Sky Lanterns at Shifen 十分

The village of Shifen 十分 is certainly an attractive village nestled in the mountains in northeastern Taiwan. One of the highlights of the village is the train station as well as the train tracks where numerous tourists would be posing. Upon closer inspection, it seems that there was more than just the taking photos with the tracks. Some enterprising individuals have decided that it would be a good idea to sell sky lanterns here. I have heard of these lanterns and I have also seen them in photos but this would be the first time that I would see them in action.

A sky lantern also called a kongming lantern 孔明灯 is a hollow paper lantern with a hole at the bottom. There is a small fire which is lit at the bottom of the lantern and the hot air generated from the fire would lift the lantern high up into the air. It is not that different from the hot air balloon albeit on a much smaller scale. Tourists would purchase these balloons and write wishes on them, like good health, give birth to a child, long marriage etc. The seller of the lanterns would encourage the tourists to pose with the lantern. Obviously they have been doing this for a while now and it seems they know what they are doing. Finally, the bottom of the lantern is lit and the lantern starts floating. Tourists would release when they are ready to send their wishes into the heavens. The lantern seems to travel very far. You can actually see a trail of lanterns that were launched into the sky. This is just made of paper so I think it is okay to let it crash wherever. I just hope that it won’t crash and cause a forest fire.

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