The Chap Goh Meh Celebration, also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day celebration hosted by the state government on Monday night, was a definite crowd puller as the event saw a tremendous turnout of a sea of 40,000 locals and tourists who packed the field and the streets at the Esplanade.

The event saw an array of activities and performances which were held in full swing to reveal a night of cultural enchantment. Much to the delight of many tourists who were out on the town that night, Nyonya ladies guided their moves in a mass joget with the Dondang Sayang performers, followed by the throwing of mandarin oranges into the sea by the Miss Pesta finalists and local maidens in search for their soulmate, a long tradition which was started by the Baba Nyonya community.

Without a shortage of entertainment, the other performances to get the festive night going were a dragon dance, an Indian dance performance, a boria sketch, a Teochew opera performance and an Ox dance which one can only see during the Year of the Ox. The night ended with a colourful display of fireworks to mark the last day of the Chinese New Year that night.

Without a doubt , the high point of the night was embazzled by world lion dance champion Kun Seng Keng Lion and Dragon Dance Association from Muar, Johor, which kept the audience in batted breath suspense as the lions leaped around in kung-fu stances on the three metre high stilts.

What was more, the spectators were not left with drawn breaths for long and instead burst into chuckles as the lions' performance turned into a courting scene which left the crowd clapping and cheering with each stunt.

This year's Chap Goh Meh celebration was announced to be by far the grandest compared to the ones which were organized throughout the previous years.