China and Malaysia, connected through time
This documentary, produced by CGTN, begins by looking at traditional crafts, how Malaysian lion head production and lion dance culture is being kept alive, and the historical origins of cultural exchanges between China and Malaysia.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Centuries of trade and history connect Malaysia and China.
00:14 For Malaysia's large ethnic Chinese population,
00:17 culture and language are especially powerful links.
00:21 But for Malaysians of all backgrounds,
00:24 Chinese language and culture,
00:27 as well as exciting economic and scientific opportunities,
00:31 are helping to stimulate new connections.
00:34 In recent years, investment from China
00:38 has helped transform Malaysia's skylines,
00:42 industry and infrastructure.
00:44 Trade between the two countries has boomed,
00:47 and the benefits can be seen
00:49 all across the Southeast Asian nation.
00:52 Malaysia and China's relationship
00:56 is also built on growing people-to-people ties
01:00 through tourism, education, and family connections.
01:04 Over the last half century of diplomatic relations
01:09 between the two countries,
01:11 those links and bonds have only grown closer.
01:14 And nowhere do the historic, cultural,
01:18 and economic ties between China and Malaysia run deeper
01:23 than in the country's oldest city, Malacca.
01:26 China's famed Admiral Zheng He, or Cheng Ho,
01:30 first visited Malacca in 1405,
01:33 with his giant fleet comprising around 300 ships
01:37 and 28,000 men.
01:39 He's believed to have visited Malacca
01:41 at least four more times during his lifetime.
01:44 Zheng He's visits played an important role
01:48 in establishing China's Maritime Silk Road,
01:52 leaving a lasting economic and cultural legacy on Malacca,
01:57 and ultimately what would later become Malaysia.
02:01 The impact of the Malacca and Malaysia trip
02:05 is still very profound.
02:08 After Zheng He came to Malacca,
02:09 he worked with the first king of the Malacca dynasty,
02:12 Bale Mithra,
02:14 and Malacca became
02:17 the most important trading port in the East.
02:20 When Zheng He went to the West,
02:23 he was also influenced by many of his followers
02:26 who stayed in the area.
02:28 After they stayed, they became friends with the locals,
02:32 and they formed a cultural bond.
02:36 After Zheng He left the country,
02:37 many Chinese people came to the area to settle down and do business.
02:42 They also became friends with the locals.
02:45 Today, those close cultural links between China and Malaysia
02:50 can be seen in this country's numerous Taoist and Buddhist temples,
02:55 its clan houses, its cuisine, its trades and crafts.
03:01 Roughly one quarter of Malaysia's population
03:04 are of ethnic Chinese origins,
03:07 and they continue to enthusiastically follow
03:09 many of the cultural practices of their ancestors.
03:13 Pharmacies selling traditional Chinese medicine,
03:18 puppet troops entertaining audiences,
03:21 artisans carving signs from wood or engraving seals from stone,
03:27 all hark back to their origins in China.
03:30 Some, like this man,
03:32 are likely the last practitioners of their craft here,
03:36 which is set to die out with them.
03:38 Others, like Malaysian master lionhead maker Lim Meng Kok,
03:43 are successfully passing on their skills to the next generation.
03:48 My name is Lim Meng Kok.
03:50 I'm 76 years old.
03:51 Everyone calls me "Old Man".
03:53 I've been a lionhead maker for 40 years.
03:57 I joined this trade because I was in a book club.
04:02 It was very difficult to buy lionheads back then.
04:05 Sometimes we couldn't even afford to buy them.
04:07 We had to send them to China.
04:09 When the lionhead was broken,
04:10 we had to repair it ourselves.
04:13 We'd repair it and fix it up.
04:17 Others used iron, but I used lionhead.
04:20 I started making lionheads in 1980.
04:24 I didn't have a master to teach me.
04:25 I had to figure it out myself.
04:28 In China, we use bamboo,
04:30 but here we use aluminum and tin.
