Tourist Attractions at River Hongbao 2014

The main attractions at the River Hongbao Fair 2014 are the colorful, creatively designed lantern displays at Marina Bay.  An annual event and tourist attractions not to be missed by Singaporeans, foreign visitors and tourists in groups from all over the world.

According to the United Nation World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), it is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

The Tourism Special Event will be structured in the form of short forwarding-thinking presentations by the UN agencies followed by an interactive roundtable discussion to address tourism’s potential for development in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and the range of technical assistance services that follow these main themes:

    Building good governance and sustainability in tourism development;
    Promoting domestic and foreign investment for sustainable tourism development;
    Fostering poverty reduction through linkages between the tourism sector and local suppliers of goods and
    services; and
    Supporting human resource development through improved education, training and decent work,
    including related capacity building, in the tourism sector.

Every country, big or small, are engaged in tourist promotion to welcome visitors to our countries.  "No man is an island" to promote tourism as a global city, not to be an isolated island or covered with iron curtains.

The development of the infrastructure for land, air and sea; public transportation, communications and other amenities are not intended only for tourism.  Our citizens would also benefit from the arrival of international tourists and travellers whether in tour groups or backpack for sight-seeing, to learn from knowledge, education or our multi-racial culture, foodage or heritage which are not found in their own countries.  Singaporeans have also travelled to foreign countries to learn from them as long as they are suitable for the mutual benefit of a better Singapore and other countries.

The River Hongbao Fair's booth was displayed with information and photographs for Chinese Singaporeans' customs and festivals (新加坡华人礼俗节).  This would help non-Chinese visitors to understand and learn the knowledge of Chinese culture and the integration of our multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society in Singapore; to promote harmony for peace and prosperity in our nation.
 

This gentleman in the photo was using a professional video camera to capture the fun-filled events for this year's River Hongbao Fair.

The much anticipated larger-than-life lanterns will light up the Floating Platform @ Marina Bay. These lanterns are specially hand-crafted on-site by craftsmen from the Sichuan province and will showcase familiar characters including the 18 m tall God of Fortune, legendary heroes from “The Three Kingdoms” (Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Liu Bei) as well as the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac.

Performances by Yunnan Opera Theatre

Yunnan, a province situated at the crossroads of China, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, is renowned for its rich cultural heritage, stemming from more than 20 minority nationalities.

This year, River Hongbao will be partnering with the highly acclaimed Yunnan Opera Theatre (云南滇剧院) to showcase performances by Yunnan’s ethnic tribes, including the Yi and Dai Tribe. The Yunnan Opera Theatre has won numerous awards across China, including the prestigious Plum Blossom Awards (中国戏剧梅花奖). It has also performed in Thailand, Vietnam and Japan.

Thanks to my blogger friend, James Tann , a businessman who produced several excellent videos and uploaded to YouTube for sharing.  I would like to express my appreciation to James Tann for his consent to link the "River Hongbao 2014" video on this blog for all of us to watch and enjoy.



"On the Waterfront" present beautiful "live" music by "Deljia with B5 Brass"

1-month-old toddler in the following photos with his Grandma and Grandpa to appreciate the soothing and melodious instrumental music performed for the audience free of charge.

A gentle reminder that the River Hongbao Fair ends on 8 February 2014.  This unique annual event in Singapore to coincide with the Lunar New Year of the Horse.   恭喜发财，万事如意!