Largest Chingay parade to celebrate Singapore's 50th birthday

Coincided with 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence, the largest Chingay parade was launched at F1 Pit Building on Friday evening.

Although it's an annual event to celebrate Chinese New Year, this year's parade is very special because it also celebrate the city state's Golden Jubilee, said Nah Juay Hng, chairman of the Chingay 2015 EXPO.

"That is why this year's Chingay is the grandest Chingay, the biggest Chingay that we have in history," he said.

It is estimated that 160 performing organizations participate in this year's parade while 3,000 parade volunteers and 11,000 volunteer performers are also involved.

The word "Chingay" is phonetically borrowed from the dialect in Hokkien or Fujian, China, meaning the art of costume and masquerade. It evolved from celebrations in the southern part of China during the Spring Festival, and has been held in Singapore each year since 1973.

Traditionally, Chingay parade is about color, song and dance. The theme of this year's event is "We Love Singapore." Beautiful site display of 600,000 "We Love Singapore" flowers, which are made from recyclable plastic bags, and eye-catching floats with performance from both local and overseas contingents highlight this year's celebration.

Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean led 100 representatives from performing contingents, as well as religious, grassroots sectors and international groups, and 25,000 audiences to do the "We Love Singapore" gesture, lighting up the carnival atmosphere.

Four segments, namely Celebration Singapore, Memories Singapore, We Love Singapore, Dreams and Hope Singapore, composed the main parade on Friday evening. The "We Love Singapore" part converged good wishes from Singaporeans, ethnic communities, and overseas friends.

Just as Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said about "a multi-racial nation" on Aug. 9, 1965, Chingay has acted as an important platform for Singapore to bring people together, with 17 international contingents from 14 countries and regions taking efforts to specially choreograph their performance to wish Singapore "Happy Birthday" Friday evening, while showcasing their own culture at the same time.

The Indonesian contingent brought a colorful parade with 470 performers themed "Ethnature" - ethnic diversity and nature, while the Thailand contingent conveyed their best wishes to Singapore as the two countries have established diplomatic ties for 50 years.

Four contingents from China and one art troupe from China's Taiwan showed their own colorful culture.

The costumes of Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) contingent featured energy-efficient LED lights, which will "dance " to the rhythm of the music. According to He Congchao, leader of SSTEC contingent, they specially designed three adorable mascots to convey the message of eco-development in a modern urban city. Three youths from the SSTEC contingent dressed up as the mascots and roller-skated alongside their float.

The contingent of Sino-Singapore Souzhou Industrial Park brought an 18-meter-long float to show the marvelous city of Suzhou. A group of 80 performers form the Suzhou Ballet Theater and the Chinese Dance Group of National University of Singapore presented elegant dance with traditional Chinese musical instruments.

The acrobatic troupe of Gansu Province and the Xinjiang song and dance troupe from China also brought a series of skilled acrobatic performances and shows, not only to celebrate Singapore' s 50th birthday, but also the 25th anniversary since China and Singapore established diplomatic relation in 1990.

Contingents from other Southeast Asian nations, the United States, Russia, Japan, South Korea, India and Turkey also presented their fantastic performances.

According to the organizer, the parade will be repeated on Saturday evening, and a related event named "Chingay SG 50 Nightly Fiesta" will be held on Sunday evening on Orchard Road, the most prosperous place in Singapore.

Besides, 500,000 residents have involved in creating "Singapore Trees of Hope" and "We Love Singapore" Flowers from May 2014 to February 2015 to express their good wishes to the country. Endi