Christmas in Taipei, Xinyi Vieshow Village Edition

Taiwan is not a country that celebrates Christmas. For them, the major point in the “Holiday Season” is Chinese New Year (This coming February 14th). However, mix a nearby International trade center, a nearby major hotel, a nearby major tourist attraction, and a high street shopping complex and you get an area of Taipei that decorates and publicly celebrates what is generally a ‘Western’ holiday.

In the Xinyi District of Taipei City lies Vieshow Village (also/formerly known as Warner Village), a shopping complex consisting of multiplex cinema and a number of Mitsukoshi shopping centers and bordered by the Taipei World Trade Center and Taipei 101 building. Passing through the center of the complex is a broad pedestrian walkway and it’s this walkway that lights up in December.

Actually, the wonderful thing about the walkway aren’t the decorations, which can be found surrounding other major shopping centers around town (just because it’s not celebrated doesn’t mean that the department stores aren’t going to try and entice weiguoren in to spend some money!). What sets the Vieshow Village walkway apart are the street artists that gather there: sketch artists, musicians, and performance artists of every sort apply their trade against a backdrop of florescence from storefronts, neon from nearby signage, and LED bulbs decorating the trees. Combined with the flurry of foot traffic, it makes for a unique and festive atmosphere worth a look if you’re nearby in the weeks preceding Christmas Day.

Brian