Apparently, the whole celebrations was based on a historical touch of the four Chinese core moral values of "Faithful, Filial Piety, Etiquette & Justice" . The Faithful Area was centred on Chulia Street whilst the Etiquette Area and Filial Piety Area were on Ah Quee Street (off Pitt Street). The Justice Area was along Soo Hong Lane between Armenian Street and Ah Quee Street.
Having agreed to meet at the Chinese Restaurant opposite Yap Kongsi Temple, I dropped off Tracey and the kids and a neighbour, Laura at the junction of Jalan Masjid Keling (aka Pitt street) and was lucky enough to find a parking space at the Esplanade end of King Street which is pretty far from Armenian Street, the cente of the celebrations.
Walking along King Street took me through Little India, I could see all the Indian shops virtually in the CNY celebrations with Indian music at full blast :-)
On reaching Chulia Street, I could see a Lion Dance prancing on stilts and the street was full of people. All along Chulia Street, there were stalls after stalls mainly manned by youths including an interesting stall by the Penang Chinese Girls Private School which was showcasing Zodiac animals made from traditional Chinese paper cuttings !
On turning into Pitt Street, there was simply a sea of people. As I stood there, I could help feeling amazed at the kaleidescope of sound coming from the loud Indian Music, the banging of drums and cymbals as well as the sound of the Azan coming from the Majid Keling Mosque. No wonder Pitt Street is also known as the Street of Harmony with a Church, Mosque and several temples co-existing peacefuly on the same street !
As I very slowly moved forward through the mass of visitors (According to the Star, 100,000 visitors thronged through the 150 + activities and stalls) , one can see the 88 Chinese drums which was banged on as people passed them. Once passed the drums, one can see an imposing gateway into the Main Area of the celebrations.
At the Main Area there was a huge stage where singers were belting out Chinese New Year songs and directly facing it was a Teow Chew Opera depicting the story of the legendary Chinese General Yue Fei who had defeated the barbarians but was betrayed by the then evil Prime Minister and fatous Emperor of Song.
More to come...
