Chingay Parade

Kathy:

I think that this year's Chingay really brings out the spirit of Singapore, the outstanding costumes, the wonderful performances and the fireworks display were only the few highlights of the Chingay event. The theme for this time's Chingay is 'Colours of Fabric, One People'. It is a true extravaganza involving thousands of volunteers of all works of life and diverse ethnic backgrounds to come together for one common purpose. Chingay is not just a celebration of Lunar New Year for the Chinese in Singapore, different races are invited to take part and perform in this parade. Many participants of diverse ethnicities and nationalities joined in and worked as one. Seeing all the different races in Singapore unite showed the racial harmony in Singapore and that was the most heartwarming part.

Yi Xuan:

Personally, I did not go for the Chingay parade because I was sick on that day. However, when we had to present about the parade, I saw many pictures and also heard many wonderful experiences during the parade from my classmates. Chingay is a celebration for everyone of all races, not just the Chinese. Looking at the pictures of the Chingay parade, there are many people from all races and they all looked really happy. The theme of this year's parade, 'Colours of fabric, One people' also shows how bonded the different people of different races in Singapore is. Although there was many volunteers and audiences of different races, there was no chaos. Everyone worked really well together to perform a wonderful performance and the audiences enjoyed too, cheering loudly. Just by hearing from my friends and looking at the pictures of the Chingay parade, I could tell that it was a very fun event. I hope that next time, I would be able to attend the Chingay parade myself too.

Ting Fang:

The Chingay parade was amazing. We saw a wide range of performanves which were a clear representation of all the diverse cultures. Singapore is a multi-racial country. From Chingay, I learnt that we are of different roots yet we are all Singaporeans. This was evident in many parts of the performance. The theme is " Colours of Fabric, One People." In the performance itself, we got the chance to witness many traditional performances individually and combined traditional performances, for example, a Chinese man and a Malay man hitting the two different sides of a drum together. Each man has their own rhythm and beat, yet it sounds simply beautiful together. This is a form of unity. The fact that we are different yet we all can contribute to Singapore is something that clearly shows how we are like these fabrics, yet we are one. We are one because we are Singaporeans. This shows that we embrace who we are and also where we come from. Apart from the performances, we could also witness a form of the theme, " Colours of Fabric, One People" amongst the audience. We, the audience, come from different schools. We are of different races, different family backgrounds and there isnt  any of us who is exactly the same as another person. We cheered together as an audience, despite of our differences, celebrating Singapore's racial harmony. Despite our differences on stage, amongst the audience and outside Chingay itself, we must learn to live harmoniously with other races as one Singapore, just as the pledge goes " regardless of race, language or religion. " Chingay 2014 was truly eye opening. 

Lionel:

I went to the chingay parade , and I saw many beautiful , interesting and amazing floats there. I am sure the volunteers have gave their full effort for this chingay parade. I have really enjoyed myself and also learn a few things too. From the chingay parade , I can see the cultures of Singapore and I also saw the 'batik' which represents SINGAPORE united as one and also closely followed by its theme 'colours of fabric , one people.' The atmosphere was exuberant and lively with the audience cheering loudly . I felt that chingay parade 2014 is really a meaningful and amazing one.

Gerald Goh:

I feel that the Chingay event was a spectacular event with different races coming together as one, knitted together to present a wonderful performance. The goodie bags contained a lot of useful items like poms poms and even an energy bar to keep us going. Everybody was enthusiastic after having seen the races dancing to trendy music and ppl from different age groups and cultures coming together to really bring out the best performance for everyone. Overall it was an amazing and eye-opening day. Given a chance, I would definitely go there again.