Every Chinese New Year (CNY), the Chinatown area comes to life with festive events and decorations that signal the start of a new year.
The Year of the Dragon is no exception as majestic dragon lanterns recently descended upon Chinatown.
In addition to the highly-anticipated light-up, the area will also play host to a countdown party on CNY Eve as well as a lion dance competition.
As the annual street light-up kicked off on Friday (19 Jan), the streets of Chinatown were illuminated with lights from the dragon lanterns.
Similar to previous years, the centrepiece of this year’s light-up is located at the busy road intersection of New Bridge Road/Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street.
Smaller dragon lanterns line up along New Bridge Road in addition to the large centrepiece.
A pair of dragons — symbolising reunion — can also be seen along the road divider outside People’s Park Complex.
Additionally, visitors may find some extra dragon decorations if they look up into the night sky.
From now till 9 Mar, these lanterns will light up every night from 7pm to 12am, and till 6am on the first day of CNY.
Gracing the opening ceremony on Friday (19 Jan) were Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, as well as Jalan Besar GRC MPs, which included Minister for Communications and Information Josephine Teo.
Having attended the event for the 7th time, PM Lee noted that while his hair had turned white, the event remained one of the highlights during the CNY festive period.
Source: Chinatown Festivals on Facebook
PM Lee, who was also born in the Year of the Dragon, noted that the wet weather hasn’t dampened visitors’ spirits.
He also took the opportunity to wish visitors prosperity, health, and happiness.
Besides the majestic light-up, Chinatown will also be hosting a series of festive events.
These include festive fairs outside People’s Park Complex and Chinatown Street Stalls selling CNY decorations and goodies.
These festive fairs are already ongoing and will run till the eve of CNY (9 Feb).
There will also be stage shows over the next two weekends (27-28 Jan and 3-4 Feb), from 6pm to 9pm at Kreta Ayer Square.
Members of the public can also head down for a countdown party on CNY Eve (9 Feb), also held at Kreta Ayer Square.
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Featured image adapted by MS News.
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