Craig February 25th, 2008
I hope everyone’s ready for another busy month because there’s a lot going on in March. If it’s politics, cycling or temple events that you like, this will be a great month.
Starting off at the end of February is the 228 Peace Memorial Day (二二八和平紀念日) holiday in Taiwan, to remember the victims of the 228 Incident (二二八事件). Their will be a rally and march organised by the DPP in Taipei starting with a 4:00pm march from Taiwan Democracy Memorial Hall to Zhongshan Soccer Stadium and then a 7:00pm evening rally at Zhongshan Soccer Stadium.
This year being a leap year, MJ and Hui-chen will be hosting a leap year party at Shao-hui’s on the 29th.
The 29th also sees a Critical Mass bike event taking place from 7:00pm in Kaohsiung.
Moving in to March, on the 9th main offering to the Lord of the Land takes place at temples throughout Taiwan. The ritual actually begins on the evening of the 8th, but the official day is the 9th.
There’ll be a Free Tibet march on the 9th starting at 1:30pm at the Guangfu Rd gate of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
The 9th also sees the 2008 Tour de Taiwan cycling race begin in Kaohsiung. The race will begin at the Love River and finish on the 16th at Taipei City Hall with criterium circuits on both days.The full schedule is
Stage 1: 9 March (Sun) Kaohsiung City
Stage 2: 10 March (Mon) Pingdong County
Stage 3: 11 March (Tue) Zhanghua County
Stage 4: 12 March (Wed) Taizhong City
Stage 5: 13 March (Thu) Xinzhu City
Stage 6: 14 March (Fri) Taipei County
Stage 7: 15 March (Sat) Taipei City (Nangang)
Stage 8: 16 March (Sun) Taipei City (Taipei City Hall)
The 10th of March sees the birthday of Wenchang Di, the Emperor of Prospering Culture, the patron deity of scholars. This is an important time for students who often pray for success in their studies.
Beginning on March 13th and running until the 16th, the Taipei International Cycle Show will be held at the TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall (台北世界貿易中心南港展覽館). This will be the first trade show to be held at the purpose built center.
Sticking with cycling, March 15 sees the North Coast Cycling Contest, open to all.
Still in the sporting category, there will be a Thai Boxing Academy in Neihu held on the afternoon of the 15th and 16th.
If temple festivals are more to your liking, head over to Yilan county (宜蘭縣) for the Cheng Huang temple festivalon the 15th.
The Taiwan photo club’s monthly meeting will also take place on the 15th March. UPDATE We’ll shoot the Tour de Taiwan bike race at Nangang on the 15th. It starts at 10am, so lets meet either at Kunyang MRT at 9am, or Nangang Exhibition Hall at 9.30am. There’s also a BMX X-treme demo from 11-12 and 2-5pm at the cycle show.
And before you think that there are no other options on the 15th, it also marks the anniversary of China’s anti-secession law, so I expect there’ll be some kind of protest taking place. More details to follow if and when I learn whether anything’s going on. UPDATE. The DPP plans to hold a parade entitled “Democratic Taiwan, 100 Action” on March 16. Two separate 500km chains of people will line Taiwan’s eastern and western coasts with gathering points for the chains set up every 5km. At 3.14pm, participants will begin a 5km walk, moving in a counter-clockwise direction around the island.
Moving on, the 22nd is the big day in Taiwan politics with the presidential election between the DPP’s Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) taking on the KMT’s Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). You can expect various rallies and campaigning to be held throughout the whole month.
Although the election is the biggest event on the 22nd, it’s not the only one. There are three big temple festivals taking place as well. In Yilan (宜蘭縣) the Yueh Wu-mu Wang ritual will be held at the Pihsia Temple in Yilan city. Also in Yilan, the Sagely King Kaizhang Ritual will take place at Jungcheng temple in Chuangwei Township.
For those in the south of Taiwan, don’t worry, you haven’t been forgotten. The Welcoming Gaunyin Ritual is on at the Chichu Temple in Neimen township. This festival actually begins on March 21st and runs until March 26th.
As always, if you know of any other events taking place, let me know and I’ll edit them into this post.
