The Keelung Ghost Festival, also known as the "Keelung Hungry Ghost Festival," is an annual Ghost Festival held in Keelung, northern Taiwan, during the seventh month of the lunar calendar. It is an important folk festival in Taiwan and is listed as one of the "Twelve Major Local Festivals of Taiwan" by the Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications of the Republic of China. Centered on the Ghost Festival, it encompasses related folk religious ceremonies and related arts and cultural activities by both the government and the public. The festival generally begins on the first day of the seventh lunar month with the opening of the shrine at the Laoda Gong Temple, continues through the twelfth day with the lighting of lanterns at the main altar, the thirteenth day with the welcoming of lanterns and a procession for blessings, the fourteenth day with the release of water lanterns and the release of water lanterns at the beach, the fifteenth day with public and private offerings and the Zhong Kui dance, and finally the closing of the shrine on the first day of the eighth lunar month, lasting for a month. On January 29, 2008, it was designated a National Important Folk Custom as a "National Cultural Heritage" by the Council for Cultural Affairs, Executive Yuan.