"Gong Xi Fa Cai!" ...with several Chinese Malaysian friends this is something that has been cropping up in my WhatsApp messages over the past few days and conveniently for all Malaysians, this year, the new year falls at a weekend so most people have taken at least a three day weekend and traditional Chinese families will extend that to a week or more as they take their annual break to visit relatives and enjoy the Reunion Dinner and other festivities. The festivities this year are ushering in the Year of the Dog and my visits to various places in Kuala Lumpur over the past two weeks have been enhanced with the annual displays by Lion Dance troupes who frantically drive in their trucks from venue to venue across the country to put on shows at shopping malls, businesses and schools and colleges.
This year for the first time, I also visited a Chinese Temple at Chinese New Year because I have a friend who although brought up as a Muslim, has a father who is of Chinese descent and she has traditionally visited a temple to offer prayers once a year. Such is the multi-cultural nature of South East Asia, and Malaysia in particular.
Chinese people have been settled in Malaysia for 200 years or more and although they are a minority ethnic group, their presence is significant and virtually every town and city has a thriving Chinese community, traditionally engaged mainly in trading, retail and business.
Here are some pictures of Chinese New Year in Kuala Lumpur.
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