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The annual Chinese New Year Festival, River Hongbao (RHB), will return at Gardens by the Bay this year.

Taking place from Jan. 20 to 28, the hybrid event will have a mix of physical and virtual activities to participate in.

Free walk-in entry

According to a press release from RHB, this year's event will be accommodating more people this year due to the easing of Covid measures.

Unlike previous years, visitors can now walk into the free event without pre-booking tickets online.

More than 100 volunteers and auxiliary police officers will be deployed for crowd control management.

RHB 2023 features an array of physical and virtual activities lined up for families to enjoy.

Physical activities

There will be 30 large-scale lantern displays scattered throughout the garden this year.

Visitors can expect to see iconic Chinese deities such as the God of Fortune and the 12 zodiac animals.

To celebrate the year of the rabbit, the floral display Dahlia Dreams at Gardens by the Bay's Flower Dome will feature over 100 rabbit figurines.

It will also have a six-metre-long lantern set of a magnolia tree shaped after the Chinese character for "rabbit", 兔.

Greetings and Blessings: Chinese New Year Cards Then and Now​

Besides these displays, visitors can take a trip down memory lane by visiting the event's Greetings and Blessings exhibition.

This exhibition showcases Chinese New Year cards mainly from the 1950s to the 1970s in Singapore and is curated by the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall.

River Hongbao Wishing Heart

Visitors can also offer blessings or make wishes by tossing coins at the Bells of Blessings.

All proceeds from the blessings will go to charity.

Live performances

You can also enjoy live performances by local talents on different themed nights.

This includes Getai Night, Xinyao Night, and Singapore Talent Night.

Here are the performance timeslots:

Amusement rides

Families with children can also look forward to amusement rides.

According to RHB's website, this includes a double-storey carousel, a giant inflatable playground, and bumper car rides.

Food Street

If you're feeling peckish, you'll be able to feast on famous Singaporean and Taiwanese roadside cuisine at the event's very own Food Street.

Here is a map of the RHB event grounds:

Virtual activities

The Greetings and Blessings exhibition is also available as a virtual 360-degree exhibition on the RHB website.

This is where visitors can immerse themselves in a fun interactive game related to the exhibition.

For those looking to glean some Chinese New Year knowledge, there will also be educational programs, such as fengshui tips for your homes and zodiac predictions in 2023 available on Facebook Live and TikTok respectively.

There are also contests and quizzes across Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook, and the RHB website, where a total of S$5,000 worth of prizes is to be won.

River Hongbao 2023

Where: 18 Marina Gardens Dr, Singapore 018953

When: From Jan. 20 to 28, 2023

• Jan. 20, 6:30pm to 10:30pm
• Jan. 21, 6:30pm to 12:15 am
• Jan. 22 to 28, 2:30pm to 10:30pm

For more information on RHB 2023, click here.

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