Penang Mioahui festival features clan exhibitions, traditional performances and lantern displays

GEORGE TOWN: Lanterns, drumbeats and the buzz of thousands of visitors marked the 27th Penang Miaohui, during which culture proved that unity in diversity is not just an ideal but a lived reality.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the festival shows how understanding, friendship and shared traditions can bridge communities.

“The fifth day of the Lunar New Year is always a day of happiness and hope. This year is even more special. Chinese New Year falls close to the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“At the Miaohui, we witness something very meaningful, two important occasions coming together,” Chow said during the launch on Saturday.

He praised Masjid Lebuh Acheh and Sri Mahamariamman Kuil for opening their doors to visitors.

“This allows everyone to better understand one another’s traditions and beliefs. This is something special. This is Penang.”

Chow added that visitors could celebrate the Chinese New Year while also learning about the spirit of Ramadan.

Describing Miaohui as more than a festival, he said it was a platform to share history, stories and values with the young generation.

“We want our young people to know where we came from so they can move forward with confidence. We have many races, many religions and many cultures, yet we live together with respect and dignity. This is our strength. This is our identity.”

He strongly rejected all sentiments of racial divide and urged the community to “protect unity at all times”.

“It is wrong when certain interest groups use racial issues to push their own narratives in ways that create misunderstanding and division.

“Not to mention how, nowadays, social media algorithms indirectly amplify such sentiments,” he said.

The 2026 Penang Miaohui drew an estimated 200,000 visitors, with 12 streets within the George Town Unesco World Heritage Site closed to traffic for the celebration themed “The Journey of Decoding”.

In its 27th year since its inception in 1999, the festival transforms the heritage enclave into a vast open-air cultural stage featuring clan exhibitions, traditional performances, lantern displays and community events.

Chinese Consul-General Zhou Youbin said Miaohui had over the years promoted Chinese culture alongside Penang’s multicultural heritage and had become a gold standard for Chinese New Year celebrations.

“This year’s theme invites participants to decode time and space together and inherit cultural roots spanning a thousand years.”

He described the Spring Festival as the culmination of traditional Chinese culture, preserved and celebrated by generations worldwide.

“This steadfastness to our roots is precisely the inexhaustible source of Chinese culture remaining enduring and full of vitality overseas,” Zhou said.

He also highlighted how traditions such as Yee Sang, the high-pole lion dance, Twenty-Four Festive Drums and Pai Ti Kong have been adapted with local characteristics.

Zhou added that 2026 would mark the start of a new ‘Golden 50 Years’ of China-Malaysia friendship, citing the alignment of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan with Malaysia’s 13th Malaysia Plan and the continuation of bilateral cooperation.

 The Sun Malaysia