Singapore gearing up for Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year is a major highlight in Singapore. Festivities start early in the city, attracting Singaporeans of various ethnic backgrounds and tourists from all over the world.

You don't need to be a Chinese to know who the God of Fortune is. Whether you are Chinese or Malay or Indian, everybody wants a piece of prosperity in the new year. Multi-cultural Singaporeans are no strangers to red lanterns, new year hong-baos, and lion dances.

At the Chinatown Chinese New Year Celebrations 2013 Official Light-up and Opening Ceremony, Singaporeans from different ethnic backgrounds and visitors from all over the world gathered and soaked themselves in a sea of Chinese red and festive mood.

"I buy many things and celebrate with my families."

"We come from england. wonderful. wouldn't miss it. it's great to be here."

"We usually come to chinatown markets and eat cookies."

"We are from Australia. we have a lot of asian (chinese) friends, so we celebrate with them."

"I will start my new year shopping tomorrow. buy sweets and tangerines, those are must buys."

Miro Lu said:"There is no better place than Chinatown when it comes to celebrating Chinese New Year. From its official light-up on January 18th till March 11th, a host of Chinese New Year celebrations will take place right here. Hundreds of stalls will set up here selling food and festival goodies. And bear in mind, this is the only place in Singapore where you can see fireworks and firecrackers. So this is truly the place to be to see, to savor and to smell the spirit of Chinese New Year."

During the festival period, Chinatown will showcase an exciting, colorful and vibrant program over 53 days. With over 500 festival stalls, Chinatown Festival Bazaar and Festival Carnival will be the ideal one-stop destination for festive goodies shopping. There will also be nightly stage shows to promote the rich traditions of Lunar New Year and spread the festive cheer to all.

Lily Neo, grassroots adviser, said:"Chinese new year is definitely very important in our Singapore calendar. That's why we are doing this festival in Chinatown in a very big way. We've been doing it in the last 12 years and this year is no difference. For the three weeks of festival, we are expecting more than 2 million Singaporeans and visitors to come down to Chinatown to celebrate with us for this festival."

The 108-meter-long snake-like structure is now lit up and signifies the beginning of the festive period. The designers came up with the idea of linking cube lanterns together, which symbolizes traditions being passed from one generation to the next.