Chap Goh Mei

Chap Goh Mei is the closing night of the 15-day Chinese New Year period. Penang’s state-level celebration is held on the Esplanade seafront in front of Penang City Hall and Town Hall in George Town. In 2026 about 50 stalls, food trucks and craft vendors lined the area, and thousands of people attended.

The 2026 programme included lion dances on poles, a Chingay display, a Chinese mask-changing act, live bands, Ratu Kebaya contestants and a parade of floats led by a decorated bus. The floats carried Baba and Nyonya performers singing Dondang Sayang, a Peranakan love ballad exchanged with rhymed verses (pantun). The evening ended with fireworks.

The highlight is tossing mandarin oranges into the sea. The custom is traditionally associated with unmarried people looking for a life partner. Many people now do it as a gesture of good luck and new beginnings.

Chap Goh Mei is Hokkien for the 15th night. The Dondang Sayang tradition dates to 15th-century Melaka and became linked with Penang’s Chap Goh Meh in the 1920s. The State Chinese (Penang) Association says Penang is the only Malaysian state that has kept up the Dondang Sayang float and bus parade since the 1920s.

The Esplanade seafront promenade and seawall won a 2025 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation, so the 2027 event takes place on an award-winning heritage site.

The state celebration at the Esplanade was an open public event in 2026. The 2027 date is Saturday 20 February, from the Hong Kong Observatory lunar calendar (the 15th day of the first lunar month), and no 2027 programme or times had been announced when this page was written.

The Esplanade (Padang Kota Lama) is on the George Town seafront in front of Penang City Hall and Town Hall. The 2026 Dondang Sayang convoy left the State Chinese (Penang) Association on Perak Road, stopped at the Esplanade, then continued to Gurney Bay.

Other 2026 events around Chap Goh Meh were a Chap Goh Meh By-The-Sea event at Straits Quay (from 4pm, with orange tossing sessions), a lantern festival at the Penang Chinese Town Hall on the eve, and Chneah Hoay flame-watching at the Hai Choo Soo Tua Pek Kong Temple in Tanjung Tokong at about 11pm on the eve. Similar events may return in 2027.

Go early. The Esplanade fills up as the evening goes on, and tossing queues build near the seafront.

Bring a mandarin orange if you want to take part, and expect to wait for your turn.

Check the forecast. Heavy rain has cut the Dondang Sayang parade short before.

The Esplanade is a flat seafront promenade in central George Town, but it is very crowded on the night. The organisers had not published accessibility details for 2027.