04:33 The lowest price for a lionhead is $3,500.
04:42 The highest price is $8,800.
04:49 It takes a month and a half to make one.
04:51 Though he started off solo,
04:54 he now employs several people to help him make the lionheads.
04:59 Young people want to learn lionheads.
05:02 But their parents are against it.
05:05 We have a different approach.
05:08 We want to make lionheads that are well-known.
05:11 If we can make them well-known,
05:13 it's good for us.
05:15 I make them every year.
05:17 I make them 365 days a year.
05:22 Many people make lionheads, but not me.
05:23 I have a wife who makes lionheads.
05:26 I'm 18 years old.
05:28 I've been making lionheads since I was 18.
05:31 Lionheads are important.
05:32 Lionheads are related to Chinese culture.
05:37 Lions are good animals.
05:40 I'm happy to make lionheads.
05:44 There are fewer lionheads in the industry.
05:47 If we don't make them,
05:50 we'll lose our culture.
05:53 The younger generation brings its own skills and strengths,
05:57 using social media to promote Lim's lionheads.
06:02 Many foreign customers are looking for us.
06:07 We have more new customers than before.
06:12 The lion dance is a local favourite
06:16 at Lunar New Year celebrations,
06:18 as well as events like opening ceremonies.
06:22 Such celebrations showcase the close cultural links
06:26 between Malaysia's ethnic Chinese
06:28 and their ancestral homeland.
06:32 The Mid-Autumn Festival,
06:33 Duanwu Festival,
06:35 Firewalking during the Nine Emperor Gods Festival,
06:39 and above all, Lunar New Year,
06:41 are widely celebrated here,
06:43 often with their own local twists.
06:48 Malaysia has taken traditional Chinese lion dance
06:51 to new heights,
06:52 with local troops becoming world-renowned practitioners
06:56 of the acrobatic lion dance,
06:58 performed atop high pillars.
07:02 The lion dance thrills audiences of all races.
07:06 The Kwan Lok Association has produced
07:08 several world-champion lion dance teams.
07:13 It started in Malaysia with only 20 members,
07:16 and it grew to about 300 members.
07:20 And we have a lot of students overseas
07:23 coming over to learn from us,
07:24 from the USA, the Philippines,
07:28 Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, and many more.
07:33 The high-flying dancers here
07:35 are still almost all ethnic Chinese.
07:38 But it's now common to see non-Chinese musicians
07:41 in Malaysian lion dance troops,
07:44 like these ethnic Malays from Malaysian Borneo.
07:47 Echo!
07:49 Our local government has recognised it as a sport too.
08:09 So, it's a very positive thing,
08:11 and we can see that it can progress.
08:14 Maybe in the next coming 10 years,
08:16 we can see more acrobatic lions from all different races.
08:19 And we have pushed this "Lion Dance for All" slogan.
08:24 While cultural links have endured and evolved,
08:30 and economic links have blossomed,
08:32 the people-to-people connections between China and Malaysia
08:36 have also grown stronger in recent years,
08:39 the field of education being a prime example.
08:43 Xiamen University Malaysia, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur,
08:47 is a groundbreaking institution.
08:50 In 2016, it became the first top-tier Chinese university
08:55 to establish a branch campus overseas.
08:58 The links between Xiamen University and Malaysia
09:02 stretch back to the late 19th century,
09:05 when a man called Tang Ka-Kee moved from Xiamen
09:08 to what was then British Malaya.
09:11 He did quite well in terms of business,
09:14 but he contributed all his assets, finally,
09:18 to the great cause of education.
09:21 So, he set up Xiamen University in 1921,
09:26 and we think that it's a very natural kind of development
09:31 for Xiamen University to come back to Malaysia.
09:35 We like to nurture young talents
09:38 with dignity and wisdom,
09:42 turn them into fine citizens of the region,
09:46 who will make contributions to the prosperity of the people
09:50 and social progress of Malaysia, China, Southeast Asia.
