By Zhen-Kang —

Meeting the mayor

And Salted Egg Superman…

Five politicians, including Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-Mai, pose with two members of the public.
Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-Mai with a couple of fans.

Last weekend, a friend sent me a promo message in LINE. It listed four places where the mayor of Kaohsiung would be giving away red envelopes—called hóngbǎo (紅包)—for the lunar new year:

A promotional image for a lunar new year red envelope giveaway in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
“2026 Spring Tour Full of Blessings / February 7 Little Red Envelope Giveaway / Ultraman Spirit—Year of the Horse red envelopes waiting for you!”

Each of the mayor’s red envelopes would contain, per tradition, a monetary gift: in this case, one newly-minted NT$1 (NZ$0.05) coin. This kind of giveaway is common ahead of the new year, with elected officials handing out red envelopes at community events, markets, and temples.

Red envelopes are also exchanged within families—traditionally on the first day of the new year (February 17 in 2026).

Each family has their own approach, but generally speaking, red envelopes are given:

  • By parents to their children (until graduation)
  • By grandparents to their grandchildren (until graduation)
  • By married aunts and uncles to their nieces and nephews (until graduation)
  • By adult children to their parents

For the past two years, I’ve also exchanged red envelopes with my partner—a chance for me to get in on the action despite not qualifying otherwise.

Hand holding a red envelope. In addition to printed Chinese characters, the envelope includes a hand-drawn dragon and the date “2024”.
The red envelope I received from my partner in the Year of the Dragon.

Anyway, back to the mayor.

Chen Chi-Mai (陳其邁) is my local celebrity crush—and it’s not just me who thinks this way: a 2025 poll gave him the highest satisfaction rating among Taiwan’s six big-city mayors.

But due to term limits, Mayor Chen can’t seek re-election this November. So I’ve been running out of time to meet him…

(I’m not especially serious about this, but I’m not not especially serious either…)

So, last Saturday, I finally had my chance.

My partner and I arrived at the Wumiao Market (武廟市場) at around 2:30pm. We joined the queue for the 3:10pm giveaway. There was one line for people who just wanted red envelopes, and a second line for those who also wanted a photo with the mayor.

We joined the second line, of course.

A queue of people outside a covered market in Lingya District, Kaoshiung City, Taiwan.
We were in roughly 50th position after joining the second line.

While we waited, other politicians from various parties moved along the lines handing out small gifts. I’m told that legally, to avoid any hint of corruption, these gifts cannot be worth more than NT$30 each (NZ$1.50).

I received a pack of tissues from one candidate, and a tub of petroleum jelly(!) from another:

A hand holding a pack of pocket tissues with a politician’s photo on the front, and another hand holding a pack containing printed material (in Traditional Chinese) and a small tub of petroleum jelly.
My free pack of tissues and free tub of petroleum jelly(!). The candidates kindly wished me a happy new year, despite my ineligibility to vote.

Soon we heard firecrackers at Kaohsiung Guandi Temple (高雄關帝廟), 100 meters away.

Mayor Chen was getting closer.

Announcements were made over a couple of megaphones, and soon enough the crowd started moving forward.

At about the 10-minute mark, we could see him posing with the people ahead of us:

Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-Mai highlighted, with a crowd of people around him. A person in the foreground is holding a megaphone.

And then, before we knew it, it was our turn:

Five politicians, including Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chi-Mai, pose with two members of the public.
The other politicians in this photo include a member of the opposition party KMT (at left), and winner of the DPP primary, Lai Jui-Lung (賴瑞隆) (second from left). He’s the frontrunner to win the mayoral election on November 28.

The group posed for a bunch of photos, before wishing me happy new year in English and Chinese.

I wished them a happy new year in return (in Chinese: “xīn nián kuài lè!”).

We were directed past a series of volunteers who handed us a bunch of new year gifts:

A so-called red envelope, which looks like a pop-up horse on a cardboard platform that has a freshly-minted one New Taiwan Dollar coin stuck onto it, along with three printed signatures.
This stylized red envelope includes a $1 coin, with signatures from (left to right) a DPP representative, President Lai Ching-Te, and Vice-President Hsiao Bi-Khim…
An oval-shaped thick collectable card featuring a cartoon image of Ultraman flying through space, and some Traditional Chinese writing.
…This even more stylized ‘Ultraman’ red envelope also came with a $1 coin (more on Ultraman below)…
A vertical spring couplet posted on an interior wall, next to a bunch of magnets stuck to a metal door.
…And this traditional spring couplet is specific to 2026, the Year of the Horse. (I stuck this on the wall of my home office, but I put another one on the front door—which is a more usual location.)

We got some snack food, then headed to the harborside for the launch of Kaohsiung Wonderland. It’s a now-annual new year festival, which for the last few years has featured giant inflatable characters floating on the harbor:

A giant inflatable Ultraman figure floating (waist-up) in Kaohsiung Harbor at night, with Kaohsiung Music Center lit up in special red lighting behind him. A couple of hundred meters away is a similar floating Ultraman figure in the distance.
A giant floating Ultraman in front of Kaohsiung Music Center. (A second Ultraman can be seen in the distance at extreme left.)

Ultraman’s nickname in Taiwan is Salted Egg Superman (鹹蛋超人), in reference to his bulbous eyes.

But I’m no fan of salted eggs. So Mayor Chen remains my local celebrity crush.

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