Because they were all familiar with the civil service examination system, the six dice used in this game were given the names of the different levels or "degrees" of the examination system (zhuangyuan, bangyan, tanhua, jinshi, juren, and xiucai). The Kinmen County government conducts the "The Dice Game For Mooncakes (Bo-Bing) on Mid-Autumn Festival" in accordance with the ancient rules. Participants must all go through the three levels of the exam, "provincial, metropolitan, palace." Then, according to their ranking, they each receive a moon-cake representing the particular status they have achieved, from "top graduate" (zhuangyuan) to "graduate" (xiucai). In addition, to amplify the event and make it more interesting, traditional Kinmen toys provided so that young and old can have fun to their heart's content!