Taipei City Government

In the evening of February 14, Mayor Ko Wen-je attended a press event for testing lighting Twinkling Blossoms and Zhu Bao the Twinkling Transformer, where he and Google Greater China’s Chief Marketing Officer Huang Jie-zhong, Taipei Department of Information and Tourism (TPEDOIT) Commissioner Liu Yi-Ting, and AKIBO, the curating artist who designed the centerpiece, warmed up together for the upcoming opening ceremony of the Taipei Lantern Festival on Saturday night.

Ko first activated Google Assistant by saying "OK Google, I want to talk to the Taipei Lantern Festival,” which switched on the charming Twinkling Blossoms lantern. After an introduction by AKIBO to the design concept behind the main festival lantern, the mayor, his three guests and the media and public enjoyed the first official display of the three-minute Zhu Bao the Twinkling Transformer light and sound show. Mayor Ko noted that this year’s event marks the third time that the Taipei Lantern Festival is held in Ximending. This year’s theme is “Twinkle, Twinkle Taipei” and the festival is more international than ever, with diplomatic allies and sister cities participating or attending, which also makes it a great opportunity to promote the West District Gateway Project.

Mayor Ko said that he believed that everyone, including himself, is looking forward to the festival which boasts a venue extending from Taipei Travel Plaza to Beimen. He revealed that he had come to check out the centerpiece in the afternoon, and to be honest he felt it looked a bit strange. But in his experience, strange-looking things can sell well, too. He expressed his confidence that this fortress-like festival lantern will also find favor with the public. 

The mayor added that Saturday, February 16 is the official opening of the Taipei Lantern Festival. He welcomes everyone to come admire the lanterns and see what’s new this year. 

TPEDOIT, the organizer of the festival, said that Taipei will truly twinkle this February. Aside from the Taipei Luminarie light-up installation at City Hall Plaza, the Taiwan’s most anticipated lantern festival, the Taipei Lantern Festival will also kick-off on Saturday February 16. This year's Taipei Lantern Festival is not only twinkling, but also very international with four lantern theme zones: the Twinkling Theme Lanterns Area, Twinkling Creative Lantern Area, Twinkling Dream Life Area, and Twinkling Friendly Cities Area. At the Graffiti Dreamers' Base, international graffiti artists will make cute graffiti designs, while for the little ones there will be an international brand themed zone with the Tokyo Disneyland 35th Anniversary Parade, Fun Mickey celebrating his 90th birthday, I Love Peppa Pig, and other children’s favorites. 

The agency pointed out that the Twinkling Blossoms and Zhu Bao the Twinkling Transformer at the main exhibition area, unveiled today, demonstrates how Google Assistant can help visitors navigate the lantern festival area. Google’s latest voice control technology also enables the organizers to operate the illumination of the high-tech main lantern Zhu Bao the Twinkling Transformer, the first such lantern to apply digital imaging technology to run myriad LED lights to create stunning visual effects for the public.