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Chinese New Year in Lion city

You gonna see a series of posts in “red” cos Chinese New Year is coming soon and red is liberally used in all decorations! This year, the first day of of the first lunar month falls on 26 Jan.

Chinese homes are often decorated with paper cutouts (剪纸) of Chinese auspicious phrases and New Year’s couplets (春联) written on two strips of red papers, fresh flowers, plants and red lanterns that you can see here. Traditionally, lanterns are believed to scare away evil spirits while brightening the mood with the red glow of good luck.

In Chinese, “Fish” (鱼) and “abundant” (余) have the same pronunciation, so fish in the Chinese culture symbolizes wealth, like a popular Chinese phrase “年年有余” which means “may there be surpluses every year”. Fish also symbolize harmony, marital happiness and reproduction because they multiply rapidly.

The most popular fish motif found in Chinese art and culture is the Chinese carp or koi fish. The carp symbolizes strength and perseverance. Its scales and whiskers resemble that the dragon, a great symbol of power in China. Now, you can eat mango jelly koi! (Price tags shown in this post are in Singapore dollar.)

During Chinese New Year celebrations, families and friends make “new-year visits” (拜年) to one another’s homes. Every household keeps their tables topped up with sweet and savoury specialties to welcome relatives and friends with festive treats. With these irresistible temptations, it takes much discipline not to overeat and stay healthy!

“Today’s Special” – Buy pineapple tarts and get cashew nut or cappuccino cookies FREE! Read More »

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Mid-Autumn Festival (Part 2/2)

Get hooked on Mid-Autumn Festival (Part 1/2) first before you proceed!

You have seen Chinatown in the day. Mid-Autumn Festival Part 2/2 is about S.E.X in The City…

Freak not! It’s Mid-Autumn Festival story telling time! Read More »

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Mid-Autumn Festival (Part 1/2)

Tonight, the moon is at its fullest and brightest for 2008. It’s Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节), a day that falls on the 15th of the 8th Chinese lunar month for celebration of togetherness and abundance. The festival is also known as Lantern or Mooncake festival as you will see beautifully lit lanterns everywhere, and Chinese families and friends eating mooncakes (月饼) together while appreciating the bright full moon.

Oh man, these are really fierce “Power Rangers” lanterns with vampire fangs! The Ultraman lanterns are cuter!


Traditionally, Chinese lanterns are made of paper and lit by candle light. When we were young, we loved to play with fire, lighting many candles along the pathways. Due to fire safety reason, nowadays, children usually carry battery operated lanterns for fun during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Many battery operated lanterns play music too!

Can you spot the “Powerpuff girls” and “Stitch” lanterns?

This roaster design lantern is one that is lit by candle light. I like this kind of translucent plastic material for lanterns.

Pomelos are also eaten on this day. And mini yams too!

The mooncake market is fiercely competitive; bakers always come up with new mooncake receipes. There are ice-cream mooncakes, jelly mooncakes, mooncakes filled with champagne, etc. These pictures were taken from the mooncake bazaar at Vivo City.

Not only the mooncakes should taste good, they should be packaged nicely like a gift box too. While these lovely mooncake boxes are good for your eyes, you pay alot extra for that.

Sale of mooncakes packaged with Chinese teapots and tea leaves.

A mooncake is usually round or rectangular with thick filling of lotus seed paste surrounded by a thin soft crust. Some may contain salted duck eggs, just like those shown below. The green mooncake is one with snow skin (unbaked skin) and like the name suggests, it needs to be kept refrigerated!

Mooncakes come in different shapes, sizes, colours, fillings and flavours. Some non-traditional mooncakes (or are they really called mooncakes?) are agar agar filled with custard (just like the big round purple “mooncake”). These mooncakes are baked by my auntie. I’ve almost finished them while blogging, can’t resist the temptation while snapping this shot! My cholesterol level has skyrocketed!!

The traditional Chinese pastries below are for the celebration of Mid-Autumn Festival…

Beautifully hand painted lanterns by children.

Beijing Olympic mascot – FUWA!

Rows of lovely hand-painted lanterns hanging around the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple at Chinatown.

Oh ya! All of the above photos are taken from Singapore, mostly from Chinatown. Read Mid-Autumn Festival Part 2.

Read posts on Singapore Attractions | Chinatown.

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Hungry Ghost Festival is over!

I wanted to blog about Hungry Ghost Festival (中元节), but have been sitting on it for one whole month! Finally, on the last day of the Hungry Ghost Festival, we managed to take some interesting photos.

Gee, feel kinda funny to write something related to ghosts and spirits in the silence of the night. For the sake you, I shall blog on :S …

What is Hungry Ghost Festival? Hungry Ghost Festival is one of the major festivals in Chinese culture. It is a month-long festival celebrated on the 7th Lunar month and this year, it fell on 1st August. On that day, it is believed that the “Gates of Hell” are opened and the dead will return to the human world. During this period, many Chinese will try to AVOID moving in to a new house, getting married, staying out late etc.

The food on the table are offerings for the restless souls wandering around during the one-month long Hungry Ghost Festival. My friend told me his friend who is able to see “things” saw those spirits grabbing the food to eat during the 7th Lunar month. -_-” Read More »

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