A delightful home, a playground, a dynamic place to work, Marina Bay is envisioned to be a thriving place in Singapore where people from all walks of life come together to explore, exchange and entertain. As the Chinese festival of the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, how do people celebrate this traditional festival at Marina Bay?
During the second weekend of the month of September 2011, Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations at Marina Bay brought families and friends together to share special moments. Many of the festive activities were held at the Marina Bay City Gallery. These activities include Chinese calligraphy demonstration, Taiji performance, free balloon sculptures give-away, lantern walkabout and more.
A special guest named Walter, the curious colossal bunny, appeared at the Marina Bay City Gallery. Walter appeared to be adored by people of every age, both the young and the old. The charming Walter seemed to draw out its admirers' creativity.
I was at the Marina Bay City Gallery to participate in the Mid-Autumn Festival events on 10 September 2011. I saw visitors to the gallery having fun taking photographs of the balloon sculptures of Walter with various exhibits and displays at the gallery.
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| Walters with orchids. |
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| Walter at Marina Bay. |
Visitors to the Marina Bay City Gallery enjoy free guided tours that enable them to better appreciate the vision and plans behind Marina Bay. After the tour of and the visit to the Marina Bay City Gallery, I could not help but feel thankful for the visionary and thoughtful urban planning that has been put in to make the Marina Bay development possible.
One of the activities of the Mid-Autumn celebration at Marina Bay that had captivated my interest was the Chinese calligraphy demonstration. I personally find it an art to master Chinese calligraphy. The Chinese calligraphy master who was giving the demonstration on 10 September 2011 gave the visitors a pretty good introduction to Chinese calligraphy. I have learnt how the seals were used. I have also learnt a bit more about how a single word in Chinese could embrace many profound meanings.
The most exciting part of the celebrations was the Marina Bay Waterfront Walking Tour held on 10 September 2011. A picture says a thousand words so here is a snapshot of one of the lanterns that were carried by the participants.
When I had thought that the lantern walking tour was the climax of the celebration, I was happy to be proven wrong. When the tour led the group to Marina Bay Sands, we were treated to "Wonder Full". Wonder Full is Southeast Asia's largest light and water show. The use of electric light and lasers in this show provided visual entertainment. For more information of Wonder Full, please visit: http://www.marinabaysands.com/Singapore-Attractions/WonderFull/
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| This beautiful and dream-like photograph of Wonder Full is contributed by Ms Belinda Tan. |
With a thoughtful team working to make Marina Bay a place to live, work and play, Marina Bay is gradually becoming a place where people will go to to embrace modern living as well as to celebrate traditional festivals.
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Marina Bay City Gallery
11 Marina Boulevard
Singapore 018940
Opening hours:
Tuesday - Friday*: 10:00am to 8:00pm
Saturday, Sunday, Public Holiday: 10:00am to 9:00pm
Free Admission
For more Marina Bay related events, please visit the following sites for more information:
Walter, adventures of a curious colossal bunny (1 - 30 Sep 2011): http://www.marina-bay.sg/walter/activities.html
Marina Bay events: http://www.marina-bay.sg/
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Acknowledgements:
Special thanks to Marina Bay Singapore, Urban Redevelopment Authority for the invitation. Many thanks to Belinda Tan for facilitating the linking up.
About Mid-Autumn Festival:
Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar. It is a popular harvest festival celebrated by the Chinese. To read about Mid-Autumn Festival, please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/Festivals/78311.htm
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