The Kaohsiung Lantern Festival, which started in Southern Taiwan on Jan. 27, was warmly welcomed with a water dance that lasted 6 minutes, dragon shaped kite with 50-meter length, and stunning fireworks display on Jan. 29.

The opening celebrations was dedicated to the 12 annual festival's 3rd venue, which will incorporate the theme "Flying Dragon in the Sky" in relation to this year's Year of the Dragon.

The Kaohsiung Lantern Festival will be celebrated until Feb. 6 with events happening at the Gushan Park and Gangshan Riverside Park. The new venues for the festival included mountainous areas and river banks to emphasize the rich local culture of the region.

Chen Chu, Kaohsiung Mayor, aims to provide visitors a unique kind of experience. According to her the region's geographical structure has encouraged the development of the yacht industry and other industrial sectors in current years. She's planning to make Kaohsiung the city of happiness.

The city started gaining recognition after its Central Park MRT stations and Formosa Boulevard were included in the 'Most Beautiful Subway Stops in the World' list. The result was based on an online survey conducted by an international independent travel firm, BootsnAll.

The city's popularity will continue as more festival activities will be launched at the 'Love River' venue. The first appearance of five floating dragon sculptures made by Chang Ping-huang and Hsiu-chi and the release of water lanterns will be featured on the launch.

The city's mayor held a lunch banquet on Jan. 29 to welcome guests from the other cities and gave local handricrafts to Ryuichi Kurosu to express gratitude for the good relationship between their two jurisdictions. Kurosu is the mayor of Hachioji city in Japan, who took part in the festival since the development of their partnership last 2006.

The festival was attended by 100 other members of delegations coming from the United States, Australia, Brisbane and South Korea.