Singapore is one of the world's great cities any time of year.

The financial hub of Southeast Asia, the island state at the tip of the Malay Peninsula radiates New York-style energy in a tropical setting. A veritable United Nations, Singapore celebrates its dominant cultures with holiday festivities that rival any in the world. Revelers flock to Orchard Road for the annual Christmas "light-up," to Little India for Deepavali, the Indian festival of lights, and to Kampong Glam for Eid ul-Fitr, the finale of Ramadan. But in Singapore, where 76 percent of the population is Chinese, Chinese New Year is the holiday of holidays.

During the "festive season," as Singaporeans call the weeks surrounding Chinese New Year, I discovered a celebration that transforms family traditions and religious observances into a citywide public holiday, infusing Singapore with a carnival-like atmosphere quite unlike the sophisticated, businesslike face Singapore usually presents to the world.

Along the way, I tasted yu sheng, a Singaporean delicacy whose every ingredient symbolizes wealth or good fortune; scoured Chinatown's bustling New Year's night market for auspicious fruits, clothes, sweets and plants; and encountered the God of Fortune at the city's riverside Hong Bao festival. As I watched the New Year's fireworks, I realized that almost every New Year's custom is a palpable wish for prosperity — not really a surprise in a country that bootstrapped itself from Third World conditions into a successful modern country in just one generation.

SINGAPORE IS ABOUT FOOD, SHOPPING, HISTORY, CULTURE

What to do in Singapore during the Chinese New Year festivities? Here are some ideas:

SAMPLE YU SHENG

Like many things in Singapore, yu sheng, a raw-fish salad, is an artful blend of tradition and commerce. Allegedly invented by restaurant chefs in the 1950s, '60s or '70s, depending on what you read, the dish takes traditional Chinese New Year specialties and mixes them into a culinary creation unique to Singapore. I tried it at the Silk Road restaurant in the Amara Singapore hotel on the fringe of Chinatown.

The yu sheng platter came to the table perfectly composed with piles of grated vegetables, candied melon and lime, red and white pickled ginger, shredded pomelo, sesame seeds and julienne jellyfish. The waiter, with great ceremony, added plates of raw fish (yu) for abundance, chopped peanuts for a house full of gold and silver, coin-shaped crackers for wealth, lemon for a fruitful year, plum sauce for a sweet year, and salad oil for a smooth year glistening with wealth. With each addition, he called out a phrase wishing us prosperity, abundance and good luck, even piles of gold at our feet. When the waiter finished, it was our turn. Brandishing chopsticks, we stood up and shouted "lo hei," the customary toast to "stir up life," as we tossed the salad high. It was crunchy, sweet and delicious.

SHOP THE NIGHT MARKET

During the weeks leading up to Chinese New Year, more than 500 street vendors line Pagoda, Temple, Trengganu, Sago and Smith streets, hawking everything from delicacies to knick-knacks to usher in a lucky year. As my Singaporean friend Sharon Ho explained, "Everything for the new year has to start on good footing, so you have to do all the symbolic things. It's very important that everything is perfect."

Shoppers set on enhancing their prospects for the coming year can find lucky bamboo plants, tall, strong, resilient and spiraled on top, signifying changing fortune — for the best, of course — and fruit stands filled with golden mandarins, pomelos, pumpkins and gnarled Buddha's hands, symbols of abundance and wealth. They cram in front of bins of candies and sweets and containers of cookies and pineapple tarts piled so high they threaten to topple over. All around, the streets explode with red lanterns, streamers, ornaments, tassels, decorations, toys, Chinese zodiac figures and festive lights to usher in the holiday.

Late into the evening, beaming grandmas indulge their families, many dressed in red or pink New Year's finery. Dads carry excited toddlers on their shoulders so they can see above the crowds. Muslim families bring their children to enjoy the party, and Indian ladies promenade in flower-colored saris. This being Singapore, the streets are safe, if crowded. As the countdown to midnight and the New Year's Eve fireworks approaches, the streets become so packed that it's hard to walk or shop anymore, but the throngs remain in good spirits as the new year arrives.

EXPLORE HISTORY

The Chinese New Year spirit of celebration and prosperity was hard won for Singapore's Chinese. I learned the back story from Helena Poon, one of Singapore's premier walking-tour guides. She directed our group of 17 along the streets of old Chinatown to Thian Hock Keng, the original Chinese temple in Singapore, built by Hokkien seamen to thank the Goddess of the Sea for their safe passage. Like the Chinese who came to California in the 1800s, they had expected to find streets lined with gold. Instead, most found hard lives as laborers and coolies, carrying huge loads from dock to dock in Singapore's always-booming harbor.

The Chinatown Heritage Centre, modeled after the Tenement Museum in New York's Lower East Side, recounts the story of Chinese immigration, hardship and success in Singapore. The museum's genius lies in its well-told history vignettes and its artful re-creation of the building as it was during Chinatown's heyday in the 1950s. Using oral histories for authenticity, the exhibits introduce visitors to actual tenants: a food hawker's family, a group of young coolies who operate an opium den in their room, and a shoe seller whose tiny space is filled with clogs. Downstairs, the landlord's tailor shop — the front room where he greets clients, the workroom, the smoky kitchen and grimy air well — shows visitors that even for the prosperous tailor, life was barely comfortable.

HONG BAO FESTIVAL

Cast your lot with Lucky Man, the God of Fortune, at the Singapore River Hong Bao Festival. I kept hearing about the God of Fortune, the Lucky Man. For 17 years, the God of Fortune had been a regular feature of the Singapore River Hong Bao Festival that transforms Singapore's Esplanade Park along the river into a Chinese fantasyland. When organizers of the million-dollar festival proposed dropping the Lucky Man, the popular response was, "No way." He was back, and I had to see for myself.

I wound my way through the fair, past rides and the popular wishing well, past the candy stands selling a spun honey and peanut delicacy called "Dragon's Beard," past stages pulsing with entertainment and past the gambling tent that housed a variation of bingo. All around me, Singaporeans were having a grand time — until I got to the central plaza around the towering Lucky Man. There, suddenly, everyone was serious, intently watching the 40-foot effigy of the God of Fortune.

Adults stood rapt as children, enduring the 30-to-40-minute wait for him to spew gold dust their way, ushering in a prosperous New Year. As the time approached, one upside-down umbrella shot up, then another. The crowd waited on the edge of impatience, pushing in, hoping to catch the golden confetti. Finally, it came, a sprinkling of coveted gold dust. It was over almost before I realized it had started. Like great good fortune and lottery prizes, this god's bounty was sparse. People bent down to scoop up whatever confetti remained on the ground, clinging to the belief that whatever happens at New Year's will color their luck for the entire year.

Maybe it's true. Amazed by the spectacle, I was still standing near the God of Fortune when organizers roped off an area for the Dragon Dance. By doing absolutely nothing, I was right in front with a clear view of a team of amazing dancers and acrobats doing everything in their power to ward off evil spirits and bring us all New Year's luck.

IF YOU GO ...

Carriers flying from Honolulu to Singapore's Changi Airport include United Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Philippine Airlines and China Airlines. Fares are $900-$2,000, depending on carrier and when you travel.

WHERE TO STAY: