A festive end to Chinese New Year

Chap Goh Meh celebration or Chinese Valentine’s is the festive end of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

At the Straits Quay promenade, it was celebrated with romance and hope in the air for a prosperous new year.

Keeping the Chinese tradition intact, 20 boxes of mandarin oranges were given out to shoppers in the early evening of the Chinese Valentine’s Day with single ladies penning their contact details on the fruits before tossing it into the water along the promenade.

The enthusiastic crowd let out loud cheers and whistles when eight men on a boat scooped up the tossed fruits and later called the phone numbers of eight lovely ladies.

As they hoped for a match ‘made in heaven’, these ‘couples’ also received exciting gifts from the mall.

Those who were no longer ‘available’ offered auspicious Chinese New Year wishes for their loved ones to usher in the Year of the Earth Dog.

The crowd were entertained to the Chinese New Year stage shows featuring the Eight Immortal Saints Drum Performance, Northern Lion Dance, Southern Lion Acrobatic Dance, Chingay Acrobatic Troupe and Dragon Dance Performance.

These performances drew round after round of ecstatic applause from the crowd.

Dragon’s Beard candy, a delicacy once savoured only by the Chinese Emperors, was handed out to the mall visitors throughout the night, signifying abundance and prosperity for the new year.