"Wishing Field" in Hsinchu city in July, 2021.

The Taiwan Lantern Festival is one of the most scenic events one might ever find on the surface of this planet. Blessed by the city’s historical and cultural heritage of over three hundred years, the festival is held in the six latern sites in the old district of Hsinchu, or as locals call it, the ‘Windy City.’ This is a city which has seen a shift from traditional industries to innovative technologies, and is now the centre of a national celebration.

Long En Canal Lantern Site is one of the three ancient canals in Taiwan. Its exhibition area was transformed into a riverside park carrying the imagery of a ‘Mystical Forest’ by Field office Architects. The word ‘Zhen’ ( 圳) is Taiwanese dialect, and refers to troughs used for irrigation in fields. The light installation is a response to the Festival’s theme ‘When the Wind Blows Through the Isolated Land - Unexpected Flow,’ as well as an extension of the spirit of ‘Alley means Lantern Site; Lantern Site means Streetway’ behind the lantern festival. The concept of the installation is inspired by rice paddies, its form particularly from their undulating forms under the northeast monsoons. The design mimics the action of seedling planting, staging a reappearance of the lost paddies atop a river that flows with vitality. When the wind brushes past, motion sensor technology installed within changes the brightness of each individual light to create a scape of swaying rice paddies that glow in the night. Thirty-eight hundred of these little lights of hope would then illuminate the greenery of the city. Following its separation, light reunites life, and life thrives once again in a place where light and shadow interweaves in harmony.

A New Year’s Lantern Festival is around the corner. The paddies support relentlessly the pulsing vein of the city that is Dongda Road, complementing the greenery on the riverbanks of Long En Canal. Not only do they heal the weary soul—they embody the warmth in simple things. A channel of light acts as prayer in these lantern sites, that Taiwan will walk hand in hand with the world to walk out of the shadows to welcome a bright future waiting ahead, to reinvigorate the passion present in everyone’s heart.