The Gate for Singapore's Hong Bao
Friday night, I took a quick run to Singapore's Chinese New Year Celebration.
Despite the fact that this is my year - the year of the Tiger, I was disappointed in the 'new and improved' Hong Bao.
What used to be a funky, crowded, and intimate festival crammed into the corners of a riverside park is now a large, soulless cattle herd. They took the celebration out of a green park, and put it on a floating barge. It's basically a parking lot filled with decorations.
This is a clear example of a new plan being implemented that 'fixes' the old problems without stopping to ask what was working at the old location. And that's unfortunate.
Regardless, people were happy - largely because Chinese New Year isn't really about floats, lanterns, fireworks, or parade. It's about family.
So, Happy Chinese New Year to you and yours.
