Many more went to other lantern exhibitions organized by local governments in other parts of Taiwan to welcome the traditional Lantern Festival, the 15th day of the first month of the Chinese lunar calendar.

The Lantern Festival is more commonly known as "Round Dumpling Festival" by local people because every family prepares auspicious round dumplings to signify all things going well and smoothly for the new year.

The festival, which falls on Feb. 21 this year, also marks the official end of the Chinese New Year holidays in the formerly agrarian society.

This day will see the climax of a wide variety of activities to usher in the spring.

According to the lunar calendar, the Year of the Rat began on Feb. 7.

The night of Taipei now has become even brighter with countless lanterns alight.

This is the first time the Taipei City Government will host the annual event at the National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park as well as the adjacent City Hall and Xinyi District.

The annual celebration used to be staged at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Park, which is now called the National Taiwan Democracy Memorial Park.

Many young lovers have already visited the new lantern exhibition on Thursday evening as part of their St. Valentine's Day activities.

Numerous lanterns are displayed at several major zones featuring seven major themes:

Sun Yat-sen Park

The enormous central lantern of the Year of the Rat is located at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park, which was established to honor the Republic of China's Founding Father Sun Yat-sen.

The huge lantern is formed by 100 small rat lanterns with a story depicting the wedding ceremony of two rats in love.

There are also 18 other gigantic lanterns designed and created by students which combine traditional culture and modern-day technology.

Concerts will be held every evening at the park to entertain visitors.

Traditional Chinese riddles, mainly a play on Chinese words, will also be held every evening. Winners will be rewarded with prizes.

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in the park will remain open for longer hours until 9 p.m. from Feb. 15-24. But on Fridays and Saturdays the open hour will be extended further to 10 p.m.

Free rat lanterns

Municipal government staff will give away 10,000 small lanterns at the park's gate on Renai Road at 2 p.m. everyday until Feb. 21.

The lantern features the animal of this Lunar New Year, an auspicious rat.

The lanterns will also be distributed at City Hall, which will give away a total of 80,000 small lanterns.

The rat is ranked No. 1 of the 12 zodiacal animals of the Chinese lunar calendar for its intelligence, agility and tremendous ability for survive.

These day, there are billions of mice attached to personal computers that help us search and find needed information on the Internet.

Mickey Mouse and Minnie are also among the world's most popular cartoon characters.

'Lantern tunnel'

A 1.5-kilometer "lantern tunnel" has been erected on Renai Road, starting from City Hall and finishing at the round circle on Dunhua South Road.

Along the tunnel there are artistic flight or cubic lanterns display, covered with neon and LED lights.Xinyi District

A performance stage has been erected at the plaza in front of City Hall in Xinyi District and will feature for concerts.

Lanterns depicting notable scenic spots of Taipei City, including the Ferris Wheel and Maokong Gondola, as well as those with religious themes featuring the birth of Jesus and visit of the three wise men and ancient Chinese deities like Matsu, have been hung around the plaza.

On display at the Taipei 101 Tower palze are international lanterns from Macao, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

At the commercial zone, there is a cheerful "peonia rat" to greet visitors and bring fortunes to businesspeople and customers.

Traffic controls

There are traffic controls surrounding the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Park and the Xinyi District from 5 p.m. to midnight until Feb. 24.

Police urged the public to take public transport to visit the venue.

A special Lantern Festival bus service is offered between the Fuxing-Zhongxiao Station of the mass rapid transit (MRT) network through Renai Road to the City Hall.

The service hours stretch from 4:30 p.m. to midnight.

Sky lanterns

Other local governments are holding similar celebrations.

The neighboring Taipei County will kick off a series of activities by launching 1,000 to 2,000 sky lanterns every evening starting tonight.

A total of 6,000 lanterns will be released into the sky for three evenings in a row during the centuries-old Pingsi Heavenly Lantern Festival at Pingsi township.

World record

The Lantern Festival celebrations organized by the central government will take place at the huge land lot of the Tainan Science Park in Tainan County in southern Taiwan.

The sponsors, the Tourism Bureau and the Tainan County Government, will display 55,264 lanterns in red and yellow colors featuring the Chinese characters and English words "Taiwan Peace."

The county government seeks to apply for a world record for the largest number of lanterns displayed simultaneously at a same venue.

It will also hold the Yanshuei Beehive Firecracker Festival at Yanshuei township,

In last year's festival, a record was set for the longest ever string of 13.061-kilometer firecrackers.

In Taitung, eastern Taiwan, the county government will hold the Blasting Handan parade, during which local people and visitors will use firecrackers to bombard a man who plays the role of Handan, the god of wealth.

People believe that the more firecrackers a person throws to Handan will be rewarded with good fortune.