09:57 The university currently has around 7,500 students
10:01 from 44 countries,
10:03 about 800 of them from outside of China and Malaysia.
10:07 19-year-old Lin Shu-Jin is from China's Fujian Province
10:12 and studying journalism at the university.
10:14 I chose this university with a high expectation.
10:19 The reason I chose journalism is that
10:22 it had been a dream for me for quite a long time,
10:26 because my parents, they both work in the fields
10:29 related to politics and media.
10:32 So, when I was a kid,
10:34 we would discuss all kinds of news in society
10:39 around the dinner table.
10:40 So, it kind of planted the seed of dream inside of my heart.
10:46 Lin was chosen as an intern to work with Xiamen Television,
10:50 which has a bureau and studio at the campus.
10:54 The journalists, they were all very patient.
10:57 I was taught how to operate this teleprompter,
11:02 and I also tried to broadcast the news here.
11:06 And I was also given some chances to interview others
11:10 during the different events.
11:12 But the practices were very much difficult
11:15 compared to what we learned in the classes.
11:29 Courses in Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM,
11:33 are attracting strong interest from local students
11:36 as well as ones from China.
11:39 Chen Jin-Yen is from the city of Malacca.
11:42 I chose to study TCM because I'm more curious about this,
11:46 because I can know about the disease from the pulse,
11:51 from the colour of the skin, colour of the tongue.
11:55 I think the most interesting thing is that
11:57 we can go to internship to China, Hospital China,
12:00 within one year, so we can get more experience from there.
12:04 So, in my future, I think I will go further study,
12:08 maybe in China.
12:09 After that, maybe I will go back to Malaysia
12:13 to work in some clinic or some hospital
12:17 to get more experience about that.
12:19 Then, maybe we'll open a clinic, become my own business.
12:24 The university is also seeking to become
12:27 a major research institution.
12:29 Green technologies, in which China has become a world leader,
12:33 is a key focus area.
12:36 This research centre is led by Malaysian professor, Ong Wee Chun.
12:41 So, here in, we are looking into, that is natural photosynthesis.
12:44 Is it possible for us to look into an artificial way?
12:47 And for that, we call it artificial photosynthesis.
12:51 Instead of leaf, we are producing nanomaterials.
12:53 The nanomaterials is actually kind of resembling a leaf
12:58 that's able to absorb the light, absorb the water,
13:01 absorb CO2 and convert into value-added chemicals.
13:05 And that whole concept is actually a waste-to-wealth technology.
13:09 Because we want to turn waste into wealth
13:12 or turn trash into treasure.
13:14 We are also receiving some research funds
13:17 from the Chinese government, as well as from the Xiamen University of China.
13:21 So, I hope that with more collaborations,
13:23 as well as more experts coming from the main campus,
13:27 I think this is something we can have a synergy
13:30 or collaboration between China and Malaysia.
13:34 Xiamen University researchers are also collaborating
13:38 with the owners of this farm,
13:40 growing the prized and pungent durian fruit in central Malaysia.
13:45 The farm is working with local company, Sustainable Harvest,
13:50 which uses China's Alibaba Cloud
13:53 to tap the power of artificial intelligence
13:56 and the Internet of Things, IoT,
13:59 to boost the efficiency and productivity of durian farms.
14:03 Xiamen University helps analyse the data.
14:07 This is the satellite IoT.
14:11 It's using satellite connectivity.
14:14 As long as you can see the sky, all the data can be sent through.
14:19 There are a lot of farms in a very rural area.
14:22 There's no connectivity at all.
14:24 So, this is one of the best solutions for that.
14:27 This is a sensor which is plugged in
14:29 to look at the soil moisture content.
14:32 From here, it is sent to the cloud.
14:34 Then, we do a lot of analysis.
14:37 From there, we build the AI algorithm
14:40 to understand whether the water is actually absorbed by the trees.
