What does Hello Kitty have to do with Singapore's Mid-Autumn Festival?

Chinese Gardens' "F8 - Hello Kitty Go Races" lantern show has come under harsh criticism from the public, for its lack of cultural flavour and educational value, reported the Shin Min Daily News yesterday.

This year's event - an annual extravaganza for the park in Jurong - features 2,000 lanterns, including 280 from the popular Hello Kitty and Friends series.

Mr Chen, a 39-year-old analyst, told the Chinese daily that Hello Kitty and Friends had absolutely nothing in relation to the Mid-Autumn festival. The show this year not only lacked tradition, but fell short in educational value, he said.

The large number of retail carts and stalls made the place like a local pasar-malam (fun fair), he added.

A 20-year-old undergraduate, Ms Huang, said the $15 entrance fee was steep, and she would be better off paying for a theme park entrance to see cartoon characters.

In response, the organisers of this year's show told Shin Min that many visitors are 'tired' of seeing traditional lanterns, and would not want to pay to do so.

They hoped to duplicate the resounding success of 2003's show, which used Hello Kitty lanterns as well, and attracted up to 232,000 visitors - a dramatic jump over the usual 80,000.