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An Article From Ipoh Echo - Chingay
The chingay processions are part of the celebration of the festival of the God of the Earth. Since the early 1890s, spoils of the past year were celebrated by tin miners with thanksgiving festivities at temples. Back then, Ipoh’s chingay processions were more renowned than even Penang’s with lavish celebrations that lasted days on end. Every year, the street processions grew bigger, sometimes stretching over a mile and including rich tapestries, banners and flags as well as girls riding aloft in gilded carriages. The processions attracted visitors from all over the Federated Malay States. Here there were many welcome distractions for the tin miners, cooped up in mines for months, including a gambling farm, a Chinese theatre, a red light district, opium saloons, liquor shops, food stalls etc. Even during bad years, like 1904 and 1908, the chingay processions persisted, funded by the Cantonese community of Ipoh.
To read more about Opium smoking, click here.
To read more about The Federated Malay States (FMS), click here.