14:45 We also measure the nutrients as well.
14:47 For example, when it comes to the fruit development stage,
14:51 it requires a lot of fertilisers to have good fruits,
14:56 to make it round, to make it bigger.
14:59 The technology can also be used
15:02 to ensure the optimum amount of water and fertiliser
15:06 is delivered to specific areas or even trees.
15:10 Farmers are seeing the benefits,
15:13 though they say that many of their peers
15:15 have been sceptical of their investment in technology.
15:19 When we wanted to start using IoT,
15:23 a lot of people told us that we were throwing money into the sea.
15:27 This is the sentence that they gave us.
15:30 However, I believe that data is able to help us.
15:35 If we have all the data,
15:37 based on the experience and the data that we collect,
15:41 I believe that it is more powerful
15:43 when we do decision-making.
15:46 We can use all this data to improve our yield
15:50 and we can reduce all the expenses as well.
15:54 If the fruits are of high enough quality,
15:58 then they can be flash-frozen and sold to China,
16:01 where prized Malaysian varieties such as Musang King
16:05 sell for top dollar.
16:07 Malaysian durian and durian products
16:11 are marketed extensively via e-commerce platforms,
16:15 especially in China and on Chinese platforms.
16:18 Those e-commerce platforms are playing a key role
16:22 in increasing opportunities for Malaysian small and medium-sized businesses
16:28 and helping them up their game.
16:30 The founder of a company making skin care products,
16:34 Sereini Zainal has a degree in chemical and biological engineering
16:38 from South Korea.
16:40 Currently, we are selling in Malaysia through e-commerce platforms.
16:44 We just launched our product in a few retail pharmacies.
16:47 Maybe starting from this year,
16:49 we are going to enter the international market as well.
16:52 Currently, we are still relying on e-commerce,
16:55 mostly like 80%.
16:57 Alibaba's Southeast Asian e-commerce offshoot Lazada
17:02 sent Sereini to China for training.
17:05 I learnt how the Chinese do their business.
17:08 They merge with the manufacturing company.
17:11 So here I am today,
17:12 we are already merged with one of the biggest OEM skin care companies in Malaysia.
17:16 The benefit is that we can lower down the cost,
17:19 benefit the customers, and sell at the best price.
17:23 I think we are just a small local brand,
17:26 so having a huge marketplace platform
17:29 that allows us to be among the other competitors
17:32 is another advantage for us, to be among the best.
17:36 Newer Chinese platforms, including social media platforms,
17:40 are also boosting opportunities for Malaysian businesses.
17:44 Among them is Xiaohongsu.
17:47 According to one recent study,
17:49 Malaysia has the largest number of users on the platform outside of China.
17:54 Shiro Lam is a social media influencer
17:58 and also has a company creating promotional materials for businesses.
18:03 Mostly I have more clients, and also food and beverage clients.
18:07 What we do for them is to create social media
18:11 and also post content creation to create brand awareness
18:17 and also promote for their upcoming promotions.
18:21 Xiaohongsu in Malaysia, right,
18:22 I think it's growing since two years ago.
18:26 But by that time, it's more to the readers.
18:29 But if you say the content creator that's growing is around one year,
18:35 so more and more business clients think that
18:39 this is one of the platforms that is necessary to reach out to more customers.
18:44 It's hard to believe now,
18:50 but just over a decade ago,
18:52 before the advent of the Belt and Road Initiative,
18:55 Malaysian companies invested far more in China than the other way round.
19:00 The situation has flipped in recent years,
19:03 with Chinese state-owned and private firms
19:06 being among the biggest foreign investors in Malaysia,
19:10 in heavy industries such as steel,
19:13 in upgrading ports,
19:15 in assembling automobiles,
19:17 in ICT,
19:19 in green technologies,
19:21 in high-rise construction,
19:23 in rail building.
