Tons to enjoy at Chinatown Chinese New Year extravaganza

The festivities for Chinese New Year will kick off this weekend, and the organisers of the Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations are looking to impress and draw millions of visitors, especially with its annual favourite, the Street Light-Up.

The lights display this year will feature 5,500 lanterns — the largest number of lanterns ever made in Chinatown Festival history — handcrafted by 40 master craftsmen using 13,000 LED light bulbs and 8km of LED light strips.

Designed in collaboration with 14 first and second-year students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), the Street Light-Up took five months to put together, and stretches 600m along New Bridge Road and Eu Tong Sen Road, and another 280m along South Bridge Road. The lanterns are shaped like roosters, hens, chicks, golden eggs, peach blossoms, peach blossom trees and the centrepiece — a giant Rooster lantern measuring 13m in height and 100m in length, situated at the junction of Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street.

“It was challenging because we had to balance our schoolwork as well as designing this, but everyone came together and we worked on this, and we managed to pull through,” said 21-year-old SUTD student Loo Jun Wen at a media preview of the celebrations.

“I joined this (project) to (find out) what it takes to design a public display, so going through all this and understanding the different considerations was pretty stressful initially, because you need to think about what people will think — if the colour really suits the theme, or whether people will think it doesn’t look nice. But actually (we needed to) just focus on our theme without caring about the external stress. I think it turned out well.”

In addition to the Street Light-Up, visitors can also look forward to a line-up of traditional and cultural events. This includes the popular International Lion Dance Competition, in which 17 lion dance troupes from 10 countries will compete for the ‘King Of The Lions’ title at the carpark at Banda Street on Jan 14 and 15.

Until Jan 27, visitors can also head to the Festive Street Bazaar and Festive Carnival to purchase Chinese New Year-themed delicacies, traditional goodies, decorative items, costumes and more from 440 stalls. Other activities include the Nightly Stage Shows with performances by local and overseas performers and a complimentary Chinatown Chinese New Year Walking Trail led by seasoned volunteer guides.

Twenty clan associations, religious groups and VWOs from Jalan Besar GRC will also put together a concert, Harmony Night, featuring special performances for 650 residents from Jalan Besar. Another 1,000 people, including those from underprivileged families and the elderly, will also be invited to a Mass Reunion Dinner.

Several new youth-oriented programmes have also been added to the line-up of activities. The Festive Street Bazaar will set aside an area called YouthEats @ Temple Street, where 12 entrepreneurs, including youths, will set up shop offering treats such as braised duck Shabu Burger and meatballs with melted cheese. The YHFLEA: Come Lepark edition will also be held on Jan 14 and 15 in collaboration with alternative social space Lepark and online retailer Young Hungry Free for a flea- and car-boot market with over 100 local brands and independent designers.

The festivities will culminate in the Chinatown Chinese New Year Countdown Party on Chinese New Year’s Eve (Jan 27), which will feature Mediacorp artistes and other performers in a live countdown show, as well as the Chingay 2017 @ Chinatown show on Feb 12.

Organised by the Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee, the Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2017, which is budgeted to cost about S$2 million, will take place over seven weeks in Chinatown, from Jan 7 to Feb 25. More than two million visitors are expected to join in the festivities.

“I am very excited about being able to soak in this festive cheer. Just coming in to look at the lights gives me the lifted feeling of gladness and happiness. I also like the community events because then I can touch lives, and make sure they get to share the Chinese New Year festivities with food and shows, especially for the less advantaged groups,” said Dr Lily Neo, Member of Parliament for Jalan Besar GRC (Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng).

“There have been endeavours to always make sure that we extend engagement with our youths over the years. This year is no exception, we have newer and more interesting items to engage the youth, because I feel that this is a very good culture and tradition that has to be passed on to the next generation.”

For more information on the Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2017, visit www.chinatownfestivals.sg.