Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore (Zi Yuan)

I think that the purpose of Chingay is to let Singaporeans know about the values that our founding fathers believed in. The purpose of the first Chingay is to keep the spirit of Chinese New Year as firecrackers had just been banned. On 4 February 1973, the first Singapore Chingay parade was held partly as a result of the ban on firecrackers 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.
Now Chingay is no longer only a parade to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It has become a parade to entertain and educate people. The organisers have definitely fulfilled the purpose because the audience were all captivated by the performances and floats. We also learnt about the values that Singapore's founding fathers wanted to promote. Chingay has changed over the last 43 years from a small parade to a large-scale event that is aired all around the world.
Chingay became a multi-cultural parade 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.
Chingay became an international event in 1987 when a group from Japan participated for the first time with their float sponsored by The Straits Times.
Therefore, Chingay has been very successful and our founding fathers had great vision to be able to see that Chingay would be accepted by the Chinese over the ban of the firecrackers. From a small scale event for the Chinese to an international event for all races in Singapore, Chingay has definitely been a success. The purpose of Chingay has been fulfilled as Singaporeans have definitely known about the values that our founding fathers believed in.