19:25 The China Communications Construction Company, CCCC,
19:29 is taking the lead on Malaysia's biggest-ever infrastructure project,
19:34 building the 665-kilometre-long East Coast Rail Link,
19:39 from the country's big West Coast ports,
19:42 through the capital,
19:43 to a joint China-Malaysia port and industrial park
19:47 on the underdeveloped East Coast,
19:49 and up toward the border with Thailand.
19:53 It's bringing contracts and skilled jobs to locals,
19:57 and is expected to boost development right along the route,
20:01 once the line starts operating in 2027.
20:04 Another Chinese firm has been helping Malaysia upgrade and expand
20:10 its urban and national rail networks.
20:13 Train-building giant CRRC
20:16 has established a sprawling plant in central Malaysia,
20:20 where it assembles hybrid diesel-electric trains,
20:24 fully electric train sets for the country's main North-South Rail Line,
20:29 as well as trains for the capital's LRT network.
20:33 It's not only improving the country's connectivity,
20:37 it's also creating skilled jobs
20:40 and upgrading the knowledge of local workers.
20:44 Malaysia is the key location and transportation hub
20:47 in the central Southeast Asia region.
20:50 It has a stable economic base,
20:54 and is a great investment.
20:56 The Malaysian government has also developed
20:59 the rail network as a key investment area,
21:01 and has provided us with a good opportunity to develop.
21:05 When the plant first started operating 10 years ago,
21:09 around 90% of the workers were from China,
21:13 and just 10% local.
21:15 That's now reversed.
21:16 The CRRC plant is near 35-year-old Mohamed Alamin's hometown,
21:22 where skilled jobs are at a premium.
21:26 There is a lot of training that I've been scheduled by CRRC.
21:29 For example, I've been trained to go to the CRRC factory in Zuzu.
21:33 I have experienced their process of manufacturing,
21:38 for example, from the car body itself, its shell,
21:42 until the end product that is being tested and commissioned.
21:45 I also further studied on a degree for part-time technology management.
21:51 In Malaysia, we don't have this kind of manufacturing for railways.
21:55 It's a good opportunity for me to study and learn from them
21:59 about the technology from scratch
22:01 until the train can be delivered and operated.
22:04 Mohamed Nurazri has been working with CRRC for 10 years.
22:10 When I first joined the company,
22:16 the company sent me to China for training for three months.
22:22 I also got training from the masters there,
22:27 and also from the great workers in China, in Zuzu.
22:30 Both Azmin and Azri feel their work with CRRC
22:35 is contributing to their home country's economic development.
22:39 Building railways is not only to earn money and a salary,
22:44 but also to give our country the spirit
22:49 to bring customers to move faster,
22:54 and to meet with our families.
22:57 We can also study our country better.
23:01 Just as business links between China and Malaysia have boomed in recent years,
23:08 so has the flow of people moving back and forth between the countries,
23:13 whether for tourism or commerce.
23:16 Pre-pandemic, China was the biggest source of tourists to this country,
23:21 aside from Malaysia's immediate neighbours.
23:24 But tourism arrivals rebounded slower than hoped,
23:28 so Malaysia and China have worked to revitalise cross-border travel.
23:33 It was China that made the first move late in 2023,
23:37 adding Malaysians to the small group of nationalities
23:41 able to enter that country without a visa
23:44 for short tourism or business trips.
23:47 Weeks later, Malaysia followed suit,
23:50 allowing visa-free entry to Chinese nationals
23:53 until at least the end of 2024.
23:56 The impact was quickly seen and felt,
23:59 especially as the big Lunar New Year holiday came.
24:03 Tourists are now less likely to receive visas.
24:06 We hope that with visa-free entry,
24:09 we can have a year, two or three years more.
24:12 Why?
24:13 Because Malaysia's tourist numbers have increased by 80-90%.
24:17 Especially during the Lunar New Year holiday,
24:20 our tourism company accounted for more than 100 groups every day.
24:26 The visa waiver has not only boosted the number of groups from China,
24:31 it's led to a surge in people travelling as families or individuals.
