{"id":74068,"date":"2026-08-04T07:47:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74068"},"modified":"2026-08-04T07:47:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T23:47:05","slug":"why-singapores-record-breaking-giant-fire-dragon-goes-up-in-smoke-every-3-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=74068","title":{"rendered":"Why Singapore\u2019s record-breaking giant fire dragon goes up in smoke every 3 years"},"content":{"rendered":"


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In Singapore, reverence for the mightiest celestial beast in Chinese culture finds its most vibrant expression in the dragon dance.<\/p>\n

Chasing the \u201cpearl of wisdom\u201d to the thunderous beat of percussion, the dragon has symbolised clement weather and bountiful harvests since the Han dynasty (206BC-AD220). Today, it remains central to Lunar New Year celebrations and blessings for new beginnings.<\/p>\n

Among its most distinctive local evolutions is the Fire Dragon Dance of Sar Kong Mun San Fook Tuck Chee, a tradition with roots in mainland China\u2019s Guangdong province and 1880s Hong Kong<\/span> that arrived in Singapore in the 1980s. Chee is Chinese for temple and Sar Kong refers to the community living around the temple.<\/div>\n

The temple\u2019s fire dragon appears during celebrations, cultural events and significant lunar observances, its body illuminated by thousands of glowing joss sticks that burn away while the rattan and bamboo frame remains intact for future performances. In March, it entered the Singapore Book of Records as the longest of its kind, at 72.5 metres (237ft).<\/p>\n

It also appears at other temples; for example, the fire dragon performance is a highlight of the annual Nine Emperor Gods Festival at Leong Nam Temple, which falls between October 9 and 18 this year.<\/p>\n

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\"Fire<\/div>
Fire billows during a performance of the Sar Kong Mun San Fook Tuck Chee Fire Dragon Dance in 2025. Photo: Ivan Fu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Sacrifice and rebirth<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n


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In Singapore, reverence for the mightiest celestial beast in Chinese culture finds its most vibrant expression in the dragon dance. Chasing the \u201cpearl of wisdom\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2539,202,2901,15388,209,4485,59],"class_list":["post-74068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-dragon","tag-fire","tag-giant","tag-recordbreaking","tag-singapores","tag-smoke","tag-years","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=74068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/74069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=74068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=74068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=74068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}