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Representatives of 9 Countries Celebrate Lord Guan’s Birthday in Taoyuan

  • 發布單位:國際事務科
  • 聯絡人:Winnie Chen
  • 聯絡人電話:03-3322101#6520-6522
  • 資料提供單位:桃園市政府

Taoyuan City Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan invited the representatives to attend the 2020 DaxiDaxi for Lord Guan’s birthday celebration on August 13. The whole-day extravaganza of woodcraft hands-on experience, local She-Tou performances, procession culture, and local cuisines in Daxi as well as the centennial temple festival in Taoyuan has greatly impressed the representatives.

Daxi residents see the celebration of the Holy Emperor Lord Guan’s birthday as an important annual festive event equivalent to the lunar new year. The celebration - DaxiDaxi was joined by performing groups from Japan and Malaysia in the past two years, they were unable to come to the event’s celebration due to the global pandemic this year. However, the event was fortunate enough to gather many countries’ representatives to Taoyuan this year. The participating representatives were given the experience of tongzai troupes, sedan chair carrying, and wood craft making. They also enjoyed local creative cuisines in a renovated 180-year-old mansion, and tasted the must-eat food in Daxi, Dried bean curd, which implicates “good luck for job promotion” in the Taiwanese culture.

Taoyuan Ambassador’s Day has included non-official visits to the baseball stadium and Taoyuan metro in the past years, and the She-Tou culture is the theme of this year. Mayor Cheng emphasized that She-Tou is the embodiment of the culture and memory exclusive to our land. That is why he hopes to draw international attention to the She-Tou culture and temple fair activities and turn DaxiDaxi into an international cultural event that welcomes the participation of people from other countries.

With great enthusiasm, representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and other countries tried out the steps employed by the Three Princes, carried the sedan chair, and crawled under the sedan chair for good luck. Not only were they impressed by the local She-Tou culture, they also said that they had never had the experience in Taiwan before and found it very fascinating and interesting. While they had the local cuisines in the ancient mansion, they also learned about the features of early architectural styles in Taiwan and the renovation process of the mansion.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) had arranged a tour to Daxi for ambassadors and representatives from 25 countries on July 26. Featuring dried bean curd cuisines and a visit to the Shihmen Reservoir, this tour had been very well received. The invitation to DaxiDaxi aimed to showcase the lovely town of Daxi to representatives unable to take part in that tour. To promote the customs and traditions in Taiwan and present the culture deeply rooted in Taiwan, this year’s Taoyuan Ambassador’s Day has incorporated the historical temple festive activities and unique local celebrative events such as the procession for all the participating representatives.

Taoyuan has been invited to its friendship city’s Narita Traditional Performing Arts Festival every year, where the She-Tou performance from Daxi has always received international accolades. Going forward, Taoyuan City Government hopes to turn “DaxiDaxi” into an international event like the Aomori Nebuta Festival and Narita Traditional Performing Arts Festival in Japan.

The festive event adopted epidemic prevention measures. As the guests dined and enjoyed their time in Taoyuan, government staff also urged the use of masks and frequent hand-washing in response to the campaign of “New Way of Life After COVID-19” initiated by the Central Epidemic Command Center.