River Hongbao 2018: Is the Essence of Chinese New Year Evolving, Dying, or Here to Stay?

Chinese New Year, a celebration close to the hearts of many Singaporean Chinese, is celebrated with much grandiosity and fanfare. However, there have been concerns that this tradition no longer holds the same meaning to all.

Our featurette focuses on the evolution of Chinese culture and Chinese New Year traditions, as globalisation brings forth a fusion of cultures that influence how Chinese New Year is celebrated today. In order to find out more about the situation in Singapore, our team (Pawsperous Productions) headed down to the largest Chinese New Year festival in Singapore, River Hongbao 2018, to interview event-goers of different ages.  

At the event, we interviewed 4 teenagers, a middle aged lady, and 4 dancers who participated in the River Hongbao performance.  They provided us with different perspectives of Chinese New Year – highlighting the different Chinese New Year traditions that various age groups practice.

Interviewing the participants of River Hongbao

To find out more about the forces behind the evolving Chinese culture in SIngapore, we spoke to Associate Professor Shen Rui Qing. As a well-learned Chinese Studies Professor, he shared with us interesting insights.

We shot the video with the camera Panasonic Lumix GH4, and Zoom H5 was used to record the audio. Initially, audio was a concern, as River Hongbao is a large-scale festival that includes loud music, and many performances were going on as we were holding out interviews. However, much to our surprise, the background noise was not too distracting, and the interviewees were audible.

Capturing vibrant fireworks for our B-roll

Overall, our group had fun shooting the B-rolls, as the festival gave us vibrant and colourful footage. Being millennials ourselves, it was an eye-opening experience as we learnt that youths still care about Chinese New Year, albeit in a different way.

Due to it being our only day of filming at the River Hongbao, we had to go through extreme lengths to get the perfect shot. As the saying goes, “no risk, no reward”, so here is a photo of  Aloysius risking his life for a better view of the parade, because at the end of the day, Pawsperous Productions aims to provide quality content! ☺

Aloysius climbing onto the railings to capture the perfect shot

Signing off,
Group 5