BMKuala Lumpur hosted a quietly significant moment for Malaysia-China cultural exchange this month. The 2026 “Blooming Flowers Along the Way” China-Malaysia International Culture and Art Performance and Exhibition concluded in the capital on 2 August, closing a programme that placed the traditional arts of both countries on the same stage rather than in separate showcases.
The Chinese troupe performed classics including The Butterfly Lovers and Along the River During the Qingming Festival, using the konghou — an ancient Chinese harp — alongside traditional dance. The Malaysian side answered with ethnic folk dances and, notably, the twenty-four solar term drums. The event was co-hosted by the China Association for Promotion of International Multicultural Communication and the Malaysia-China Friendship Association, marking the 52nd anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Organisers described the aim as establishing a regular platform for cultural and youth exchange in the new era of the Maritime Silk Road.
That choice of the twenty-four solar term drums deserves attention, because it says something important about how Malaysia-China cultural exchange actually works at its best.
The 24 Festive Drums are not an import. They were created in Johor in 1988 by Malaysian educators Tan Chai Puan and the late Tan Hooi Song, who took the Chinese agricultural calendar of twenty-four solar terms, the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, and the lion dance drum, and combined them into something that had never existed in China. Each drum head carries the calligraphic name of one solar term. The form is Chinese in its raw materials and entirely Malaysian in its assembly. Today it is performed by school teams across the country, including in national and Chinese-medium schools alike.
Its institutional standing at home is rising in parallel. The Ministry of Education has placed the Elite 24 Festive Drums Competition on its official calendar as an annual event running at district, zonal and national levels, with finals expected in September. The National Heritage Department has also moved to nominate the art form to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
For the Malaysia-China Culture and Education Association, this is the model worth building on. Cultural cooperation that consists only of one country performing for the other is hospitality, not exchange. What happened in Kuala Lumpur was closer to a conversation: a Chinese heritage instrument on one side, and on the other a Malaysian invention that reinterpreted Chinese heritage on Malaysian soil and sent it back transformed.
The same principle applies to education. Malaysia-China education cooperation works best when Malaysian institutions bring something distinct to the table rather than simply receiving. In TVET Malaysia China partnerships, that means Malaysian technical and vocational colleges contributing their own industry links, ASEAN market knowledge and multilingual graduates alongside Chinese expertise in advanced manufacturing, green technology and digital skills. Youth exchange programmes built on that footing produce participants who can operate in both systems — which is, in the end, the entire point.
MCCEA will continue to support cultural and educational initiatives that treat exchange as a two-way exercise, and encourages Malaysian schools, colleges and cultural bodies interested in Malaysia-China programmes to be in touch.
中文摘要
2026年“花开一带一路”中马国际文化艺术演出与展览8月2日在吉隆坡落幕，由中国国际多元文化交流促进会与马中友好协会联合主办，纪念两国建交52周年。中国艺术团以箜篌与传统舞蹈演绎《梁祝》《清明上河图》，马来西亚方面则以二十四节令鼓及民族舞蹈回应。二十四节令鼓1988年诞生于马来西亚柔佛，由陈徽崇与陈再藩创立，是马中文化在本土再创造的成果，目前已列入教育部常年赛事，并获国家文物局推荐申报联合国教科文组织人类非物质文化遗产代表作名录。马中文化教育协会认为，真正的交流是双向的对话，而非单向的展示。这一原则同样适用于马中技职教育与马中教育合作。
About MCCEA: Malaysia-China Culture and Education Association (MCCEA), Registration No. PPM-034-10-08072025, is dedicated to advancing cooperation between Malaysia and China in culture, education and TVET, with ASEAN and the international community in view. Website: www.mccea.org.my
