Sky Lanterns Light Up Taiwan's Rural District

PINGXI, TAIWAN - MARCH 2: Tourists release sky lantern during the Pingxi lantern festival on March 2, 2018 in Pingxi, Taiwan. Pingxi, a Taiwanese district known for its old train tracks and lantern launchings, hosts the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival annually to celebrate the last day of the Lunar New Year by releasing thousands of lanterns which each carrying its flame into the night. The former coal-mining town is lined with workshops which helps visitors build lanterns with paper and glue but critics have said the event is has become unsustainable and angered the locals as up to 600,000 half-burnt lanterns crashes back to earth into surrounding mountains. Sky lanterns were invented in ancient China between AD 220-265 by military strategist Zhuge Liang to transmit information and first introduced in Taiwan in the 19th century. They were originally released as prayers for the coming year at the beginning of the spring planting season but currently only allowed by the government to release of sky lanterns at the rural district in New Taipei. (Photo by Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)