We were also given a short talk about Chingay 2016 during that week's assembly CCE period.
As such, we were given these questions below to think about and discuss in this reflection post.
The photo album may be viewed here
Questions to ponder over:
1) What do you think the purpose of Chingay 2016 was?
2) How has this changed since the first Chingay and why do you think this change happened?
3) Do you think the organizers have successfully fulfilled this purpose?
1) What do you think the purpose of Chingay 2016 was?
Derived from: Source 1
From the PA organization:
Chingay 2016 aims to celebrate important core values advocated by then-Prime Minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew (resilience, prudence, passion, integrity and respect) as we take the first step towards SG100 in the form of the contingents and the many displays in the final segment 'Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore' and 'Voyage SG100'
From my own observations:
The Chingay Parade still retains its original purpose as a means of celebrating Chinese New Year with its noise and gaiety and the various float contingents. However, there is an added multi-cultural spark as not all the contingents performing were Chinese, and not all the performance items were tied to Chinese New Year, such as the Inter Religous Organization's contingents and the international Japanese contingent.
Only the float contingents that had their theme strongly advocated and the last segment of 'Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore' seemed to highlight what the organizer aims to celebrate.
However, I would argue that without the emcee's introduction of the last segment and what it aims to celebrate and the pre-Chingay talk, I would be pointless as to why there were performers carrying around Sky Lanterns with things drawn on them.
While some contingents are tied to Chinese New Year, to Chingay, to the theme, to the organizer (PAssion club and PAYM promoting their different hobby classes), I realise there are a few contingents not really tied to any theme at all, like the POSB contingent whose main aim was probably to let the audience know that they are one of the main sponsors of Chingay 2016.
2) How has this changed since the first Chingay and why do you think this change happened?
The first Chingay's aim was to make up for the ban of firecrackers with its noise, gaiety and various contingents.
The first change I observed were the multi racial performances involved, since there were a Malay Tambourine contingent formed completely of volunteers pre-parade and the very first contingent featured performers donning costumes from different races and two singers leading the audience to sing some kind of Chingay Song as well as stilt-walkers and acrobats. There was also this one contingent that featured two martial arts groups performing together.
Chingay has also expanded its scope to beyond Chinese New Year, since the organizors sought to celebrate the core values that late Minister Menthor Mr Lee Kuan Yew advocated and the hopes and dreams of Singaporeans of what Singapore will be in the next 50 years.
I also realized that there were some contingents formed of mainly students from secondary schools and even in contingents dominated by adults, I can still see one or two very young kids with them. One example was in the Malay Tambourine contingent when I noticed there was this extremely young boy among the tambourine players and the emcee mentioned that the youngest player in that contingent was 7 years old. Also worth mentioning is this very young boy (looks around 7-9 years old) performing in the a martial arts contingent.
I also observed that there were extremely old performers as well, such as these performers from overseas (emcees mentioned they were all old ladies) and this one old man on wheelchair in an Indian contingent dominated by adults.
This shows that throughout the years, Chingay performances has began to attract performers of different walks of life --- be it old or young, in whichever profession they may be. I also noticed that many of the motivators appear to be just a few years older than us, hence my assumption that they are students who've volunteered to be part of Chingay.
In my opinion, it is quite heartening to see these performers as this shows that not only the current working adult generation is playing their part through performances to keep the Chingay tradition alive, the younger generation also plays its part to ensure the continuation of the Chingay parade and through the participation of the older generation, its safe to conclude that the older generation are in the least, interested in Chingay Parade.
Another thing I observed was the contingent of international visitors --- Japanese performers, the European performers and the Russian performers, the last two which were not present on that day. To me, this shows that the Chingay Parade has become something of cultural importance, not just in Singapore but perhaps overseas, since these performers would've seen some significance in this parade to be willing to participate in it, even more so as Singapore isnt their native country.
In fact, given Singapore's multi-racial society, its possible to celebrate such a big event without sparking controversy for not including other races.
In 1987, Chingay featured its first foreign group when Singapore's main English newspaper, the Straits Times, sponsored four pop singers from Tokyo. Since then, Chingay has extended invitations to international artistes and troupes.
In my opinion, this is the organizer's attempt to 'globalize' Chingay, so that it remains not only culturally important on a local scale, but hopefully has some significance on a global scale. Hopefully, this will encourage international troupes to perform since Chingay is touted the largest costume parade in South East Asia.
The participation of volunteers of wider demographics is bound to happen as the parade becomes more inclusive since the contingents will require more and more performers yet there is a limited supply of willing adults and they will have to inevitably tap into the young and elderly demographics to get them to participate as well.
3) Do you think the organizers have successfully fulfilled this purpose?
I believe that the organizers have fulfilled their purpose of documenting down Singaporeans' hopes of what SG100 will be like in the form of Sky Lanterns and light cubes(not present that day), both of which were decorated by members of the public.
The organizers have also fulfilled their purpose showcasing of what's uniquely Singaporean-- our multi-racial, multi-religious society shown through the diverse costumes they wore, the groups of different religions performing together in the IRO contingent and the diversity in the performers and volunteers imply that we are an inclusive society, since youths are empowered to volunteer (the motivators) and the elderly are not left out (highlighted above) with a hint of the international through the international troupes and contingents to imply that Singapore isnt an enclose society but one open and globalized to the world.
