Taipei City Government

Exhibition period：January 10 - January 23, 2020


The once-a-year Taipei Chinese New Year Street Bazaar is right around the corner! The 2020 edition of the carnival will take place between January 10 and 23 in Taipei!

The theme for this year’s fair is “SUPER NEW YEAR”. The organizers hope to spotlight the concept of “health, work, and relationship,” encouraging the public to prepare for a new beginning. Featuring the mascot versions of deities spanning Shennong, Martial God of Wealth, to Old Man Under the Moon designed by artist CHIAOS, visitors will have a chance to explore the nine commercial districts of the CNY Street Bazaar and experience New Year delicacies, Prosperity Money, and various New Year’s goods promoted by local vendors.

During the announcement press conference, the three deputy mayors of Taipei appeared on stage dressed up in costumes, with Deputy Mayor Pong Cheng-sheng taking on the role of Shennong, Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-shan as the Martial God of Wealth, and Deputy Mayor Tsai Ping-kun as the Old Man Under the Moon.

According to Deputy Mayor Huang, Chinese New Year is an important festival for Chinese communities. Every year, the city government combines creativity with marketing efforts to summon the collective memories of elderly citizens of the traditional “flavors” of the festival in the past, while allowing younger generations to experience a different Chinese New Year environment. By integrating the concepts of health, work, and relationship with the 3 deities, this year’s event brings together 9 commercial districts: citizens can purchase cooked CNY dishes at Dihua Commercial District and Rongbin Commercial District to use fresh and quality ingredients to safeguard their health; buy things they need for work in the New Year – from tools to attire – at locations such as Taipei Railway Station Rear Side, Huayin Street, Taipei City Mall, Yuanling Street, and Siping Yangguang commercial districts; and enjoy socializing with friends and co-workers over night market food at places such as Ningxia Night Market and Bangka Night Market commercial districts. In addition to experience authentic CNY flavors at the street bazaar event organized by the city government, individuals can also secure a fresh pool of energy to kick off the new year in the aspects of health, work, and relationship.

The core of the promotion campaign for the 2020 CNY Street Bazaar focuses on the 3 mascot versions of deities including Shennong, Martial God of Wealth, and the Old Man Under the Moon. Citizens will also have a chance to make their new year resolution and ask for blessings from three life-size fortune lanterns of the gods set up at the Yongle Plaza. Furthermore, the three deities also appear on special, limited edition red envelope (3 different versions available). Each of these red envelopes contain a Prosperity and Good Fortune Gold Card. While these cards can be easily carried around, it also allows interaction via smartphone: by downloading the related app and scanning the God of Luck on the card, you can summon a mini Mayor Ko who will bring you your fortune readings for the day.

For those who wants to obtain a prosperity coin, in addition to the traditional way of lining up during designated time at selected locations at the commercial districts, they can also exchange the coins as prizes when they participate in interactive games during the event period at Yongle Plaza, five vendors selling prepared CNY dishes, and the Facebook fan page of Taipei City Office of Commerce (TCOOC).

Since one of the themes of this year’s CNY Street Bazaar spotlights health, the organizers invited a community platform comprising of talented chefs – Gastronomie en Scene – and local Chinese medicine and dried goods shops such as Zhengxin Medicine Shop, Li Ly Sun, Huang Yong Sheng Ginseng and Herbs, Huang Chang Sheng Medicine Shop, and Liang Tong Hanfang have joined hands to introduce an entire CNY banquet set Dadaocheng Healthy Meal Menu. Many of the ingredients used for the special menu come from these Chinese medicine shops, and this is the first ready-made meal with room temperature packaging offered by the commercial district. The Rongbin Commercial District, known as the kitchen of Taipeiers, provides a wide selection of organic fruits. As for “Work”, merchandise ranging from bags to attire to accessories can be found at Taipei City Mall, Yuanling Street, and Siping Yangguang commercial districts at affordable prices. As a bonus, the organizers have thrown in a raffle with great prizes including trip to Okinawa for two, iPhone, and Switch! Meanwhile, Ningxia Market and Bangka Market invite lovers and couples to wear paired attire – those dining at selected booths will receive a limited-edition prosperity money!

Another spotlight of this year’s CNY Street Bazaar falls upon two local businesses of Dadaocheng – A.S.O Shoes and Li Ly Sun. A.S.O is promoting a special Chinese New Year dinner’s menu designed by the company owner’s wife – Mommy Luo’s Heritage Chinese New Year Dishes – as well as selected products, will be available at the venue for discounted price. Li Ly Sun, the store which ran dried goods business for multiple generations and innovator of ready-to-go CNY dishes, is offering high quality mullet roe to entice gourmet and shoppers.

Finally, as a bonus for international tourists, foreign visitors showing their passport at the information desk at any of Taipei’s 11 visitor information centers will receive a free red envelope with prosperity money.

For more information on the 2020 Taipei Chinese New Year Street Bazaar, please visit the Facebook website of TCOOC, or pick up pamphlets from local visitor information center or district office.