Lin Songtao

254238712@qq.com

SNACKS, specialties and traditional dances ... the 2023 Taiwan Ideal Life Festival, which wrapped up yesterday at Donghai City Plaza in Futian District, showcased not only various food coming from Taiwan’s vibrant night markets, but also its colorful cultural elements.

The festival is divided into five sections: street food, cultural creative products, specialties, youth design, and the Nantou County zone. A total of 20 booths selling iconic Taiwan snacks gathered large crowds, while handicrafts and daily-use articles such as wood sculptures, pottery, and weaving also gained much attention.

The most eye-catching part was the show from the Seediq Ethnic Cultural Art Troupe from Taiwan’s Nantou County. Seediq is one of the many aboriginal groups of Taiwan, which is known for the 2012 Taiwan epic film titled “Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale,” which retells their ancestors’ brave resistance against Japanese invaders in the 1930s.

Yiwan Lawa (ethnic name), a troupe member who joined the festival for the first time, said Shenzheners are really enthusiastic. “I’m happy to show our Seediq culture to people in real life, not only in the film,” she said.

A stall owner who prefers to be called Master A Yi, sells Tie Guan Yin tea egg cakes. He comes from Maokong in Taipei, an area famous for its tea. “We put tea elements into various desserts and the cakes are just one of them. It is well-received. Several children living nearby came to buy several times,” he said.

“I seldom see a fair this popular,” he reckoned. “I think it can draw the distance between Taiwanese and mainlanders closer.”

It is the seventh time for Milk, a porcelain booth owner, to take part in the festival. “The city is livable and people here are friendly,” he said.

A local citizen surnamed Li said the festival is a good way to experience Taiwan culture. “I went to Taiwan before, this event let me feel the same atmosphere like I was there, especially the food.”

Initiated in 2017, the festival is mainly organized by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Shenzhen Municipal Government and has conducted five offline exhibitions and two online sessions, becoming a symbolic event between Shenzhen and Taiwan.