Through the PAssion contingent that showcased people from different hobby classes (Hip hop, beat boxing, parkour, pole-dancing, ballet,etc), it would appear to any outsider that Singaporeans do have an outlet that they can further develop their interests in.
Picture credits: Wen Qi. Taken on the day itself.
2) How has this changed since the first Chingay and why do you think this change happened?
The first Chingay's aim was to make up for the ban of firecrackers with its noise, gaiety and various contingents.
The first change I observed were the multi racial performances involved, since there were a Malay Tambourine contingent formed completely of volunteers pre-parade and the very first contingent featured performers donning costumes from different races and two singers leading the audience to sing some kind of Chingay Song as well as stilt-walkers and acrobats. There was also this one contingent that featured two martial arts groups performing together.
Malay Tambourine Contingent
Performers donning costumes of different races
Two singers (one of them sings in Mandarin and the other in English) and two drummers on sky stage.
Contingent with two martial arts groups performing together.
In white is the Chinese martial art performers.
In black is the Malay martial art performers. The spotlight(green) is on a young Malay boy that will be mentioned later in the post.
Chingay has also expanded its scope to beyond Chinese New Year, since the organizors sought to celebrate the core values that late Minister Menthor Mr Lee Kuan Yew advocated and the hopes and dreams of Singaporeans of what Singapore will be in the next 50 years.
I also realized that there were some contingents formed of mainly students from secondary schools and even in contingents dominated by adults, I can still see one or two very young kids with them. One example was in the Malay Tambourine contingent when I noticed there was this extremely young boy among the tambourine players and the emcee mentioned that the youngest player in that contingent was 7 years old. Also worth mentioning is this very young boy (looks around 7-9 years old) performing in the a martial arts contingent.
I also observed that there were extremely old performers as well, such as these performers from overseas (emcees mentioned they were all old ladies) and this one old man on wheelchair in an Indian contingent dominated by adults.
Old ladies(mentioned by emcess) from Fujian, China in an IRO contingent.
Wheelchair bound old man (in green) in an Indian contingent.
This shows that throughout the years, Chingay performances has began to attract performers of different walks of life --- be it old or young, in whichever profession they may be. I also noticed that many of the motivators appear to be just a few years older than us, hence my assumption that they are students who've volunteered to be part of Chingay.
Motivators (those in yellow)
The motivator for our few rows (the guy in yellow without a cap) looks about to be just a few years older than us.
In my opinion, it is quite heartening to see these performers as this shows that not only the current working adult generation is playing their part through performances to keep the Chingay tradition alive, the younger generation also plays its part to ensure the continuation of the Chingay parade and through the participation of the older generation, its safe to conclude that the older generation are in the least, interested in Chingay Parade.
Japanese performers in a Japanese contingent.
Another thing I observed was the contingent of international visitors --- Japanese performers, the European performers and the Russian performers, the last two which were not present on that day. To me, this shows that the Chingay Parade has become something of cultural importance, not just in Singapore but perhaps overseas, since these performers would've seen some significance in this parade to be willing to participate in it, even more so as Singapore isnt their native country.
Why do these changes happen?
According to the official Chingay Website , Singapore took on a multicultural flavour in 1976. Since Singapore is a multi-racial society, I'd say that this is inevitable, since Chinese New Year's celebration is not exclusive to the Chinese, it's a celebration for everyone, regardless of their race.In fact, given Singapore's multi-racial society, its possible to celebrate such a big event without sparking controversy for not including other races.
In 1987, Chingay featured its first foreign group when Singapore's main English newspaper, the Straits Times, sponsored four pop singers from Tokyo. Since then, Chingay has extended invitations to international artistes and troupes.
In my opinion, this is the organizer's attempt to 'globalize' Chingay, so that it remains not only culturally important on a local scale, but hopefully has some significance on a global scale. Hopefully, this will encourage international troupes to perform since Chingay is touted the largest costume parade in South East Asia.
The participation of volunteers of wider demographics is bound to happen as the parade becomes more inclusive since the contingents will require more and more performers yet there is a limited supply of willing adults and they will have to inevitably tap into the young and elderly demographics to get them to participate as well.
3) Do you think the organizers have successfully fulfilled this purpose?
I believe that the organizers have fulfilled their purpose of documenting down Singaporeans' hopes of what SG100 will be like in the form of Sky Lanterns and light cubes(not present that day), both of which were decorated by members of the public.
The organizers have also fulfilled their purpose showcasing of what's uniquely Singaporean-- our multi-racial, multi-religious society shown through the diverse costumes they wore, the groups of different religions performing together in the IRO contingent and the diversity in the performers and volunteers imply that we are an inclusive society, since youths are empowered to volunteer (the motivators) and the elderly are not left out (highlighted above) with a hint of the international through the international troupes and contingents to imply that Singapore isnt an enclose society but one open and globalized to the world.
Through the PAssion contingent that showcased people from different hobby classes (Hip hop, beat boxing, parkour, pole-dancing, ballet,etc), it would appear to any outsider that Singaporeans do have an outlet that they can further develop their interests in.
Sky Lanterns (lit up)
As such, I firmly believe that the organizers have fulfilled their purpose to celebrate Chinese New Year-- Singapore-style while looking forward to what is to come in the next 50 years.Picture credits: Wen Qi. Taken on the day itself.
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