24:36 We received the visa online,
24:38 and we arrived here on time.
24:40 We arrived yesterday,
24:42 and it was convenient to provide a visa and return ticket.
24:46 We entered the country quickly and conveniently.
24:49 I think this is a symbol of the friendship between the two countries,
24:54 which allowed us to come to Malaysia without a visa.
24:57 Business people, like participants in this investment forum,
25:01 are also seeing the benefits.
25:04 It's great news for both my members,
25:07 like small SMEs and big companies as well,
25:11 and also for Malaysian entrepreneurs that went to China.
25:15 It's much more convenient than previously.
25:21 The visa waiver is also helping draw kin in Malaysia and China closer together,
25:27 like the family of Malaysian Alvin Chong.
25:30 I'm a Malaysian married to my wife from China,
25:34 and we are very lucky to have five kids born in Malaysia.
25:39 We are travelling to China as a family to meet up with my wife's mum.
25:43 Before this, it wasn't easy.
25:45 There was a lot of documentation needed,
25:48 and we have never really travelled to China as a family
25:51 because every single person needs a visa.
25:54 Nowadays, we do not need a visa anymore.
25:57 We can book a ticket and fly directly as a family to China together.
26:01 So I'm very, very happy that China is actually opening up
26:04 for visa-free for all Malaysians.
26:07 Beyond this boom in travel between China and Malaysia,
26:11 a growing number of Malaysians are also choosing to learn Mandarin.
26:17 In Malaysia's education system, children can attend primary schools
26:21 in which the main language of instruction is either Malay, Tamil or Chinese.
26:27 While most ethnic Chinese have long chosen to send their kids
26:31 to the Chinese language schools,
26:34 in recent years it's become an increasingly popular option
26:37 with non-Chinese parents as well.
26:40 I want them to learn an extra language,
26:43 which I didn't have the opportunity to when I was a kid.
26:47 Most of the companies also link China.
26:50 I want them to get experience maybe working overseas in the future.
26:54 The latest figures suggest that about 18% of the new intake
26:59 in Chinese primary schools are ethnic Malays and Indians,
27:03 well up from just a decade earlier.
27:06 For me, this is a Mandarin school rather than a Chinese school, right?
27:11 So Chinese, if you talk about it, is a race,
27:13 and then Mandarin is a language, right?
27:15 So for me, I'm quite interested for my kids to learn more languages,
27:20 at the same time, culture mixed with other races.
27:24 I feel that Mandarin is important.
27:26 That is the reason that for future,
27:28 I send them to a Mandarin school or a Chinese school.
27:31 Education is yet another way in which the bonds between Malaysia and China,
27:37 between the people, cultures and economies,
27:40 are becoming even more intertwined.
27:43 The students who join us will have a better opportunity
27:49 to know more about China.
27:51 In the longer term, our graduates will play a very important role
27:57 in the connections in terms of the trade, investment, culture, education.
28:05 We have achieved quite considerable results,
28:09 quite significant and meaningful results,
28:11 but we shouldn't be complacent.
28:13 I think there is still room for further integration,
28:16 deepening that integration,
28:18 to ensure that these 50 years can be the next 50 years as well,
28:21 the next 100 years of strong relationship between Malaysia and China.
28:25 Six centuries ago, when Zheng He brought his giant fleet
28:30 to the shores of what is now Malaysia,
28:33 his arrival led to greater trade and diplomacy between these two countries.
28:38 It also helped spark a greater understanding
28:41 and appreciation of each other's cultures,
28:44 and brought new opportunities.
28:47 Those connections have grown over the past half-century of diplomatic ties,
28:53 and will only continue to grow in the decades ahead.
28:57 The spirit of Zheng He living on in the people of Malaysia and China
29:02 as they look to take that legacy to new heights.
29:05 For Assignment Asia, I'm Ryan Meltzer in Malacca, Malaysia.
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