Walking into the Great Hall at Chicago Union Station on a cold December Saturday, the first thing that hit you wasn’t the echo of footsteps or the usual commuter rush, but color—bright, playful, and unmistakably intentional. For one full day, the monumental space softened into something warmer, almost festive, as the Taiwan Tourism Administration, working alongside the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Chicago and Taiwan’s home carriers China Airlines and EVA Air, transformed the hall into a miniature Taiwan experience. Families wandered in out of curiosity, students lingered longer than expected, travelers paused mid-journey, and suddenly Chicago felt a little closer to Taipei—at least emotionally, maybe even practically. The #PictureMeInTaiwan activation unfolded less like a marketing event and more like an open invitation, one that asked people to touch, try, pose, listen, and imagine themselves somewhere else for a moment.
Shot with Canon R100 and a TTArtisan 50mm f/1.2
The Great Hall itself did a lot of quiet work in the background. Its soaring ceilings and classical symmetry gave the installations room to breathe, while dual LED screens pulsed with images of Taiwan’s coastlines, mountains, night markets, and cityscapes, acting almost like windows rather than screens. Walk-in photo booths recreated iconic Taiwanese scenes, complete with props and staff gently guiding visitors into frame, adjusting a sleeve here, nudging a lantern there, making sure the moment felt playful instead of staged. Nearby, hands moved busily at craft tables—folding traditional paper douli hats, pressing zodiac badges, or laughing through a surprisingly competitive Taiwanese pinball game. One corner hosted a cooperative balancing game inspired by island landscapes, where strangers became temporary teammates, wobbling and steadying each other in a way that felt oddly symbolic. By evening, anticipation built toward the flight ticket giveaway, a small crowd forming as names were called, applause breaking out when Premium Economy with EVA Air and Economy Class with China Airlines found their lucky winners.
Sound threaded everything together. Short presentations by the tourism administration and the airlines slipped naturally between activities, explaining not just why Taiwan is worth visiting, but how easy it has become to get there, especially with EVA Air’s direct Chicago–Taipei route. Live cultural performances added texture rather than spectacle: Taiwanese folk melodies floated through the hall on flute and cajón, while a diabolo performance drew wide-eyed circles of onlookers, the spinning yo-yos tracing arcs that felt both ancient and completely contemporary. Speeches during the opening ceremony leaned broader, too. Director General Dennis Yen Feng Lei of TECO in Chicago spoke about Taiwan’s economic momentum, its role as a trusted U.S. partner in semiconductors and AI, and the growing density of people-to-people ties that link Taiwan not just with the United States, but with Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia as well. Tourism, in that framing, wasn’t a soft add-on—it was infrastructure for understanding.
By the time the hall began returning to its usual rhythm, the event had already done its quiet work. Visitors left with printed photos, handmade crafts, maybe a new hashtag in their camera roll, and often a slightly altered mental map of East Asia, one where Taiwan sat not as an abstract island but as a vivid, reachable place. As Director Jin Juang from the Taiwan Tourism Administration’s New York Office put it, the aim was never just to entertain, but to open a doorway—to warmth, creativity, and the idea of a future trip that suddenly feels plausible. With transit layover tours, voucher programs at Taoyuan International Airport, and expanding flight connectivity, that doorway isn’t symbolic anymore. The Chicago stop of #PictureMeInTaiwan felt like the start of a longer conversation, one that’s clearly meant to stretch into 2026 and beyond, carried forward by curiosity, memory, and maybe a photo snapped under the Great Hall’s arches on an ordinary Saturday that turned out not to be ordinary at all.
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