Hungry Ghost festival

During the Chinese Spirits of the 7th Month (known by the misnomer “the Hungry Ghost) Festival, many Chinese communities in Malaysia & Singapore hold traditional Chinese opera using human actors, but only a few places still put on Chinese puppet shows. 

Apart from Taiwan, there may be no other place in the world today where so many Chinese continue to preserve their ancient religious traditions. Mao Zedong seemingly obliterated most traditional Chinese religionist practices in Mainland China.

Among the Chinese of Malaysia—particularly in the Chinese populations of Penang—these traditions don’t merely survive; they thrive.