The 2026 Tainan Hakka Arts Festival will be held on October 17, with the finale performance of "Tianyuan Ji" by the Rongxing Tea Picking Hakka Theater Troupe

On October 17, at the Tainan Hakka Arts Festival, the Rongxing Tea Picking Hakka Theater Troupe performed "The Legend of Tianyuan" as the finale. (Provided by Nanshi Customer Committee)

Why not go for a walk in Tainan Shuipingshang Park on October 17th! The "2026 Tainan Hakka Arts Festival" takes the multi-ethnic carnival as its theme. Starting from the Hakka culture, it connects the indigenous people, new residents and foreign cultures. It gathers food, markets, handicrafts, performances and Hakka dramas to create a lively and cultural autumn carnival. Popular IPs Yutou Jun, Cai Qi Ya and Alley Niau will also appear to join in the fun.

The event will bring together Hakka food, new residents and exotic flavors, indigenous products and second-hand goods. It will also arrange relay performances by street performers and local groups. People can visit the market, eat delicious food and experience the life and culture of different ethnic groups. DIY activities such as "rice cake pounding", "hand-made fragrance", and "painted Vietnamese bamboo hats and wind chimes" are also planned on site. Parents, children and friends can play together.

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The finale of the evening is the Hakka drama. The Rongxing Hakka Tea Picking Troupe will perform "Tian Yuan Ji", which combines classical lyrics with Hakka slang and humorous dialogues, as well as exciting martial arts scenes. It combines literary and martial arts, and incorporates nine tunes and eighteen tunes to present the charm of Hakka opera in the form of a lively wild stage opera.

Chen Xinyu, chairman of the Tainan City Guest Committee, said that the traditional "harvest winter opera" in Hakka villages is also known as Ping'an opera. In the early years, after a good harvest, relatives and friends of the village would reward the gods through sacrifices and performances, and also get together to have fun. It is an important memory of the Hakka village during the year. This year's art festival incorporates the imagery of winter opera, arranging performances such as Hakka Lion and Hakka Eight Music, and the finale of "Tian Yuan Ji", allowing traditional opera to enter the city and get closer to the citizens.

The Nan City Guest Committee said that this year’s event not only looked at Hakka culture, but also presented Tainan’s cityscape of multi-ethnic exchanges and integration through the participation of indigenous people, new residents and foreign cultures. Welcome to Shuipingsheng Park on October 17th. From visiting the market and playing with handicrafts in the afternoon to watching a show in the evening, we can have a fun time together.