Pingxi Sky Lanterns (平溪天燈)

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The New Taipei City Government is extremely happy to talk about all the international attention and admiration that the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival (新北市平溪天燈節) has received over the past few years. The Sky Lantern Festival has earned well-deserved international fame and is certainly one of the most popular and well known cultural events of the year in Taiwan.

The festival is a pretty powerful tool in attracting foreign visitors to Taiwan and raising the international profile of the country and was recently named as one of the world's fourteen most important festivals and one that you MUST ATTEND before you die - although I'm not sure anyone really plans on when they're going to die - so its probably just better to come as soon as possible! 

The Sky Lantern Festival is visually stunning and an extremely cool event to take part in - especially if it is your first time. The event is attended by tens if not hundreds of thousands of people each year including Taiwanese celebrities, ambassadors from Taiwan's diplomatic allies and politicians of all levels up to and including the president. 

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Pingxi is a small mountain village in New Taipei City that is popular year-round for its sky lanterns and its natural surroundings. Apart from Sky Lanterns, there are quite a few popular tourist attractions to be found within the small Pingxi rail line including the Shifen Waterfall (十分瀑布) which is considered the "Niagara of Taiwan." and of course one of my favourite day-hikes, the Sandiaoling Waterfall Hike.

Pingxi is a small village with a population of around 6000 people, so the influx of thousands of people at one time would seem to me to make planning the Sky Lantern event a logistical nightmare. The New Taipei City government should be commended however for their efforts in getting everyone in and out as well as imposing traffic restrictions and crowd control measures in order to make the event a very safe one - Taiwan is an extremely efficient country and when the bureaucracy has the ability to perform in such an admirable way, you know something is going right. 

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The event is set up in several stages and each night of the festival there are typically over 3500 lanterns released into the sky with hundreds of lanterns being released each stage.

The dignitaries who take part in the event write their wishes for the new year on the lantern and release it into the sky hoping that their dreams will come true. 

For readers who have no idea what a sky lantern is, it is basically a lantern made with rice paper and a wire frame that is lifted into the air by kerosene-soaked paper. When the paper is lit on fire, the hot air inside lifts the lantern into the sky and allows it to float for as long as five to eight minutes. 

Pingxi happens to be the only place where it is legal to ignite sky lanterns in Taiwan as it is a temperate mountainous area where it rains at least 200 days a year on average. The risk of fire in the area is considerably less than in other areas of the country - That being said, with sky lanterns being flown into the sky by tourists every day of the year and then an estimated 10,000 or more being lifted into the sky during the three days of the festival - there is a considerably negative environmental impact on the region and that impact seems to be something that is rarely considered by the thousands revelling in the festival's joyous atmosphere. 

I've been to the event three times and each time I tell myself that I won't go again but something keeps bringing me back. There are some great things about the festival, but at the same time there are still a lot of negatives and areas I believe that the city government can improve upon in order to make it much better for the people who visit. Below are a list of some of my pros and cons of the event: 

Pros: 

• The event is one of the world's best cultural events and if you live in Taiwan, its a great idea to take part while you have the opportunity. 
• The New Taipei City government does an awesome job with transporting hundreds of thousands of people in and out of the Pingxi area.
• Dates have been added to the festival to compensate for the amount of interest and accommodating all the people who want to attend.
• Seeing the sky lanterns taking off is both awe-inspiring and breathtaking.
• The event is pretty awesome for photographers.

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Cons:

• Pingxi is small - It is not suitable for the amount of interest that the festival attracts. The crowds are huge. 
• The grounds of Pingxi Elementary School and Jingtong Elementary School are not big enough to fit the amount of people that come which causes some pretty terrible crowding and often flaring tempers giving me nightmares about stampeding. 
• It is not convenient to get food or drinks or to use the bathroom during the event as you have to wait in line for a LONG time. 
• Photographers are given priority over normal spectators. A lot of photographers camp out for spots and if you plan on shooting the event you need to arrive several hours in advance to get a space (at least 12 hours) 
• Photographers use large tripods over 2-3 meters tall and sit on ladders to get the best wide-angle view of the lanterns taking off from the ground which ultimately blocks the view of all the people who come to the festival and have to stand behind them.
• It is not set up well for children as parents likely have to lift their children up onto their shoulders so that they can see what is happening due to all the photographers on ladders in front of everyone. 
• Getting to Pingxi is easy, but despite the best efforts of the New Taipei City government, getting out of the area is difficult due to the sheer number of people trying to leave. You may end up waiting in line for hours.
• If you don't live in Taipei and need to take a train or a bus to other cities, you may be out of luck getting back in time. 

