The Lion Dances to the Fore: Articulating Chinese Identities in Penang and Medan

Abstract

Many Chinese families in Penang have relatives and trade relations with the Chinese in Medan and vice versa. 1 Communication between the two cities is facilitated by daily ferry services.The Chinese in Penang and Medan speak the same type of Hokkien dialect and share many common cultural and religious elements.2 The majority of the Chinese migrated from Fujian Province (South China) in the nineteenth century as plantation coolies and tin miners and brought elements of Chinese culture such as temples, associations, rituals, and creative arts.The performing arts from China included the opera, puppet theatre, lion and dragon dances performed to honour temple deities, as well as instrumental ensembles and martial arts promoted by Chinese associations for the recreation of their members.The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia have tried to integrate their Chinese population by promoting indigenous national identities.Indonesia has pursued general policies of cultural assimilation.Expressions of Chinese culture and the publication of newspapers and other materials in Chinese were banned in Indonesia by the Suharto regime beginning in 1967.Chinese religious observances could only be carried out in homes and temples, and it was only after the collapse of the Suharto regime in 1998 that the Chinese performing arts could be performed in public.In the case of Malaysia, even though the Chinese are allowed to practice their culture and religion openly and to maintain their identity, the government has introduced affirmative pro-bumiputera and national culture policies (based on indigenous Malay culture) since the 1970s.Despite the ban in Medan and the lack of government support or official recognition in Penang, the Chinese performing arts have survived.In fact there seems to be a revival in both cities.This paper looks at the revival of and the changes in the Chinese performing arts, specifically the lion dance or barongsay in Penang and Medan from the 1970s until the turn of the millennium as the Chinese communities adapt to the changing socio-historical and political conditions in the two cities.Through the study of the lion dance, I intend to show that the performing arts provide spaces where Chinese of different backgrounds articulate and rework their identities according to the changing socio-political conditions at the national and international levels.The Chinese of Penang and Medan do not return to a "traditional past" as practiced by their forefathers in China.They have become citizens of the countries of their birth, and most do not look to China as their homeland.As they Y.

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