Kong Ha Hong Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe performing at the 2015 Jakarta Fair
It was not so long ago that Chinese culture was suppressed in Indonesia under Suharto’s regime. But a lot has changed since then. Not only are Chinese-Indonesians now allowed to embrace and celebrate their heritage, some of them have gotten so good at celebrating it that they can even defeat mainland Chinese in cultural competitions.
A team from Indonesia, the Kong Ha Hong Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe, recently went to China’s capital city to compete in the “MGM Lion Dance Championship-Beijing International Invitational 2015,” which took place on Sept 13.
Championship teams representing nine countries from throughout Asia competed in the prestigious annual competition, which was being held in mainland China for the first time in its five year history. Scoring is based on the difficulty of moves each team attempted and how accurately they completed them. As you can see from the video above, teams perform dangerous movements atop tall poles in costume, requiring ridiculous amounts of agility, strength and teamwork.
In the end, it was Indonesia’s Kong Ha Hong troupe that emerged the champion with an impressive score of 9.25, beating out the Malaysian team and even the Chinese team, which placed third and second respectively.
After the contest, Wong Pak, the coach of the Indonesian team,told the Macau Daily Times: “This is not the first time we have competed in China. We are well prepared. I’m satisfied with my team members’ performance. They didn’t make any mistakes. Winning the championship, we Indonesian Chinese gain honor for our country!”
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