National Day Fireworks Return to Taitung After Nine Years: Some 19,000 Shells in 30 Minutes as the Holiday Weekend Winds Down
Taitung — The 2026 National Day fireworks lit up the sky over Taitung City on the evening of October 10, FTV and the Central News Agency reported. Themed "Ark of the World: Austronesian Taiwan" and woven with Austronesian Indigenous music, the 30-minute show fired roughly 19,000 shells, including 24-inch shells — the largest ever used at a National Day display. It was the first time in nine years that the fireworks returned to Taitung, and President Lai Ching-te attended in person.
The launch site sat south of the Beinan River estuary, with the main viewing areas at Seaside Park by the International Landmark and at Makaba Hai Park. Organizers recommended nine viewing spots in all, including the south breakwater of Fugang Fishing Port, and three shipping companies ran sea-viewing boat trips at NT$850 per person for a view from the water. To reduce the impact on a nearby nationally important wetland and its nocturnal wildlife, shells were fired toward the sea and low-noise rounds were used. For traffic control, the Zhonghua Bridge on Provincial Highway 11 was closed from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., with surrounding roads under traffic direction.
This year's celebrations used a dual-city format for the first time: the National Day gala was held on October 9 at Banqiao Stadium in New Taipei, with the fireworks following in Taitung on October 10 — two large events staged back-to-back, one in the north and one in the east, in a new arrangement for the National Day program. The International Landmark inside Seaside Park is a familiar fixture of the Taitung City coastline, a spot residents use for ocean views and first-sunrise watching; as this year's main venue, it put the Pacific shoreline behind the show. The Highway Bureau said the three-day holiday runs from October 9 to 11, with its southern maintenance branch starting traffic management at 3 p.m. on October 8; outbound traffic peaked on October 9 and return traffic was expected to peak on October 11 as the holiday winds down, while the Meishan–Xiangyang section of the Southern Cross-Island Highway stayed open throughout for travelers touring the east coast.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 台东海滨公园入口，国庆焰火主会场所在地，lienyuan lee 摄，CC BY 3.0（Wikimedia Commons）
