Taipei Times
Date: Jan 07, 2019
By: Wang Jung-hsiang / Staff reporter
Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau Director Pan Heng-hsu (潘恆旭) yesterday said the name
A previous design for the Kaohsiung Lantern Festival, left, and the new version, with the event renamed “Golden Milky Way,” are shown in an image taken from Facebook.
Photo taken from Facebook
for this year’s Kaohsiung Lantern Festival, the Golden Milky Way (金銀河), was inspired by Su Huan-chen (素還真), a character from Pili Budaixi (霹靂布袋戲) — a TV series based on traditional Taiwanese puppet theater — after the name was criticized as “tacky.”
The name is meant to invoke the vibrancy of puppetry, and describes the way the lanterns and the Milky Way reflect in the Love River (愛河), Pan said.
“Golden” is also a reference to fortune, implying that the city would grow more prosperous, he said.
The festival’s name sparked heated debate among netizens, many of whom disapproved of it. [FULL STORY]
