In photos: Costumes, color and singing candidates — welcome to a Taiwanese election

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Amid a dazzling display of color and theatrics, Taiwan, the only Chinese-language democracy, is preparing to elect a new president this weekend. This is only the eighth democratic presidential election in the island's modern history, so Taiwanese people cherish the right to vote.

Campaign rallies are almost theatrical. Musicians are often hired to score candidate's stump speeches in real time, so as they reach particularly emotional moments the music swells to intensify the audience reactions.

In many instances, the musician is the most important person at the rally — besides the candidates, of course — for one simple reason: they provide the emotion.

At one rally for the Kuomintang (KMT) party, thousands of people gather at Dajia Riverside Park to cheer on candidate Hou Yu-ih. The atmosphere is loud and raucous, and the crowd is a sea of KMT flags.

One woman, who calls herself Ji Dong Jie — or "excited sister" in Mandarin — is clearly a fixture on the rally circuit. She is dressed in a bright red pantsuit, sparkly Mylar boas and rhinestone-studded heels. Her huge fluffy pink hat is adorned with two Taiwanese flags that wave in the air as she leads the crowd in an impromptu dance.

"It's all DIY," she tells NPR in Mandarin, adding that she goes to every KMT rally. "I want the KMT to work for peace. I don't want independence for Taiwan. I want relations with the U.S. to be good, and I want relations with China to be good. We're all one family."

Meanwhile, campaign events hosted by the rival Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) are generally quieter, but no less festive. The current DPP Vice President, Lai Ching-te (also known as William Lai) is running to be the island's new president and is favored to win.