taken from wiki........
The Chingay Parade is an annual street parade held in Singapore as
part of Chinese New Year festivities. The term Chingay itself
originated in Southeast Asia, particularly in Penang, Malaysia,
which is a phonetic equivalent of the Chinese words "zhuang yi",
which means "a decorated miniature stage" or float. Today, the
parade has evolved into a massive multi-cultural and international
event telecast live on television every year.
History
The Chingay Parade traces its origins to a float decorating
competition held in Penang in 1905. This practice of float
decoration spread to the rest of Malaya by the 1960s, and
eventually became associated with the Chinese New Year.
On 4 February 1973, the first Chingay parade was held in Singapore,
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.
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 till this day.
In 1985, the parade marched down Orchard Road for the first time, a
move which was to prevail for much of the parade's subsequent
history. Although the change could be attributed to the desire of
organisers in bringing it closer to tourists along the major
tourist belt and for ease of organisation on a relatively long and
straight stretch of road, it also further signified the
increasingly desinicized character of the parade. This is further
evidenced when in 1987, an international flavour was added to the
parade when a group from Japan participated for the first time with
their float sponsored by The Straits Times.
The Chingay Parade became an evening-to-night parade in 1990,
changing the overall feel of the parade towards one in which lights
and pyrotechnics dominate. In 2000, the parade was shifted out of
Orchard Road to the Civic District centering at City Hall, an area
steep in Singaporean history and culture. Construction works at the
City Hall area resulted in the parade marching through the streets
of the Chinatown district for the first time. Faced with limited
space for spectator stands and a much more complicated and winding
route in these locations, however, the parade moved back to Orchard
Road in 2004 along with an effort to introduce audience
participation and involvement in the traditionally passive parade.
Post-parade street parties, for example, have been held for the
2004, 2005 and 2006 editions of the parade.
