In order to celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year, the Taipei Representative Office and the Taiwan-Ireland Association hosted festivities together at Dublin's famous 「Jimmy Chung’s Restaurant」 on Saturday the 21st of January. In attendance were more than 200 attendees of Irish political, economic, cultural, educational and media circles, as well as members of the Taiwanese community and Taiwanese students in Ireland. The day’s activities proved to be most exciting and the scene was a lively one with a festive atmosphere!
In 2016, the Taiwanese community demonstrated a strong spirit of unity and cooperation, including the great success of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival, the Lunar New Year lunch, and the National Day flag-raising campaign. The Taipei Representative Office have also organised a number of activities to promote Taiwan. Last October, the Dublin Mandarin School hosted the first Mandarin Speech Contest in Ireland. These events proved to be immensely successful and helped to promote Taiwanese culture in Ireland and enhance Taiwan's international reputation. Already this year, the Taipei Representative Office has been actively preparing large activities and this January will promote travel in Taiwan at the 2017 Holiday World Show at the RDS Simmonscourt. A number of cultural activities are also planned to take place this year, including the Taiwan Film Festival, a photography exhibition, cookery classes, dance classes, a traditional clothing exhibition and much more besides.
In addition to the cultural performances at the event, the Taipei Representative Office also sponsored a number of prizes. Red envelopes were distributed to all the participating children by Representative Tu and a number of prizes were sponsored for a wonderful raffle.
Representative Tu also extended his best wishes to everyone for a happy and successful Year of the Rooster.
Representative Tu giving his New Year speech at the lunch
Representative Tu presenting traditional New Year red envelopes to all the participating children
Representative Tu presenting the main prize in the raffle,an award-winning engraved painting from Taiwan