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| 2014 Chinese New Year Cultural And Heritage Celebration |
Every year during the Chinese New Year, there will be a Chinese New Year Cultural and Heritage Celebration being held in Georgetown. This year, the celebration falls on the third day of the Chinese New Year. The locations for this year celebration is at Beach Street, Bishop Street, Church Street, King Street and Penang Street.
From the event created on facebook, I get to know that this celebration will be started at 3pm. So, I departed from my house at 1.30pm and reached Georgetown at 2.30pm sharp. I walked around the event's places and saw the people in charge were still setting up the stages and many stalls were still busy getting ready for business. Having nothing much to see at there, I went to have my lunch at the Indian stall at the roadside. There were actually some food stalls have started doing their business but the prices of the food was double the normal food price and that sole reason kept me away from the food stalls.
I rest at the Indian stall for quite some times before I make my move again. I get myself a booklet with the information regards the time and the venue of the celebration. From the booklet, most of the activities and performances were started after 5pm, only the Chingay performance started at 3pm. And so, I went to Beach Street to see the Chingay performance. From afar, I can see the gigantic Malaysia flag.
Looking at this player as he was playing the flag, it reminds me of a mini game I used to play during my childhood. That is, stand up a stick on the hand palm and move toward the direction where the stick is going to fall to keep it balance. Playing this flag is like playing the stick which is twenty to thirty times bigger. Looking at the expression of this player, it really required a very high focus to keep the flag balance.
This player can play the flag even with his chin.
Wow, even with one finger only!
Here comes the Penang flag.
Penang and Malaysia were on the road! Woohoo~
When the two flags were risen, the music started to play. I think it marks the start of the Chingay performance.
For me, the most interesting part of the Chingay performance is the way they pass the flag to the player.
The players showed various ways to pass the flag to the other player.
I have spend some time enjoying the Chingay performance and have took many photos. After leaving Beach Street, I came to Church Street. I saw two rows of drums were set up at both the roadside. I think it was mostly for welcoming the VIPs.
There was a rotating red horse at the middle of the crossroad between Church Street and Penang Street.
At 5pm sharp, the emcees of the main stage started the welcoming speech. After the speech, there were a series of performances on the main stage. At that moment, the only thing I can do was watching the performances for a far distance. It was crowded with people in front of me and I was limited to move forward. Since I was short, I can only capture the photos from the little gap between the crowds. It is really a big disadvantage for a short person like me to take photos in the crowd.
Finally, I give up on the main stage performances and went to see the 'Old Trades and Chinese Art' at Penang Street. The first stall was showcasing the lion's head made by rattan.
This lion's head is about the size of a hand palm.
The inside of the lion's head is made of rattan.
Beside the rattan lion's head stall is a Sifu specialise in sharpening the scissors.
Next is this wood carving skill.
The Sifu first drawn the outline of the product on a piece of wood and then cut it out with a special saw.
This is the finishing product.
Chinese chess is just another game that required a lot of knowledge. It really tests your skill to move every single step on the board. This Sifu was playing against three players at the same time. It is said that he can cop up to a maximum of five persons at a time.
On the Chinese chess board, the pieces were arranged to form the 'horse' word in Chinese.
This is the stall selling the maltose candy and the Ding Ding candy.
This freshly made maltose candy is much more softer than those we normally eat. One of this maltose candy costs RM2.
This is the Ding Ding candy. One pack costs RM6.
This is a stall selling the 3D paper art.
These paper art were hand made by the students from Penang Chinese Girls' Private High School.
There were students showing their paper craft skill on the spot.
These are really some awesome paper carving!
And this is the Beijing opera mask stall.
This are the finishing product of the Beijing opera mask stone. There were stones that were not coloured yet. It is for the customers to customise their preference colours.
A Chinese orchestra stall. They were selling flute and introducing the musical instrument to the public.
The Sifu of hand craft signboard
When I passed through this stall, this teacher was singing a rhymes. He has photocopy the lyric on the paper and distribute them to his audiences and ask them to sing along. Those who knows how to sing follow his lead and the atmosphere at there was just so joyful.
These were the toys made by the teacher. The teacher took out his toys and introduced them to the audiences.
Lastly, the teacher present his hand made pinwheel to the audiences. All he asked for the return was just one simple phrase of 'Thank you, teacher'. The teacher said that he was from Pangkor Island and he will be going back at 12am midnight.
Done walking with the Penang Street and I came back to Church Street again. The middle of the two rows of drums saw earlier was now empty.
Soon, the VIP appeared. Have you saw the VIP from the photo?
The VIP was the Penang's Chief Minister, Mr. Lim Guan Eng! The public were competing to shake their hand with this amazing person.
The lion dance and the dragon dance were following CM Lim at the back and so do the public. And me, it is better if I go somewhere else as I am sure that even if I follow I wont get the chance to see anything..haha..
This time I went to the Bishop Street. When I reached there, the lion dance performance was just about to start. Same problem occurred, I was short and didn't get the chance to go to the front, all I can do was just shoot from the gap between the audiences.
At last, I took my camera high enough and shoot randomly. Fortunately, I get to shoot this lion's jumping shot.
At Penang Street (near Bishop Street), there was a place for the public to write their wishes in this horse year.
And then the wishes was hung at the red line at the side.
Saw an interesting phenomenon. The police that open the road for CM Lim parked his police motorbike at the roadside and let the public to take picture with it. This little boy seems to be quite afraid of the police..haha..
I walked and walked and I walked back to Beach Street again and I went to see the Chingay performance again.
The performers let the public to experience the joy of playing the flag.
Actually I have always been wanting to try playing the flag. I want to know how heavy the flag actually is. The bad news was, I was alone at that time and no one can help me take care of my camera, so I can only stand at the side envying the others.
And then I walked around again. Suddenly, a loud explosion came from above me. I look up and I saw the beautiful fireworks blooming above me.
Don't have the time to setup the camera tripod, so I shoot it hand-held. How was it?
鼠 Rat
These twele Chinese zodiac were located at the entrance of Bishop Street. I purposely waited for the sky to turn dark enough to snap these Chinese Zodiac. The photos I took in the afternoon was not nice..hehe..
牛 Ox
虎 Tiger
兔 Rabbit
龙 Dragon
蛇 Snake
This is my Chinese zodiac.
羊 Goat
猴 Monkey
鸡 Rooster
狗 Dog
猪 Pig
You must have noticed that the horse is missing right? Actually, the horse is the rotating little red horse from earlier.
This still silver man was there to join in the fun.
There was a wishing pond at the Penang Street.
When I passed through the place where the wishes were hung, the red line were all full with the wishes. The yellow paper umbrella which were supposed to be the decorations have become red with the wishes as well.
The last station I went was this Bishop Street which was focusing on martial art. There was a stage at the entrance of the Bishop Street and there will be martial art performances on the stage for an interval time. Since the sky was dark and I do not want to use the flashlight, so I did not take much photos at there.
Lastly, lets this group photo of the martial artist do the ending.
After that I went to meet up with my friends at Old Town and rest a little at there. Around 11pm, I went back home by bus. When I was home, I look at the booklet again. Oh my God! I have completely forgot about King Street! I have stayed at there for 8.5 hours and I wasn't even stepped into King Street?! I really don't know what has happened to me. T_T
This post was originally written on 4th February 2014
Lovvely blog you have
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