Taipei City Government

With the upcoming Chinese New Year, Taipei City Deputy Mayor Huang Shan-Shan visited the Dihua Street – CNY Street Bazaar on January 13 to wish everyone a Happy New Year. This year’s Taipei Chinese New Year Street Bazaar will be open from January 10 through 23, and the New Year’s fortune money will be handed out for the first time.

According to Huang, the 2020 Taipei CNY Street Bazaar is inspired by the theme of New Year Ultra Fest, where artist Chiaos has been invited to design 3 major theme fortune lanterns featuring Shennong, the God of Wealth and Yue Lao. In addition, local stores on Dihua Street have also developed the Dadaocheng Macrobiotic Menu and room-temperature New Year’s gift sets. In line with the traditional custom, Huang also donated money when she visited Xia-Hai City God Temple; when she paid a visit to the Lunar New Year Shopping Area, she used her EasyCard to purchase the “chicken soup with eucommia ulmoides and caterpillar fungus room temperature sachet” developed by the Dihua Street Shopping District.

Huang commented that while he is in Europe visiting, Mayor Ko Wen-Je has not forgotten about the CNY Street Bazaar and fortune money, thus she wants to thank the store owners of Dihua Street Shopping District on behalf of Ko. Besides the Street Bazaae area, other major shopping districts in Taipei City have also made the necessary preparations to wish everyone an exceptional Year of the Rat. This year’s CNY Street Bazaar kick-off press conference was held at the Taipei City Council, where the 3 Deputy Mayors of Taipei City dressed up as the 3 deities, namely The Old Man Under the Moon (Yue Lao), God of Wealth (Guan Gong) and Shennong. Yue Lao fosters relationships between friends and interpersonal relationships; Shennong is the guardian of health, protecting everyone’s food safety, health and safety; Guan Gong, the God of Wealth, is responsible for protecting people’s work and wealth. He also wished the citizens successful work, wealth, health, and interpersonal relations.

Huang commented that the New Year marks a brand-new beginning, so it is time to give yourself a fresh start with new relationships, wealth and health. The theme of the Taipei CNY Street Bazaar has been tailored to the Taipei citizens’ needs and local artist Chiaos has designed 3 remarkable deity-inspired giant lanterns that offer a fusion of unique, traditional and contemporary elements.

Huang especially recommended Dihua Street’s Chinese New Year’s dish package this year. A total of 5 local stores on Dihua Street Shopping District have collaborated with the city government to launch the Dadaocheng Macrobiotic Menu; previously, people had to purchase myriads of ingredients to prepare Chinese New Year’s dishes themselves, but this year the stores have prepared Chinese herbal dishes into room temperature sachets for the convenience of the citizens, so that all they have to do is purchase the sachets and heat them up at home to come up with a Chinese New Year’s feast. The sachet is extremely convenient for the housewives and mothers, as well as those who will be enjoying the Chinese New Year’s Eve feast at home. Particularly, this is beneficial for the busy Taipei citizens; so if you are looking for delicious, healthy and convenient Chines New Year’s dishes, the Dihua Street – CNY Street Bazaar is the place to be.

During her speech on behalf of Mayor Ko, Huang hoped that people will be able to appreciate the prosperity and bustling vibes of the CNY Street Bazaar venues in Taipei City. Most importantly, she hoped that all the citizens can find what they are looking for here, as well as enjoy great interpersonal relationships, health, work and wealth with the gods’ blessings. Last but not least, she wished everyone a Happy New Year and success in all of their future endeavors.