Reflection on Chingay parade- Heng Yun Tat

I feel that the chingay parade was a splendid and amazing one. It not only brings the Chinese New Year mood but also promote multinational society. The official theme for Chingay Parade 2016 is “Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore” As the theme suggests, Chingay 2016 will be the brightest ever with the biggest full-scale illuminated show. The theme is also inspired by the legacy of our Founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and the values embodied by our Pioneers such as Racial Harmony and Social Cohesion, Caring Community, Resilience as a Nation, Can-Do Singapore Spirit and Uphold high moral values. All these values are what our founding father mr Lee want to inculcate in every Singaporean , to carry on his legacy . This made me interested to find out about the history of chingay parade .On 4 February 1973, the first Singapore Chingay parade was held partly as a result of the ban on firecrakers a year earlier in 1972 as a result of fire hazards. This ban was viewed unfavourably despite the safety issues involved. Some people felt that the ban would result in a much dampened festival mood for the Chinese New Year period. To address this issue, the People's association and the Singapore National pugilistic association, jointly  organised a street parade from Jalan besar  to Outram park featuring the signature floats, acrobatic acts, lion and dragon dances, stilt walkers, and the like, to bring back some cheer to the general public.The largely Chinese parade became a multi-cultural one from 1977 when Malay and Indian groups started joining in the performances, which was to mark a major precedent in the overall flavour of the parade into one which has become largely multi-cultural in character, despite the continued presence of traditional Chinese acts such as lion dances and stilt walkers to this day. After watching all these amazing performances performed by people from different races, coming together and putting up a grand performance together , I feel really proud to be a Singaporean, being able to have a multirational society , and the progress Singapore has made over these 50 years. As Singaporeans, we must uphold these values mr Lee and the pioneers embodied and promote racial harmony among each other to prevent misunderstanding of each other and confrontations from others so as to pass down mr lee's legacy.