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Despite a longer list of cons, I still believe however that if you haven't had the chance to attend the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival, you should make sure to get yourself to Pingxi to experience the festival at least once.

Thursday March 5th is the last day of the event for 2015 and it will be located near Shifen Station. There will be eight stages between 6:00 and 8:30, so if you are free that day try to get out and check it out. It is on a Thursday, so I imagine the crowds won't be as bad as they were on 2/22 and 2/27. 

You should still take some of the cons into consideration and my best advice to you is to get to the festival well in advance of the first release and only stay long enough to see the first and second stage before getting yourself in line for the shuttle bus as soon as possible. 

The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is beautiful, I've gone several times and have enjoyed my time while there - I have seen it enough though so I don't think I will be going back in the future as I'm not really a big fan of massive crowds nor am I inclined to arrive twelve hours early to get a space to take photos. Like I said though, if you haven't been - Get yourself there, brave the crowds, suffer the frustration of waiting in long longs and enjoy yourself! 

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Getting to Pingxi

Getting to the Festival is easy: Take the Taipei MRT to the Taipei Zoo MRT Station (動物園捷運站) and from there line up for the shuttle bus to Pingxi. The shuttle bus is 50NT dollars and includes the return trip. There are two lines for the bus, the line one the right (which will be the longest line) is for people who want to have a seat on the bus - and the line on the left (which is much faster) is for those who don't mind standing for the 30 minute drive up the mountain. 

If you plan on driving a car or a scooter, the furthest you will be able to get is the Shiding Interchange (石碇交流道) where you will be able to park and line up for the shuttle bus. The city government has blocked access to Pingxi for all traffic except for those who are residents of Pingxi.

Taipei's Historical Mansions

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Taiwan has hundreds if not thousands of traditional mansions throughout the country - but in Taipei, most of them have unfortunately given way to "progress" and have been demolished in order to build high-rise residential buildings.  

I don't live in Taipei so I have the opportunity to see a lot of these old Fujian-style houses quite often. I find that the further you travel south in the country, the more likely you are to find these kind of buildings. A lot of what you find in the south though aren't as well preserved as the two mansions I'm about to introduce and a lot of them are actually still used as residences and are not open to the public. 

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This blog is about two of greater Taipei's more prominent historical mansions. Both of these mansions date back over a hundred years and like most traditional houses in Taiwan are Fujian-style mansions, but they differ a bit in the way they were constructed, the amount of space they have and what they're used for today.

Both mansions are beautiful, there is no doubt about that, but they can be a bit touristy and are usually full of people on weekends due to their easy accessibility. They both provide a very nostalgic look back into Taiwanese history and allow people to trace their roots and teach history to their children who are more focused on the future than the past. 

Li Family Abode 蘆洲李宅古蹟

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The Lee Family Mansion, a 3rd class historic site in Luzhou has recently become more accessible to residents of Taipei through the completion of the Luzhou line (蘆洲線) of Taipei's MRT. The mansion is a short walk from the MRT station and has an admission fee of $100NT. 

The Lee Family Mansion has an interesting history - it was built in 1906 by the Lee family which became quite rich during the time and had expanded the building several times and owned much of the land around the mansion. The most important member of the Lee family in recent history was Lee You-Bang (李友邦) who was a general in the anti-Japanese militia. Lee led a successful insurrection against the Japanese, but when the Nationalists took control of Taiwan he was ultimately accused of being a communist and he and his wife were imprisoned several times before he was executed by the KMT government in 1952.  

