President Halimah Yacob attends mid-autumn festival light up in Chinatown

President Halimah Yacob at the official light-up and opening ceremony of this year's Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

SINGAPORE - President Halimah Yacob joined Singaporeans in Chinatown on Saturday (Sept 23) for the official light-up and opening ceremony of this year's Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival.

The festival opened with stage performances with a storyline set in 1960s Singapore, which inluded aerial acrobatics, wushu and dragon dance performances, and cultural songs.

There were also multicultural performances by various racial and cultural communities.

More than 1,000 handcrafted lanterns were lit up and will decorate Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road and South Bridge Road until October 19.

They are inspired by the traditional lanterns popular here in the 1960s to 1980s, which were made by wrapping cellophane paper over a wire frame or bamboo strips bent into various shapes.

Also at the event were Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim, Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Heng Chee How, and Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo.

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