Chinese-Balinese expect Year of the Goat to bring prosperity

The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

On Jan. 26, the Chinese community in the predominantly Hindu Bali began a week-long celebration for the Chinese New Year, known here as Imlek, to welcome the Year of the Goat.

There are no official statistics on the size of the Chinese community in Bali, but it is understood that it has been increasing rapidly since l998 when Chinese-Indonesians from Jakarta and Surabaya fled to Bali to escape anti-Chinese riots in Java.

I Bagus Adnyana, a religious official at the Chinese Dwipayana Temple in Kuta, expects thousands of worshipers on New Year's Eve, which falls on Jan. 31. "They will come from around Bali and Java," he said.

A ceremony held last Sunday at the temple to kick off the celebrations was aimed at getting rid of evil spirits. All of the statues and figurines representing Chinese gods and goddesses were cleaned up.

"During the New Year, our ancestors' spirits, gods and goddesses will visit their homes on earth. Therefore, we should clean up temples and houses," Adnyana said.

On Wednesday night, the Dwipayana Temple held a special lion dance (barongsai) and dragon dance (liong) as part of its celebrations.

"We burned a barongsai mask as a sacrifice to purify both the macrocosmic and microcosmic world," Adnyana said.

Events to celebrate Imlek are being held at a number of major Chinese temples, locally called kongco or klenteng, in Tanjung Benoa, near Benoa Harbor, and Blahbatu in Batubulan Gianyar, 15 kilometers south of Denpasar.

The Chinese community has long been accepted by the majority Balinese community. Many ethnic Chinese, now regarded as Chinese- Balinese, have converted to Hinduism and adopted Balinese names. Yet, they still retain their Chinese ancestral traditions.

Sri Hartani, a businesswoman from Singaraja, North Bali, said that her family, nieces, cousins and neighbors planned to hold a special prayer and dinner on the Chinese New Year's Eve.

"We will prepare the best family dishes, heaps of fruits and flower offerings as a sign of our gratitude for all the divine blessings over the past year," Hartani said.

On New Year's Day on Feb. 1, many Chinese-Indonesians in Bali will visit several Chinese temples around Bali, notably in Denpasar, Kuta, Nusa Dua, Blahbatuh in Gianyar regency, and some in Singaraja, Bali's port city, where the first Chinese migrants arrived.

A number of tour organizers are offering special tours of Chinese temples in Bali during the Chinese New Year.

Setiadi, a freelance tour guide, said the packages targeted Chinese-Indonesians from Central and East Java.

Historically, Bali has had a special relationship with China since the first Chinese immigrants arrived on the island in the seventh century.

The Chinese migrants brought Chinese culture to their new home and blended it with the local culture. The Chinese influence on Balinese culture has been profound. This influence is still vividly visible in many temple decorations, Chinese porcelains, traditional dances and costumes (the barong, for example), religious offerings (Chinese coins), folklore and mythology.

Historians from the Bali Museum believe commercial and cultural contact between Bali and China has been taking place as far back as the Tang Dynasty in China, around 618 A.D. to 904 A.D.

I Nyoman Wijaya, a noted historian from Udayana University in Denpasar, has documented the Chinese population in Bali. He theorizes that the Chinese arrived in Bali during three main periods -- the ancient period, the Dutch colonial period and the present day.

The first Chinese traders are believed to have come to Bali to trade with Javanese and Balinese kingdoms between the 7th and 9th centuries. The second wave of Chinese migrants came to Bali as slaves and traders during the Dutch colonial period, between the 18th and 19th centuries.

"Many of them were artists, architects, medical people and traders," Wijaya wrote. Chinese artists and traditional healers easily mingled with the locals but not the traders, he said. The influence of Chinese art has been strong on the Balinese painting style, including the use of Chinese ink and objects.

Local scholars have much evidence of the Chinese community in Bali in the distant past.

Chinese coins are the most immediately visible sign of Chinese influence in Bali. The coins, known as pis bolong (coin with a hole in the center), were not used as a means of legal tender but they are used in ceremonies. The pis bolong is regarded as a symbol of wealth and prosperity, so during every ritual the Balinese always use these coins.

Another piece of evidence is the presence of ornate Chinese porcelain in royal palaces and prominent Hindu temples in Bali.

Although not as important or as common as the coins, Chinese plates -- from as early as the 9th century Sung Dynasty -- have been found all over Bali, along with porcelain from Korea, Japan and Europe. The plates and other household utensils were previously used for ceremonial purposes, writes Fred B. Eisman Jr. in his book Bali Sekala and Niskala.

He also noted an interesting and little known example of Chinese culture in Bali, embodied in the Baris Cina dance. There are dozens of varieties of the baris dance performed during religious ceremonies in Hindu temples. These dances have no connection with any of the Chinese temples.

Balinese oral literature/folklore, legends and stories also reveal clues about the presence of the Chinese community in Bali. One story says that the thousands of dogs roaming Bali's streets and villages have their origin in China. The story goes that the first dog in Bali was brought by a Chinese princess who resided in Kintamani, north Bali.