While many celebrate with fireworks, concerts, or parties, some Taiwanese opt to welcome the year with tears. On Monday, CNN covered a distinctly different way of welcoming the coming new year in Taiwan - crying on New Year’s Eve at Taipei’s Daan Forest Park.
The article said that the event began in 2023 when university student Harry Li posted the activity on Facebook as a good-natured jest. Inspired by Director Tsai Ming-liang’s (蔡明亮) iconic 1994 film Vive L’Amour, the activity highlights the scene where actress Yang Kuei-mei (楊貴媚) cries for seven minutes on a park bench at the Daan Forest Park amphitheater, a moment that has become a cinematic classic.
Last year’s cry-a-thon attracted over 100 participants. This year, marking the 30th anniversary of the film’s release, the Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute has adopted the idea and transformed it into an official New Year’s Eve activity.
On Tuesday at 9:45 p.m., a restored version of Vive L’Amour will be screened at the park, with Director Tsai Ming-liang and actors Yang Kuei-mei and Lee Kang-sheng (李康生) attending to "cry together" with participants. Attendees can also use red "tear papers" to write down their most painful moments of the year. After the New Year countdown, there will be a raffle reading of the "tear papers."
While crying to mark the start of the new year may have drawn attention for its quirkiness, the message that it’s fine to embrace your struggles on festive occasions like New Year’s Eve was what resonates the most with participants.