SINGAPORE – Visitors to the River Hongbao event in 2024 will take a walk down memory lane and be acquainted with how Chinatown looked during Chinese New Year (CNY) festivities in the 1970s.
They will have the opportunity to witness how stallholders prepared food at pushcarts and how letter writers sold chun lian (Chinese couplets) along the footpaths.
The exhibition, titled From Push Carts To Online Carts: Chinese New Year Markets Through Times, will run from Feb 8 to 17 at The Meadow at Gardens by the Bay, showcasing the evolution of CNY markets in Singapore from the 1950s to today.
Admission to River Hongbao 2024 is free.
The exhibition’s curator, Ms Lin Chia-Tsun from Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, told The Straits Times that the theme of CNY markets through the years appeals to Singaporeans of different ages, genders and races as most can relate to going shopping.
“We want to bring people back to this nostalgic feel of the old Chinese New Year markets in Chinatown, so we also recreated some of these food stalls that highlight the Chinese New Year goodies in the old Chinatown Chinese New Year market style,” said Ms Lin.
She added: “People can interact with the stores, take photos and at the same time get a sense of how the stalls looked in the past and get immersed in this feel of the old Chinatown Chinese New Year market.”
Visitors can try their hand at flipping cut-outs of bak kwa, learn how to fold their own hongbao (red packets) at a craft table, and vote on whether they prefer CNY markets or online shopping platforms.
This is the 12th year that Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall has put on an exhibition at River Hongbao. Previous editions showcased other facets of Chinese culture, such as the history of the lion dance in 2021 and mythical deities and creatures in 2022.
Students from Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Diploma in Chinese Studies course will also be on hand as tour guides, providing tours in English and Mandarin around the exhibition so that visitors can learn more about historical markets beyond Chinatown.
These include the Ellenborough Market, where Clarke Quay Central is today, and the Oriental Emporium department stores that sold imported goods from China in the 1960s.
Two of the student guides, Ms Tang Kai En, 18, and Ms Carol Lee, 19, said the experience helps them hone their public speaking skills while learning about how the markets have developed.
Ms Tang, whose tour covers the historical markets, said: “Every year, my family might go and visit the market, but I didn’t know the history behind it, what it used to look like, or what the stall owners used to face – the problems they used to have.”
She added: “After I researched and was in charge of the first section of the tour, it deepened my understanding of (CNY markets) and let me appreciate what we have now too.”
River Hongbao is organised by the Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations, Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, SPH Media’s Chinese Media Group, Singapore Tourism Board and People’s Association.
