I’ve grown up watching Chingay as a parade filled with colourful floats and vibrant dances. The past two years of digital and hybrid parades didn’t fully reflect the multi-cultural, generational and ethnic festivities from the past. The good news is that Chingay parade is back this year as a physical event to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit!
Dubbed Singapore’s largest community arts showcase, Chingay 2023 will involve 10,000 residents, artists and arts groups as well as 3,000 performers. It will also mark the return of big floats alongside the mini community floats.
Here’s what you can expect from the live event on 3 and 4 February, from 8pm each night at the F1 Pit Building.
Chingay Parade Weekend
#1 Embracing Tomorrow
Embrace Tomorrow is this year’s theme. It completes the trilogy that began with Light of Hope in 2021, followed by Ignite Our Dreams in 2022. Singaporeans are invited to embrace the future with hope, dreams and confidence together as a community.
#2 Container art installation
The Chingay parade will happen against a large-scale art installation. Comprising 28 huge containers, it spans over 60 metres and reaches 18 metres high. Conceptualised by artist Sam Lo, it’s a collaborative effort between eight local artists and 480 youths and members of the public.
These young people will spray-paint the containers to express their vision of Embrace Tomorrow, incorporating Singapore’s multicultural heritage with iconic Chinese New Year and Chingay elements such as cultural motifs, costumes and props.
#3 Chingay Mini Floats
Launched in 2022, this segment features 17 floats created by residents, grassroots organisations and community partners.
#4 Winning talent performances
Look out for the performances by the Chingay Community Star 2023 of We’ve Got Talent (WGT) and the winning dance groups of the Dynamic: Diversity (D:2) Dance Competition 2023.
WGT consists of original one-minute videos of residents showcasing their talents while D:2 features performances that fuse Singapore’s local dance cultures with the dancers’ own dance genres and styles.
#5 Watch the Chingay parade anywhere
If you’re unable to make it to the F1 Pit Building, the parade is being live streamed on Facebook, YouTube and the Chingay website.
Want to relive Chinese New Year festivities by watching the parade again? There’s a delayed telecast on 19 February and a repeat telecast on 26 February.
#6 Chingay 2023 in the heartlands
Residents in different residential estates can experience a snippet of the parade up close with Chingay@Heartlands. A selection of the floats and performances will continue in Singapore’s heartlands on different dates.
- East Coast GRC: 11 February, 6-9.30pm
- Tampines GRC: 12 February, 6-9.30pm
- Choa Chu Kang GRC: 25 February, 6-9.30pm
- Ang Mo Kio GRC: 26 February, 6-9.30pm
- Nee Soon GRC: 4 March, 6-9.30pm
- Tanjong Pagar GRC: 5 March, 6-9.30pm
Post-parade events
The festivities of Chingay 2023 continue at the F1 Pit Building from 5 to 9 February. You can head there to experience the following programmes.
#1 Chingay 2023 Container Art Installation
Besides the main performance backdrop in this installation, there will also be the Rabbits ART-Venture. This work is made up of cardboard Chingay Rabbits in various sizes and decorated creatively by over 2000 students from eight schools and institutions – Singapore Polytechnic, ITE College East, Yuhua Secondary School, Boon Lay Primary School, New Town Primary School, Xingnan Primary School, Zhangde Primary School and Yuvabharathi International School Singapore.
#2 Floats by the community
Loved seeing the main floats as well as the mini-floats created by the community that were used in the Chingay parade? Here’s your chance to get close to them for some photos!
#3 Spot the Rabbit
When you’re here, spot the special Chingay 2023 Rabbits hidden around the art installations to win prizes. There are four rabbits in total! To help you spot them, get clues from Chingay socials – Facebook @ChingayParadeSG, Instagram @chingayparadesg.
For a chance to win, take a photo or video with all the rabbits. Post your photo or video on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok and tag Chingay’s account and use the hashtag #SpotTheRabbit. Remember to set your profile to public.
Get tickets for Chingay 2023
Tickets for the parade range from $20 to $60 from Sistic. There’s a 20% discount for PAssion Card members.
Photos courtesy of The People’s Association.
Here’s more fun things to do in Singapore and tips on planning for a long weekend away.
