Malaysia’s Chingay parade dazzles George Town as Unesco bid with Singapore gains steam

Lion dancers, drummers, stilt walkers and unicyclists flooded the streets of George Town on Sunday as the northern Malaysian city staged its annual Chingay parade, a century-old procession best known for performers balancing towering flagpoles on their chins and fingertips.

This year’s spectacle carries added weight. Malaysia and Singapore have jointly nominated Chingay for recognition on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list, a move organisers hope will elevate the tradition onto the global stage.

Venerated by many among Penang’s 700,000 ethnic Chinese residents, Chingay began as a Taoist-linked celebration of deity birthdays and has since grown into one of the city’s largest street festivals, drawing crowds from across the state.

Once winding through George Town’s old neighbourhoods, the parade has expanded so much that it now runs along Jalan Penang, the city’s main thoroughfare, where performers dazzled spectators by walking and cycling with towering poles delicately balanced.

“Growing up, my father brought me to watch the parade,” said 35-year-old Vick Quah Swee Liang, manager of communications at George Town World Heritage Incorporated and one of the parade’s organisers.

  

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