Yanshui

Yánshǔi (鹽水), literally “salt water”, was established as an important inland port adjacent to the now-vanished Daofeng Lagoon (倒風內海). Surrounded by water on three sides, the settlement took the shape of a crescent moon, and at its peak was the fourth largest city in Taiwan. The district is internationally renowned for the Yanshui Beehive Fireworks Festival (鹽水蜂炮), held annually on the 15th day of the Lunar New Year to commemorate a cholera epidemic, during which tens of thousands of bottle rockets are shot directly at participants.