Malaysia held a grand national gala in Pinang on Saturday to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

 

Malaysian Supreme Head Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin and Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as well as some 70,000 people from all parts of the country gathered here for the grand celebration co-organized by the Malaysian Cultural, Art and Heritage Ministry, the Pinang State Government and local Chinese Malaysian communities.

 

The celebration mainly unrolled along the streets of Cannon, AhQuee, Archeen, and Armenian, which are called the Pinang Heritage Area in downtown Pinang City, capital of Malaysia's northern state of Pinang. Thousands of local artists performed various Chinese traditional dances, music, martial arts, including dragon and liondances, traditional welcoming dances, stilting, cultural hip-hop dances.

 

Chinese traditional songs could be heard there, variety shows like single wheel cycle performance, traditional Chinese custom wedding apparatus demonstration could be seen there, and activities like Chinese chess playing, on-spot calligraphy writing, and traditional Chinese fashion show as well as the art of appreciating Chinese tea could be witnessed there.

 

In "Canton village," "Teow Chew village," "Fujian village" and "Hai Nan village" there, visitors could enjoy various tasty traditional Chinese cuisine.

 

The celebration organizers told Xinhua that this is the second time for Pinang to have hosted such a national celebration to mark the arrival of Chinese New Year in Malaysia, a country with multi-cultures.

 

The celebration of Chinese New Year not only keeps the Chinese culture in the country, but also helps build harmony among the different cultures in the country, they said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2006)