BMToday, 25 September 2026, is the 15th day of the eighth lunar month: Mid-Autumn Festival. Across Malaysia, families are gathering under the full moon with lanterns and mooncakes. Earlier this week, one of the country’s liveliest community celebrations showed why the festival still matters.
A festival built by the community
The Penang Mid-Autumn Festival 2026, organised by the Clan-Associations Youth Committee, Penang, turned the Esplanade in George Town, the open field and street in front of the Town Hall and City Hall, into a lantern-lit meeting place, The Star reported on 23 September. Families walked together with lanterns, children dressed as the moon goddess Chang’e, and visitors moved between a food bazaar and the main stage.
What stood out was how hands-on the programme was. Activity zones named after the four seasons offered lantern-making, mooncake-moulding workshops, dough figurines, lacquer fans, paper cutting, five-grain art and blue-and-white porcelain painting. Traditional games such as the “wind-fire wheel” hoop, chuiwan (an ancient precursor of golf) and lantern riddles sat alongside Malaysian childhood favourites like hopscotch and batu seremban. An exhibition traced the histories of Penang’s Chinese clans and how their ancestors journeyed to then-Malaya to build new lives.
Heritage that belongs to everyone
The stage told a distinctly Malaysian story. A Sichuan opera face-changing troupe that weaves local elements into its act shared the programme with drummers, diabolo and wushu performers, a Chinese orchestra and a gamelan ensemble from Wak Long Music and Art Centre. One of the most talked-about entries in the costume competition came from a 10-year-old Malay girl whose dragon-princess outfit had taken about six months to research and build. Her mother, a teacher, told The Star that learning about other cultures helps people understand one another in a multiracial country.
Organising chairman Goh Kok Liang framed the event around reunion, gratitude and inheritance, adding that “cultural inheritance should not be just a slogan”. State tourism and creative economy committee chairman Wong Hon Wai recalled how clan associations supported early arrivals in Penang and called the festival one of the state’s most precious cultural assets.
A shared moon, across borders
The festival also carried a diplomatic note this year. On 24 September, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim extended Mid-Autumn greetings to Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Hangzhou, at the close of a working visit that included the 48th WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai. He described Malaysia-China relations as having moved beyond conventional diplomacy, according to Bernama. The WorldSkills stop is a reminder that TVET Malaysia China links, built on skills, standards and young talent, now sit alongside long-standing cultural ties.
Why this matters to MCCEA
For the Malaysia-China Culture and Education Association (MCCEA), Penang’s festival shows what Malaysia-China cultural exchange looks like at the grassroots: heritage practised rather than merely displayed, passed on through craft, and open to every community. Mooncake-moulding and lantern-making workshops are, in their own way, a form of skills transmission, the same spirit that drives our work in Malaysia-China education cooperation and TVET.
As the moon rises tonight, we wish all Malaysians, and our friends in China and across ASEAN, a joyful Mid-Autumn Festival.
Sources: The Star, “Giving old Mid-Autumn Festival customs new life” (23 September 2026); The Star / Bernama, “Anwar affirms close Malaysia-China ties, greets Li Qiang for Mid-Autumn Festival” (24 September 2026).
中文摘要
今年中秋节适逢9月25日。槟城中秋节2026在乔治市滨海草场（Esplanade）举行，由当地宗乡会馆青年组织主办，通过提灯笼、月饼制作、传统游戏及宗亲历史展览，让各族民众亲身体验中华传统。舞台上川剧变脸、武术、华乐与甘美兰同台演出，展现了多元包容的马中文化。与此同时，安华总理在杭州向中国总理李强致以中秋祝福，并表示马中关系已超越传统外交框架。马中文化教育协会认为，这类以参与和传承为核心的活动，正是推动马中文化、马中教育与马中技职教育交流的生动范例。
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
