Korean Stars Shine at New Year’s Eve Concerts in 400-Year-Old Tainan, Other Taiwan Cities

[애플경제 Adela Lin 대만특파원] 

Popular Korean artists such as Kim Se Jeong (김세정) and VERIVERY performed at the concerts in Taiwan cities including 400-year-old Tainan City to celebrate the 2024 new year, bolstering the local government’s bids to boost tourism and economy.

The seven-hour-long concerts in the southern Tainan City started from Dec. 31 evening last year till 1:00 a.m. on the first day of 2024, attracting a total of 250,000 audience to enjoy music, fireworks spectacular and gourmet food at site. Kim, who recently won 2023 Asia Artist Awards in popularity and best actor categories, surprised local supporters by singing a Chinese-language song. 

“Our city is celebrating its 400th anniversary with a series of activities in 2024, including Taiwan Lantern Festival,  International Orchid Show, Yuejin Lantern Festival and Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival,” Tainan City Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲) said, inviting visitors from the world to experience hospitality in the dynamic city that accommodates not only historic heritage but also world-class technology plants such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. and United Microelectronics Corp.
In addition, there will be marathons in March and October to meet sports fans’ enthusiasm for pursuing health. The Tainan Half Marathon to be held on March 3 has attracted 23,622 runners, setting a new record for the race, according to Chen Liang-chien (陳良乾), the city’s Bureau of Sports chief. 

Being a prelude to the 400th anniversary celebrations, Tainan kicked off the year-end events with the “Christmas Rock Concert” on Dec. 23, 2023 featuring local and foreign performers such as K-pop girl group MAMAMOO’s Wheein (휘인 ) .  Mayor Huang has also forged closer tourism and agricultural exchanges with South Korea. He last summer visited Seoul to promote mango exports. Tainan accounts for half of Taiwan’s mango produce. 

National Geographic Traveller in October last year named Tainan among the world’s 30 most exciting destinations for 2024. It said this year the city’s quadricentennial puts its intriguing heritage under the spotlight and offers a fresh reason to visit. “The history is evident in the wealth of architecture, from the Old Japanese Martial Arts Academy to the Qing-era facades of Shennong Street, festooned with red lanterns.” 

Many cities in Taiwan in recent years have committed to New Year’s Eve events such as concerts featuring local and foreign entertainers, countdown to midnight and fireworks displays to lure tourists and consumption.
The Hallyu phenomenon was well witnessed island-wide when K-pop stars joined their local peers to light up the sky of Taiwan to greet 2024.

More than 170,000 spectators cheered Hwasa (화사), also a member of MAMAMOO, in the capital Taipei City, which is known for its skyscraper Taipei 101’s iconic fireworks show. 

Jessi, a Korean-American rapper-singer and entertainer, brought heat to central Taiwan city Taichung on the New Year’s Eve, which saw about 220,000 concert goers. The city government said a booking of 95% of rooms made at hotels during the holiday.

For Lee Seung Hyub (이승협) and Yoo Hwe Seung (유회승) from boy band N.Flying, their stage was in Taoyuan City that is home to Taiwan’s main international airport.

While Taiwan opens arms to K-pop entertainers, the island is also seeking measures to attract more Korean tourists. For instance, the island’s Tourism Administration in June last year named Wi Ha Jun (위하준), the actor of the Netflix show "Squid Game", to be ambassador for tourism. The administration’s statics on arrivals in the first ten months of 2023 indicated 554,320 visitors came from South Korea, making the neighboring country the third largest tourism market for the island. For the sum of all oversea arrivals, total visitors reached 6.4 million last year, according to the agency’s statement.