Our thoughts onChingay 2014

‘colours of fabric, one people,布海同心’

What is Chingay

• Chingay is an annual street parade held in Singapore as part of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

• It was originally a religious festival with roots in China.

• The modern Chingay has evolved into a multi-cultural event including participants of diverse ethnicities and nationalities.

What does the theme mean to us?

Jean :I felt that the theme showed the united multi-racial spirit of the people in Singapore, therefore 'one people' to represent everyone. ' 布海同心‘ is that in the sea of fabric and different colours, it was the same heart, and the same spirit people have within them. Gabbie :I feel that the theme means that even though there are many different races of people in Singapore, we are very united.

What does the theme mean to us?

Petra :“Colours of fabric, one people” What it means to me is, different people coming together as one!

Yi Xiang :The theme signifies that Singapore is one country an there is hardly any disagreement between races and religion

What does the theme mean to us?

Kai Ming : The theme was colors of fabric, one people, 布海同心 . To me it means together as a whole, sharing a common spirit and being united.!

Chingay Parade Segments

• Grand opening of the parade. The song 'paint with one heart' was sang during the opening

• There was a group of 700 young girls dancing Chinese dance and a showcase of batik fabric that flowed through the parade with multicultural performers.

• The first segment represents Chinese which is a race in Singapore and batik fabric which is from the Malay.

• This shows that Singapore is a multiracial country and that differnet races can depend on each other.

Chingay Parade Segments

• There is also a First-time Singapore Getai "新加坡歌台 " with celebrity artistes Liu Ling Ling, Wang Lei, Lee Pei Fen and Rawi Hamin featured at the Parade.

• Community Puppetry Art with Huge Mobile Structures and Puppets. Vibrant Indian Bollywood-themed Performing Contingent. Malay Dance-off between traditional and modern contemporary Malay dances and many more!

• This shows the different races in Singapore featuring their own culture and dance.

Chingay Parade Segments

• PARADE FINALE PRESENTED BY 3,000 PERFORMERS INVOLVING TENS OF THOUSAND MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY

• Knit As One " 网织同心 "• 1,500 Pieces of Community-Knitted Tapestries• Presenting two 360 meter-long knitted art pieces that

exemplifies a closely-knit Singapore.• This represent the whole of Singapore joining as one

to help each other to complete the task given.

What I enjoyed about the parade!

Jean : I personally think that some of the performances were really eye-catching and fantastic, but of course there are some parts which was quite boring and lost the attention of people. Also, I couldn’t actually hear what the emcees were saying as the sounds were a bit too blaring and I could not catch his words. There were also many cool stuff in the pack that was given to us, such as pom poms and a skarf. I think the seats were a bit too small and may be quite uncomfortable for some people,and the walkways were also really narrow so some people had trouble getting out.

What I enjoyed about the parade!

Gabbie : I enjoyed the atmosphere of the Chingay parade. Most of the people was actively participating and cheering so it got me really excited too so i started cheering and screaming too and the performances were really interesting especially since i have not seen fire crackers before i was really absorbed in that performance and there was fire blowing thing too so i was really absorbed in the performance. But during the parade i couldn't hear what the speaker was saying on the microphone as everyone were really loud so i didn't know what was going on so they can improve on that..

What I enjoyed about the parade!

Petra :I enjoyed the whole program! But the thing I enjoyed most would be the ending part, where they broadcast some of the trendy music through their sound system and everyone was going crazy singing along and shaking their pom poms to the beat of the song! I really enjoyed that as, one of my favorite songs were played, and it was just full of joyous spirit and happiness! Another thing I enjoyed was witnessing the different segments pass through in all different various colors and performing various stunts! It was very eye catching and entertaining! I personally think Chingay was very well planned and carried out and its perfect so I do not think there are areas to improve on!

What I enjoyed about the parade!

Yi Xiang : I enjoy the fact that the parade was held in an open shelter and could feel the wind blowing and it was not hot at all. The parade was also very vibrant and colourful which is appropriate for the theme of the parade. The parade was also very organised and there were no pauses in between each transition. The improvements to be made are that when we were moving to our sitting area, it was very crowded and disorganised. It was not planned properly and there was literally a human traffic jam. I also dislike the fact that the goodie bags has too less food to fill our stomach as the parade was to late at night.

What I enjoyed about the parade!

Kaiming :I really enjoyed how the hosts interacted with the audience and how the audience was very supportive of the whole show and sang along to the various songs. I liked how they incorporated many different songs from different races into the chingay performance. I think the committee can improve on the fact that the confetti weren't spread out evenly. They can also get the audience hyped up by getting people to stand near the audience and making them cheer along.

Personal thoughts!

Jean :It was my first time at the Chingay parade and I really got to feel what the atmosphere is like over there. Overall, I enjoyed this learning journey very much, it was really interesting, fascinating and a great eye-opening memorable experience for me! I hope that the school could organise more learning journeys like this!

Personal thoughts!

Gabbie :My personal thoughts are that the audience should spare a thought for others as they were really inconsiderate as the school behind us was throwing litter down at us and their pom poms were hitting our heads all the time so halfway through my mood was ruined by them but it was also fun as the class sitting in front of us had really funny people so it lifted my mood a little. So overall i still feel that this learning journey was great as i dont think i would ever get a chance to go to a Chingay parade

Personal thoughts!

Petra :It was my first time at Chingay and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I think it was also it good opportunity to bond further with classmates and experience our first chingay together! And also taking countless of selfies together! It also gives us time off our busy and hectic schedule to relax a bit! But despite all the fun experiences, there were also down sides! There were a bunch of students behind who supposedly got too hyped over the performance and were shaking their pompoms vigorously to the point that it kept brushing across the back of my head, which irritated me a lot, I had to bend forward to avoid the uncomfortable edges of the pompom touching my head. But other than that it was great!

Personal thoughts!

YiXiang :It was very fun and I learnt a lot of things. It was my first time attending the parade and I experience a lot of new things at first hand. The theme was also well chosen as it represent Singapore. I also got to bond with my classmates as we sit through the parade. Our friendship grew as we spent more time with each other. The parade was colourful and the organiser of Chingay did not hesitate to use the fireworks even though it was expensive. I also could feel the effort put in by the performers. I enjoyed the trip very much and hope that the school will organise more of these stuff for us.

Personal thoughts!

Kaiming :I feel this learning journey is a great success and definitely a memorable experience as it let our class and cohort bond together and also let us get to know more about other things outside of school curriculum. We also got stress relief by partying instead of studying.

Thank you for your Kind Attention! Done By : Jean Low Petra Ng Gabbie Er Chiew Yi Xiang Ng Kai Ming

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