Tourism Bureau, Republic of China (Taiwan)

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.

The inspiration of the Tung Blossom Festival comes from the Hakka people, who live a hard working and simple life nurtured by wisdom that has come down from their original integration into the Taiwanese local culture. The Tung Trees that cover the hills and fields were an important cash crop for the Hakka. They also brought many economic opportunities to the local economy. Tung trees were widely planted in the nearby mountains of the Hakka area. Tung seed can be used to extract tung tree oil, and its wood is a basic material in the production of consumer goods at that time, when the economy was much more local, the Tung tree wood's economic value was an important resource in helping many Hakka families make ends meet, and helped Hakka communities purchase food. That is the main reason that the Hakka have deep feelings and heartfelt gratitude towards the Tung tree, the mountains, and nature in general. During The Tung Blossom Festival, in addition to inviting people to enjoy the flowers and tour around the Hakka village, the Council for Hakka Affairs has the honor of conducting a grand ceremony to worship the three Mountain Gods, the guardian spirits of the Hakka. The ceremony will not only offer thanksgiving and respect to the mountains and forests, but also bring encouragement to the Hakka decedents, extolling them to respect the law, to be solemn and the holy, to be devout in prayers, and to cherish the roots of their culture. Today, although people's livelihood no longer rely on the economic value of tung tree, the modern Tung Tree Festival has been a great economy success. The Tung Blossom Festival hosted by Hakka Affairs Council is not only a sacrifice to the guardian spirits on the behalf of the people, but also an offering to the people on the behalf of the flowers. The Tung tree has very different stages in its appearance throughout the four Seasons. Around April or May the flowers will blossom, and are a beautiful snow white; in summer, green leaves sprout from the branches; in autumn all the leaves turn yellow and blow away with the wind; and during the winter tung tree looks withered and dead. The Hakka people's history has often mimicked these seasons. Several times the Hakka have been forced to migrate, and have faced extreme difficulty. However, they have always stuck to their traditional roots, and been innovative in their methods.

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.

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.

The Ministry of Culture in 2010 initiated Creative Expo Taiwan as a platform for exchange and trade for the cultural and creative industry home and abroad. It has curated a few themed exhibitions to encourage the industry and the public to reflect on certain cultural topics, thereby sharing their creative ideas and holding conversations across borders. The expo has since then truthfully revealed Taiwan’s cultural value and aesthetic spirit to the world, allowing the global community to learn about Taiwan’s cultural and creative industry.

Yilan Green Expo was initiated in 2000. The insistent county government has managed to preserve Yilan’s green rice fields and forests, while passing down a diverse ocean ecology in the past 20 years. “Green tourism” is a way to look at one’s life from within. Travelers are encouraged to learn from mother Earth with a compassionate, open mind. Yilan’s agricultural and fishery tours are informative, and they show Yilan in a really attractive way. Come and learn a few tips for living an eco-friendly green life, too.

The Dalongdong area, which was formed around two centuries ago, is one of a few well-preserved historic neighborhoods in Taipei City known for its numerous quaint dwellings and religious structures surrounding Bao’an Temple. The Dalongdong Bao’an Temple is by far the most popular among Taiwan’s 300-odd temples dedicated to Baosheng Emperor, according to folklorist Lin Heng-dao. Striving to fulfill its commitment of keeping a grassroots religion alive, creating an old-meets-new vision and a cycle of “new culture”, and innovating on the basis of tradition, the palatial Dalongdong Bao’an Temple, along with its ornate decorations and spatial layout, represents unconventional thinking and methods regarding three-dimensional aesthetics that earned it international accolades such as the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation in 2003.The Temple is famous for hosting the annual Baosheng Cultural Festival, a symbol of Taiwan’s folk religious celebrations, architectural legacies and heritage revitalization efforts, and has attracted locals and visitors alike for two decades. Running from April through June, the festival has not only enlightened an ever-growing participant base about different facets of the country’s religious aesthetics and changes in relevant rituals, but has also, despite its orthodox view of Formosan spirituality, become a culturally influential, globally significant tourist attraction that inspired similar festivities across China and Singapore.

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.

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.

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 17 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.