TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Year of the Dragon started with a bang on Saturday (Feb. 17) when a giant sky lantern meant to represent the globe collided with a lantern shaped like a dragon before bursting into flames and crashing.
The 2024 New Taipei City Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival debuted at Pingxi Junior High School on Saturday with nine waves of sky lanterns released, reported CNA. A record four supersized sky lanterns were launched, each having a unique shape and symbolic meaning, including a map of Taiwan, the globe, a dragon, and a tiger.
The Chinese characters for the four balloons (台灣, 世界, 龍,虎) have a homophonic meaning conveying a prayer for "Taiwan and the world to be well" (台灣,世界攏好). The New Taipei City Government commissioned sky lantern master Hu Min-shu (胡民樹) to create the four giant sky lanterns, the most featured at one time at the festival.
New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), along with envoys, distinguished guests, department heads, and athletes, released sky lanterns together. Hou wrote a phrase wishing for peace in the Year of the Dragon on the massive dragon lantern, while many envoys also wrote the Chinese characters for peace on their lanterns.
However, when the four main lanterns were released the globe lantern quickly veered into the dragon lantern. The globe lantern burst into flames, sending fireballs down from the sky, causing gasps from the crowd.
What was left of the globe lantern crashed behind the activity center, while the dragon lantern made a hard landing in the distance. The globe lantern also struck the Taiwan lantern, but the latter was able to right itself and continue flight, while the tiger lantern managed to avoid the fray.
The fire department was on standby and firefighters quickly extinguished the flames. No injuries or property damage was reported from the flaming sky lanterns.
New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih poses with a dragon sky lantern. (CNA photo)
Taiwan, globe, and Tiger lanterns poised for takeoff. (CNA photo)
Globe lantern collides with dragon lantern. (CNA photo)
Sky lanterns crash and burn. (CNA photo)
Sky lantern burns up before going airborne. (CNA photo)