Source: The Bureau of Information
Date:2006-08-05

On the night of August 5th, the corner of WenXin Road and SiangShan Road was crammed with cars and people before 6 p.m. At 6:30p.m. there were no seats or space left at the Amphitheater, way over its capacity, 15000 persons. The majority of the people there were young. Some were sitting and some were standing. All of them were waiting patiently with glowing sticks in their hands for the stars to show.

Two giant Egyptian Statues were set up on the stage looking solemn. Eight Roman Palaces were built and standing on both sides of the stage, resembling the Colosseum built in Rome. Taichung vice mayor, Xiao Jia qi arrived before 7 p.m. and shook hands with the guests with joy expressed on his face.

At 7:30p.m. the lights went soft, then, followed the first canon shot, out came 10 topless young man holding torches and 8 young women spreading flower pedals. As the stage in the center slowly rising, mayor Hu appeared with golden robe outfit, resembling the Egyptian official. "I have promised Taichung a dream, now the dream has come true." Mayor Hu said. Then, the grand opening of the Amphitheater launched.

Myriad of people were blocked outside the theater for coming too late. Children standing among the crowds kept asking the grown-ups "What have you seen?" The traffic on SiangShan Road was busy but chaotic. The opening today was smooth and successful.