Chinese New Year Cakes

Chinese New Year in Indonesia is celebrated by citizens of Chinese origin as well as other Indonesians.

This can be seen from the fact that so many shopping places and other public places, especially in the cities, decorate their place with Chinese decorations like Lanterns, and the Barongsai Dragon attraction.
For example, Kompas reported that Ciputra Mall in West Jakarta, prepare to celebrate this year's Chinese New Year of the Tiger on Sunday 14 February, by displaying a giant replica of the Pagoda temple made of 1,888 Chinese Cakes. 

I hope that this New Year of the Tiger will bring more Joy, Peace, Harmony and Prosperity for my fellow Indonesian Chinese citizens as well as other people in the country.

The Marvelous Pagoda Made of Chinese New Year Cakes
Kamis, 11 Februari 2010 | 08:07 WIB

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com — To celebrate the coming Chinese New Year, each mall in Jakarta is having its own festivities to attract visitors. Ciputa mall has put up a pagoda replica made of 1,888 Chinese new year cakes. These sticky cakes are also known as sweet nian gao on the mainland.


The pagoda is 5.3 m high, its base is 3.5 x 3.5 m. It's constructed of wood and decorated with unique Chinese ornaments mostly in  red.                                
                                          
The pagoda will be displayed for 25 days, from January  27 to February 21, 2010, at the mall's atrium. It took six persons to finish this 600 kg  pagoda that costs Rp. 27 million.


On the last day of the pagoda's display, on February 21, the plan is to give away all the cakes to the mall goers then. The replica has received an award from the Indonesian Museum of Records (Muri) for being unique.


"This is Indonesia's first pagoda replica made of Chinese new year cakes," stated Jaya Suprana, the director of Muri, when granting the award, Wednesday, at Ciputra mall's atrium. (HIN/C17-09)