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After Lee's execution, the mansion was maintained by his wife and was opened to the public in 2006. Today Lee Yao Bang is considered a Taiwanese patriot who fought bravely against the Japanese occupation of the country. His unfortunate demise somehow seems to have been forgotten however although I'm sure there were a lot of apologies given to his wife who was also persecuted under Taiwan's white terror era. 

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The mansion has been open for several years and holds several different activities throughout the year making it a tourist hot spot for Taiwanese people. It hasn't really been on the radar of foreign visitors up until recently though due to the completion of the Luzhou line of the Taipei MRT which made it more accessible. 

The mansion is well worth a look, especially if you're planning an afternoon exploring the Luzhou area. The area is quite interesting and the temple night market near the the Lee Family Abode is pretty cool to check out. You won't need to spend very much time at the mansion unless you want to listen to every audio presentation in the rooms. The area would also be nice for a picnic as there is a grassy front yard with a small lake in front. 

Lee Family Abode Website (No English)

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Li Family Abode Gallery (Click on Image to enlarge)

Flickr Link

Lin Family Mansion 板橋林家花園

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The Lin Family Garden and Mansion in Banqiao shares some similarities with the Lee Family Mansion in Luzhou, but this one is much grander in scale and includes a traditional Chinese garden. This mansion is considered to have the best traditional gardens in northern Taiwan and there has been a concerted effort over the past few decades to preserved the grounds for public use.  

The Lin Ben Yuan family (林本源) which was one of the most powerful Chinese-immigrant clans during the Japanese occupation period. The Lin clan were wealthy rice and salt farmers who moved to Banqiao (板橋) in the 1850s and constructed the Lin family mansion there. Due to the social atmosphere are the time, the mansion was built with security and privacy in mind, so it has high walls on all four sides and trees surrounding it. (I'm pretty sure some Ninjas could have gained pretty easy access to the grounds if they wanted to, but that might just be because I have an overactive imagination) The trees block the view of all the buildings surrounding the mansion which gives it a much different feeling than what you get at the Lee family mansion and almost transports you back in time before Taiwan became such massively urban developed country and another reason why the Lin family gardens is almost a must visit for tourists coming to Taiwan. 

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Similar to the situation with the Lee Family Abode, the Lin family seemed to do extremely well during the Japanese occupation amassing a large fortune and kept constructing new buildings within the grounds. They however they never forgot their Chinese heritage and used the grounds as a headquarters for meetings of the Chinese families who were opposed to the Japanese. 

Ironically when the nationalists took control of Taiwan after 1949 the mansion went from housing the Lin family to housing over 300 different families of squatters and suffered long periods of neglect until the Lin family ultimately ceeded ownership of the property to the Taipei city government in 1977 and donated 11 million NT dollars for its reconstruction.

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The grounds are currently well-preserved and clean and are regarded as one of Taiwan's best examples of a traditional Chinese garden. If you have a chance to visit Taiwan, or if you are already in Taiwan and haven't visited these gardens yet, make sure to visit when you have free time! 

Lin Family Mansion and Garden Website

Lin Family Mansion Gallery (Click on Image to enlarge)

Flickr Link

Rising Lotus Temple (蘆洲湧蓮寺)

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Religion in Taiwan is both exciting and vibrant and even though an outsider like myself may not fully understand everything that is going on, its all very interesting to the little anthropologist in me and it is apparent that it plays an important role in the way Taiwanese people conduct themselves in their daily lives. 

While it may be difficult for outsiders to understand what is going on all the time, we can still enjoy the amazing spectacles that may include fireworks, fire crackers, dancing gods, lion dances and drums. These events may seem to be a normal aspect of life to the people who grew up here, but to people like myself, they provide a unique look into the so-called soul of this country and what makes it one of the most amazing places that I've had the opportunity to call home.  

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The history of this small island has been a turbulent one - especially over the past few centuries with several different colonial powers taking control and spreading their influence. The spread of different belief systems was widespread during these periods forming Taiwan into the polytheistic and ultimately extremely tolerant country that it is today.  

Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism (including Chinese Folk Religion) have especially spread throughout the island and have shaped the Taiwanese worldview. Religious places of worship do a good job reflecting not only the past, but the people who have shaped the country into what it is today.  Temples in Taiwan therefore double as active places of worship and museum-like relics that have withstood the troubled history of this island.  

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One of the defining changes in religion in over the past century was during the Japanese occupation of the country. During that period there was widespread persecution of Taoism (as it was seen as representative of Chinese culture as a whole) Taoists took to worshipping in secret in Buddhist temples which allowed them to practice in secret without fear of persecution.

This example of compassion, tolerance and acceptance changed the religious landscape of the land and if you walk into any of Taiwan's 5000 temples today you will certainly notice that several religions are often housed within the same building and all work together in peace and are all respected by Taiwanese people no matter if they consider themselves a follower of that religion or not.    

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The Rising Lotus Temple (湧蓮寺) in New Taipei City's Luzhou District (蘆洲區) is prime example of this tolerant attitude towards religion. The temple is a 143 year old polytheistic temple that opens it doors to the followers of Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese Folk Religion. 

It is a large three-storey temple that is busy all year round - but especially busy during the lunar new year celebrations when families from all over the country will brave the massive crowds to pray for good blessings for the coming year. 

The temple has historically been important to the Luzhou area and as you see quite often in Taiwan, large temples tend to be the cultural centre of the community - which means there is a lively night market and bustling traditional business district surrounding the temple. 

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The temple houses four large shrines with several smaller off-shooting shrines.

• The main shrine is dedicated to the (Chinese) Buddha of Compassion known as Guanyin (南海觀世音菩薩)
• The shrine on the top floor of the temple is dedicated to Shakyamuni Buddha (釋迦牟尼佛), the Medicine Buddha (藥師佛) and Amitabha (阿彌陀佛)
• Another shrine is dedicated to the Four Heavenly Kings (四大天王) which are protector deities in Buddhism. 
• A shrine on the first floor is dedicated to various gods of Chinese folk religion including the Jade Emperor (玉皇大帝) and others. 

Some of the off-shooting shrines are dedicated to various deities of Chinese folk heroes such as Koxinga and his lieutenants who have been important in Chinese history. 

For Chinese readers, the list of shrines in the temple are as follows:

• 正殿：南海觀世音菩薩、善才、龍女、韋馱菩薩、伽藍菩薩
• 三寶殿：釋迦牟尼佛、藥師佛、阿彌陀佛、（釋迦牟尼佛侍者：迦葉尊者、阿難尊者）
• 天王殿：四大天王
• 玉皇殿：玉皇大帝、三官大帝、南斗星君、北斗星君、太陽星君、太陰星君、文昌帝君、魁星爺、高元帥、李天君、楊天君等
• 後殿、眾神殿（懋德宮）：國姓爺、（國姓爺副將：萬禮將軍、甘輝將軍）天上聖母、註生娘娘、中壇元帥、福德正神、西秦王爺、田都元帥

Walking around the temple, you'll be overwhelmed by the amazing attention to detail within. The temple adheres to the principles of Feng Shui in its design and all of its walls are painted with incredible murals depicting the life of the Buddha as well as different periods of Chinese history.

The stone work on the walls is beautiful and I could have spent hours walking around looking at all the minor details. The roof of the temple as well has amazing design and there are dragons and phoenixes littered throughout and almost seem to be communicating with each other. 

If you are in Luzhou for the day, make sure to stop over and check out the Rising Lotus temple. The Night Market in front of the temple also has some great food and the surrounding area is well known for it's freshly hand-cut noodles (刀切麵) and is easily accessible through the new Luzhou line on Taipei's MRT. 

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Gallery / Flickr (High Res Shots) 

Getting to the Temple

Take Taipei MRT's new Luzhou Line (蘆洲線) and get off at Sanmin Senior High School Station. The temple is about a 5 minute walk from exit one with directions on a sign outside the station. 

Address: 新北市蘆洲區得勝街96號 （#96 De Sheng Street, Lu Zhou District New Taipei City)