TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — This year's National Day celebrations on Thursday (Oct. 10) were capped off with fireworks in Yunlin County and Taipei.
Taipei 101 featured its first fireworks display on National Day, per Mirror Media. It started at 8 p.m. and featured a one-minute fireworks display and a light and laser show.
Attendees noted the fireworks show was short and the projection screen was only displayed on the north side of Taipei 101, causing many to miss out on the complete light show, leaving some viewers disappointed, according to Mirror Media.
In a Facebook post on Friday (Oct. 11), Taipei 101 Chair Janet Chia (賈永婕) responded to the criticism by saying the event was rushed with little time to prepare as the decision to have fireworks was only made 17 days before the event. Chia said the fireworks were relatively shorter as there was no time to find sponsors and she had to find a way to “squeeze out the budget from this office.”
Chia pledged to have National Day fireworks next year “with many surprises” by attracting Taiwanese companies to serve as sponsors.

For the first time, the main National Day fireworks were held in Yunlin County, drawing over 300,000 visitors to the Huwei High-Speed Rail Special Zone. The show included 30,000 fireworks and lasted 41 minutes, the longest National Day fireworks display in history, per CNA.
The main display area was a 10-minute walk from the high-speed station. The Yunlin County Government set up 11 other viewing locations. The fireworks' main visual design incorporated Yunlin’s local culture and featured elements of Su Huan-Jen, the protagonist of Pili Puppet Theater, according to the National Immigration Agency.
Before the fireworks display, there were a series of cultural and artistic performances, including percussion music by the Ta Ri Music Ensemble, dragon dancing by the Zhuoshui River Shenglong Troupe, and choir and orchestra performances by local schools, along with various folk dances, classical dances, and street dance shows.






National Day fireworks in Yunlin: