TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The coming New Year's Eve fireworks extravaganza at Taipei 101 will include many new elements such as a 360-degree digital display, beam lights, and lasers, and be organized by a crack team of specialists.
According to a press release issued Thursday (Dec. 15), Taipei 101 announced that its New Year's Eve show will be organized by experts from the “three Golden awards,” the Golden Horse Award, Golden Melody Awards, and Golden Bell Awards. The display will include 16,000 fireworks, a 360 degree digital display, feature beam lights and lasers for the first time, and be witnessed by an estimated 1 million spectators.
Preview of Taipei 101's upcoming New Year's Eve fireworks and light display. (Taipei 101 image)
According to Taipei 101, the theme for this year's festivities will be “Embrace the World, Bling Your Dreams." Lighting artist Uno Lai (賴雨農) has been hired to serve as the show's director and team members include video specialist Jason Ling (凌偉倫), as assistant director; composer and songwriter Chen Chien-chi (陳建騏), music; laser light specialist Wu Yu-lin (吳玉麟); and pyrotechnic designer Lee Xiu-chao (李秀超).
Taipei 101 Chairman Chang Hsueh-shun (張學舜) told media on Thursday the new lighting network and the latest technology will be used. He estimated that 1 million revelers will flock to areas around Taipei 101 to see the spectacle.
(Taipei 101 image)
Chang thanked the sponsors of the display for providing approximately NT$50 million (US$1.63 million) for the event. He said the top five sponsors are the Tourism Bureau, Taiwan Stock Exchange, Chunghwa Telecom, CTBC Bank, and Audi AG.
This New Year's Eve performance will last five minutes after the countdown and will consist of colorful fireworks from Taiwan and Europe, equipped with the latest in low-smoke fireworks technology. In addition, a new T-Pad LED light net will be used to provide a digital display on all four sides of the building, unlike in previous years when it was only visible from one side.
(Taipei 101 image)
For the first time this year, the show will combine beam lights, lasers, and other outdoor lighting effect performances with fireworks and multimedia animations, architectural lighting, and original music to create a multi-sensory immersive show.
Chang said the pyrotechnics display will be launched by San Tai Fireworks, which will be employing the same high-quality fireworks witnessed at the Burj Khalifa in Dubai and at the Eiffel Tower in Paris. According to Taipei 101, since the beginning of December, the T-Pad has started a countdown to its New Year's Eve festivities, and posted messages for the public in multiple languages to welcome international tourists now that Taiwan has reopened its borders.
(Taipei 101 image)
This year is also the first time the tower will hold a Christmas light show from Dec. 23-25. It will kick off at 6:05 p.m. every evening over that period and consist of 150-second performances every 15 minutes.
