Entertaining Things to Do At Singapore Chinatown During Chinese New Year

Food, Decorations, and Places: Beauty of Singapore Chinatown During Chinese New Year

Chinatown is located in the Outram district in the central part of Singapore, which has significant historical and cultural significance. Ethnic Chinese people are concentrated in Chinatown featuring Chinese cultural elements. The urban redevelopment authority is responsible for the conservation of a large portion of Chinatown which has been declared as heritage sites.

Chinese New Year is celebrated for the initiation of a New year on the traditional lunar calendar. Chinese New Year is also termed as Spring festival. People celebrate it from New Year’s Eve to the 15th day of the year. The first day of the Chinese New Year is celebrated when the new moon appears between 21 January to 20 February. 

Singapore public holidays are offered in Chinese New Year as it is the main festival in China. It is celebrated in the country with abundant Chinese people like Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, European countries. On New year’s eve, Chinese families gather up and have dinner together. Cleaning the house, decorating windows, and lighting firecrackers are all people’s activities during the Chinese New Year to bring happiness, longevity, wealth and sweep away ill fortune. In this article, we will discuss the things to do in Chinatown during the Chinese New Year.

Official Light Up and Opening Ceremony

Due to the global pandemic, this year’s Chinese New Year celebration events will be shown virtually on the Facebook page on the 23rd of January from 8:00 PM-8:50 PM. You can also find acrobatic and cultural performances along with lion dance. 

Light up in the street

Street light would feature a combination of modern and traditional design like the lantern of an ox, golden ingots, flower, and greeting, etc. the event will start from the 23rd Jan to 12 march at New Bridge Road, South Bridge Road, and Eu Tong Sen Street.

Short films

From mid-January onwards, on Facebook pages, a short film features Chinatown merchants like Bee Chiang Hiang. This movie would let the audience know about preparing every new year’s delicacies and the relationship of such delicacies with festivals and traditions. 

Workshop

It would be live-streamed on Chinatown’s Facebook page where the audience will know about baking Kele’s pineapple ball. It would be streamed on 24th Jan from 10:00 am to 11:30 am, and for this, tickets have to be grabbed within 23rd Jan.

CNY2021 Online Activities

There would be giveaways and things to learn about culture and tradition. For family bonding fun there would be photo collage activities. It would start from mid-Jan onwards on Facebook and Instagram pages.  

Heritage Trail and 360 Virtual Tour

This year, there will be a Heritage trail where you will go through various points on Chinatown, and volunteers will guide you; and for more information, you can visit our microsite. There would be 360 virtual tours for the second year running. It would start from early February on the Chinatown festival website. 

Past Year Decorations

One thousand three hundred eighty-eight handcrafted lanterns made with 4km long LED strip light illuminated the Chinatown, and Cantonese culture was also celebrated with Cantonese art, heritage, and cuisine in Chinatown in the year 2020. Cantonese immigrants gathered up in Smith street, Mosque street, and temple street and showcased their culture. Hawker stalls in Chinatown served Cantonese foods like Claypot rice, Yusheng, and Lotus Root soup. At Kreta Ayer’s people’s theatre, you can find Cantonese tradition and Cantonese opera performances by local and international artists.

The 13th International Lion Dance competition was held in the same venue, and participants from various countries like Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and China were participating. There were 329 decorated stalls from paper cuttings to Disney merchandise on sale. There was online shopping at the Shopee booth. 2020 Chinese New Year started on 4 January with the Opening ceremony and light-up ceremony. There were 200 pink rat lanterns to call up the feeling of happiness and celebration. Chinatown wishing tree, Chinese New Year celebration party, Cingay at Chinatown, mass union dinner highlighted Chinese New Year celebration 2020. 

Places to Visit Around Chinatown During Chinese New Year

Chinatown offers its heritage with culture busting on the street, various traditional temples, traditional cuisine, museums, and many more. 

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

This 4-storey temple welcomes visitors with a glorious main hall. From a distance, you can view intricately embellished drum and bell towers which signify this temple’s majestic aura. A sacred relic is kept on a 2-meter gold stupa on the fourth floor, which is the temple’s main attraction. You can visit this temple every day (except holidays) from 9:00 am to 6:30 pm. 

Pinnacle @ Duxton

The Pinnacle is located at the world’s tallest residential building, from where you can see the view across Chinatown and Sentosa Island. An EZ-link card is needed to climb up to the viewing platform.

Sri Mariamman Temple

Tamil Hindus worship in this temple, and it is the oldest shrine of Goddess Mariamman in Singapore. 

NUS Baba House

It is best to visit NUS Baba house to explore the Peranakan culture. You need to sign up at the baba house website for an appointment to visit this place.

Singapore City Gallery

To know about Singapore’s past, present, and future, Singapore City Gallery is the best place to visit. The central area model is an exciting part of this gallery.

Other places to visit are Red Dot Design Museum, Thian Hock Keng Temple, Chinatown Street Market, Hong Lim Park, Chinatown Heritage Center, Chinese Methodist Church, and many more. 

Places to Find the Best Festive Food at Chinatown During Chinese New Year

Bak Kwa

Bak Kwa is a meat (pork, mutton, beef) product that is sweet-salty in taste. It is extremely popular in Singapore during the Chinese New Year. You can find it in Peng Guan at Chinatown Food Complex, Kim Guan Guan at the booth outside Chinatown point, and Lim Chee Guan at Chinatown Heritage Center.

Mooncakes

Mooncake is a dish that people serve during the Mid-autumn festival. It is traditionally a Chinese bakery product. People also serve it during family gatherings. Chinatown Tai Chong Kok Confectionery Hue Kee in Chinatown complex, Tai Thong cake shop, Tai Chong Kok, and Thye Moh Chan are some of the places where you can enjoy mooncakes.

Tangyuan

Tangyuan is a ball of glutinous flour and water. People serve it as dessert and during the Lantern Festival. Gong He Guan, Tang Yuan, Zhen Jie dessert are the places near Chinatown where you can enjoy Tangyuan.

Besides these foods, you can enjoy other foods like Chinese New Year dumplings, Chinese New Year Fish, Chinese New Year Noodles, etc., during the Chinese New Year celebration at Singapore Chinatown.

Conclusion

We have looked into the beauty of Chinatown. The foods and decorations are heightened during the festival. You can enjoy and please your soul with the decorations and food available during the Chinese New Year in Chinatown. Also, if you are thinking of visiting Chinatown, here are the best hotel deals in Singapore Chinatown.