Assessment of Lantern Festivals by Government Procurements

Abstract

The Lantern Festival constitutes a specific tradition that originated from a long-term evolved culture. Should the festival only consist of a large number of installations and visitors? This study aims to assess the Taiwan Lantern Festival (TLF) in terms of government procurements between 2016 and 2020 according to the classification of tender projects. The classifications contribute to a comparison of the similarities and diversities in respect to the major challenge of the number of visitors exceeding 10 million in two weeks. The 140–234 tender projects each year presented a 76% increment of the budget for services, financing, and construction. The similarities and differences made each year’s TLF a local-identity-rich event. Shared similarities accounted for approximately 54% of all 654 tender items and 66% of the budget. The shared main items demonstrated their importance in transferring the TLF experience to the host city of the subsequent year. The interpretation of procurement contributed to the novelty of TLF classifications and the shared project similarities and diversities through the government acting as a curator. The findings contributed to an evolved model of classification for local situation and TLF experience transfer, evolved measures for diversities and shared similarities, and an evolved instrumentation for traditions.