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Chinatown adorned with over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival

Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (Photo: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)
Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (Photo: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)

The season of colourful lanterns and mooncakes is here. From 23 September to 19 October, Chinatown will be adorned with over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns to mark the Mid-Autumn Festival, which takes place on 4 October.

Visitors to Chinatown can look out for the lanterns, designed by craftsmen from China and students from the Nanyang School of Fine Arts (NAFA), along Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and South Bridge Road. The lanterns will light up each day when night falls.

Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (Photo: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)
Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (Photo: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)

“The Chinatown Festivals play an integral role in preserving and passing on our Chinese traditions and customs. For this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival, we hope to evoke fond memories for Singaporeans by recreating Singapore’s traditional lanterns popular in the 60s to 80s, and give overseas visitors a wonderful glimpse of our traditional lanterns commonly seen in the past during the Mid-Autumn Festival,” said Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng MP Lily Neo in a press release.

She is the adviser to Jalan Besar GRC Grassroots Organisation (Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng), whose consultative committee are the organisers of this year’s Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival. The event is co-organised by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB).

Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (PHOTO: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)
Over 1,000 handcrafted lanterns adorn Chinatown for Mid-Autumn Festival (PHOTO: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng Citizens’ Consultative Committee)

This year’s lanterns are reminiscent of the traditional cellophane paper lanterns that are typically made by tightly wrapping cellophane paper over a wire frame or bamboo strips into various animal shapes such as rabbits, dragons, roosters and fish.

Several other festivities happening in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn Festival include the annual Festive Street Bazaar, Nightly Stage Shows and a Mass Lantern Walk.

Here’s a short clip of the lanterns lighting up Chinatown at night:

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