chinese new year in singapore Archives - 2bearbear Singapore Travel Blog: Travel | Stay

Every year during the lunar new year period, Singapore’s Chinatown ‘springs’ into live! (If you do not already know, the lunar new year is actually a celebration of the arrival of spring that is why the lunar new year is also known as the spring festival). This year, during our staycation at Amoy Hotel, we visited Chinatown and enjoyed some of the atmosphere of Chinese New Year in Singapore!

As the coming year is the year of the horse in the chinese zodiac calendar therefore, the decorations in Chinatown is made up of many running horses also known as 万马沸腾 in Mandarin…

Decorations with horses for Chinese New Year at Chinatown Singapore

Chinese New Year Decorations in Chinatown

Singapore’s Chinatown unlike other chinatowns in all other parts of the world, is not known as 唐人街 (Chinese Street) in Mandarin but 牛车水 (literal translation : Bull Cart Water). The reason is because in the early days, before the establishment of a water distribution network, the bull-cart (really driven by bulls!) was used to distribute water to the households in Chinatown.

During the Chinese New Year period, in addition to the usual row of shopping streets, additional shops are set up at Temple Street (the street is cordoned off) for sale of chinese new year goodies. And the streets? CROWDED!!

Usual row of shopping at Chinatown – Just outside Chinatown MRT station

Crowded Temple Street during Chinese New Year in Singapore

Another view of Temple Street

Opposite view with People’s Park Complex (珍珠坊) in the background

View of Temple Street in the night

Chinese New Year Decorations in the night

Besides the decorations and experiencing the CNY mood, many also flock to Chinatown during the Chinese New Year period to do some shopping!

Chinese New Year Goodies!

Decorative plants sold during Chinese New Year

Taiwanese fruit jellies?

I think we have not visited Chinatown during Chinese New Year for a really long time! There were 2 HUGE stalls selling Taiwanese fruit jellies and they were giving out free samples with slogans such as “来来来，走过别错过” (translated as “Come! Don’t let this (opportunity) pass by!”) and “All can try, 有买没买 nevermind!” (translated as “Sample all the freebies! We don’t really care if you buy or not because we are already making tonnes of money by selling just one box! Hahaha!” (in the style of semi-sinister laughter))

There is however one stall that many would spend endless hours queuing for during the festive season. And that is Lim Chee Guan’s Bak Kwa (local barbecued pork). We did not take any photos as there were simply too many people in a cramped area. The queue can easily reach about 100 (as far as we could see – could be more!)

To sum it up, whether you’re a local or just visiting Singapore during the Chinese New Year period, remember to visit Chinatown to soak in the atmosphere, take some beautiful photos and sample some Chinese New Year goodies!

Kate and I were invited to the Chingay Parade and festival and it was our first time ever! We were of course excited and decided to be there early to join in the ra-ra (pre-show audience warm-up) before the show started. Before we go into the details, a little bit about the origin of Chingay…

The Chingay Parade had its roots as a street performance or masquerade started in the 1970s. Today, it has evolved and has become an international festival with audience from all over the world. Touted as the grandest streets and floats parade in Asia, the Chingay Parade boasts of dazzling displays of colours and multi-culturalism that Singapore offers.

The Chingay Parade has been held at the Pit-Building (the actual Pit building for formula one on the F1 calendar) for the past couple of years. It is primarily a street performance where audience are seated on both sides of a street as the performers and displays pass by. The performance would include street performers from all over the world. In addition, organisations in Singapore , both private and public companies or organisations, would also stage performanances that attracts the attention of the crowd. At the pit-building, more than 150,000 spectators can be seated.

As Kate and I begun to get seated at our Category 3 seats (costs about $25 dollars), we noticed 2 of Singapore’s most famous hosts – Gurmit Singh and Quan Yi Feng. It was exciting to see how they warmed up the crowd and entertained us, getting us all psyched up before the first performers arrived.

We were surprised by the first few acts whereby firecrackers (something banned in Singapore except at festivals such as this) and fireworks were used. Stilt walkers and performers from China held huge flags and balanced them superbly as they passed the audience. It was awesome!

The whole parade was filled with dazzling colours and wonderful floats. One of the 2 floats that caught our attention was the USS (Universal Studio Singapore) floats with all the characters such as Kung Fu Panda and the Madagascar Characters. The other float that caught our attention was the HDB (Housing and Development Board of Singapore – Provides public housing for all Singaporeans). This is because the float featured the latest public project that garnered design awards – Pinnacle@Duxton. Here are some of the highlights of the evening…

Chingay Parade and Festival Singapore – Street Parade Culmination and Melting Pot of Cultures, Street Performances and Displays

Of course, to round of the entire parade, what else but FIREWORKS!

Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (as you may have heard from the screams of our video) and we were pleasantly surprised by how great and awesome a street performance can be. We formerly typified floats as boring as we see them drive pass during the parade season.

However, having come close to the performance, it actually brings us to see how much work the performers have put in and how much attention to detail have been placed into all the costumes and float designs. Impressive!

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We hope you’ll enjoy the Chingay Parade in Singapore this year!