First Yingge in JB

First Yingge dance troup at Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk

Johor Baru earned its nickname – Little Swatow – as Teochew culture flourished here when more Teochew people immigrated to Johor in the mid 1800’s.  That’s because Swatow or Shantou [Mandarin] a province in Guangdong, China, is the original homeland of most of Johor’s Teochew population. 

As the largest dialect group in Johor Baru, the Teochew clan is known to have always taken the lead among the Chinese clans in Johor.

The Johor Theng Chuan Tan Clan Association, which held a grand celebration for its 70^th anniversary in June 2011, is committed to cultivating cultural interest among youths through taking part in various Chinese cultural activities and training in the art of Teochew opera. 

Keen crowd at Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk
watching assembly of Yingge troupe

As part of their anniversary celebration last June, they hosted a troupe of traditional Yingge dancers from Thailand who appeared in Johor Baru for the first time as the star attraction in the evening’s event at Tan Hiok Nee Heritage Walk on 25 June 2011. 

Regulars at the Heritage Walk had their first glimpse of this exciting performance and thrilled to see the costumes and colour, bold make-up and energetic segments of their march along the streets around the heart of old Johor Baru.

I was privileged to be part of the celebrations and am glad to share some pictorial mementoes of that special event:

Stick fight demo by two artistes

Sword and defence demo

Human tower made by seven artistes!



The Yingge troupe was the main attraction at the Tan Clan's 70th anniversary celebration on 25 June 2011



This Yingge troupe performed well into the night with a street march through old JB



The Theng Chuan Tan Clan Johor guild house is located at 4F-1 & 4G-1 Jalan Tun Abdul Razak, Susur 3, Johor Baru.  Tel: 607 – 2272 985, 2272 986, Fax: 607 – 2272 987 or email: info@tanclasjb.my and tanassn@yahoo.com.  Visit website: http://www.tanclanjb.my/ for more info.

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