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I think that the purpose of Chingay is to commemorate the multi-racial country that Singapore is now and celebrate Singapore's first year of the next 50 years. Chingay 2016 is themed, "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore". Based on the theme, I also think that this parade is also about appreciating what we have now and what we could do in the future.

I had done a bit of research on the Internet and found out the origin of Chingay in Singapore. It was held partly because of the ban on fireworks as a result of fire hazard, this decision was met with criticism despite the safety issues involved. Some people feel that this will dampen the festive spirit during the Chinese New Year period. To satisfy the people, the People's Association and the Singapore National Pugilistic Association organized a street parade featuring the signature floats, lion and dragon dance, stilt walkers, etc to bring back the some of the festive moods.

It gradually became a multi-cultural street parade when the Malays and Indians started joining in the performance in 1977. Singapore is a multi-racial country so I think it might have been unfair that only Chinese performance were shown so the other races started to join in. In 1987 The international flavor was also added when Japanese also participated in the parade. The chingay parade became an evening-to-night parade in 1990, so lights and pyrotechnics are used to enhance the excitement in the air. In 2004, under some safety procedure, fireworks were let off during the chingay parade.

It was the first time I had been to a Chingay parade, even though it was just a rehearsal, it was very exciting. The atmosphere was electrifying, with the light shows and loud muaice and different types of performances, including the judo, the graceful ballet dancers, the elegant pole dancers and much more. There was two drummers who were on the sky stage for almost the entire parade, i had to admire their persistance because hanging in the air for about 2 hours, doing nothing except drumming occasionally must have been boring. If I were up there, I would probably start screaming. It was thrilling to see all those amazing performances.

Float representing the Indian race.

Float representing all races in Singapore

Float representing the Malay race

SG 100 is written on the float

In conclusion, I think the organizers did fulfill the purpose. There are different floats that represents the different races in Singapore, there are also dancers wearing traditional costumes and performing dances with different types of music, symbolizing a multi-cultural Singapore. On the a float, there were SG 100 written on it, meaning that Singapore is striving to be 100 years old. There were also bright and colorful light shows to represent a brighter Singapore