The Lion's Visit

On the 19th of February,  Taylor's Lakeside was graced with the presences of the Lion.

That's right, a troupe from the Shaolin Goh Chor school came to Taylor's and performed the Lion Dance in several shops around Taylor's Broadwalk

For those unknown to the topic at hand, Lion Dance is a traditional dance in Chinese Culture where a troupe from the Chinese martial art schools or Chinese association mimics the movement of a lion. The dance is accompanied by other members of the association or schools playing the drums and can be seen performing at houses and shops of the Chinese community to perform "Cai Qing", which literally means "plucking the green". This is an act where by the lion  pluck the green (green refers to vegetables, or in this case, lettuce), hung 5-10 feet in the air, strapped with a Red Envelope containing money. The lion 'eats' both the envelope and the green, and spits the green while keeping the envelope as a reward. The belief behind this dance is that the lion will dispel bad luck and misfortune, and bring prosperity and good wealth to the stores and houses.

And that is pretty much the sum of what I saw that day, but I'll go to a little bit more detail on that.

Well, the event opened with a bang (or more of a clash), the drums beating and cymbals clashing together in front of Old Town White Coffee. The sound could be heard from across the campus (which is where I was at that moment). Making my way, I witnessed a whole group of students gathering around the cafe and people dressed in yellow and red, with the words "Shaolin Goh Chor" on the back of their shirts. I entered the cafe, passing by customers already deciding to leave so they won't get in the way of the dance, and saw the lion dancers inside, one moving around the cafe and into the kitchen, while another greets the cafe staff.

The Lion bows

Afterwards, the owners of the shop presented red envelopes to the two performers. The lions accepted their reward and made their way to the entrance of Old Town, where the position themselves to "pluck the green".

The performance ends with one of the lion chewing lettuce and spitting it out, accompanied by the other lion dancing behind it, and the beating and clashing of the instruments going faster and faster, then, it halts. The dancers took off their lion costume and were greeted by an applause from the witnessing crowd.

The troupe made their way to several other locations before leaving the campus.

Mekong House

Mbuji

ReCezz

Visited our Residences as well!!

I got a chance to speak with the organizer of the event, David Lau, who is also our Senior Executive in Advertising & Promotion. Apparently, this is the first time the Lion Dance was performed at Taylor's Lakeside and the troupe's first time in Taylor's. I asked whether the troupe also performed at the Chinese New Year Event in Pavilion as well. Lau replied that there are other groups from the same martial arts school who performs as well. "But this group is told to be the best among all" Lau continued.

I lucky enough to catch up with one of the performers as well, asking how was their first time in Taylor's. "Grand" was all I could get from one Ng Yi Jie, who performed as the "head" of the lion and at times on the drums.