Singkawang

Singkawang has the largest proportion of Chinese Indonesians of any city in the country, descended chiefly from Hakka miners brought or drawn to the West Kalimantan goldfields from the eighteenth century, who organised themselves into kongsi - self-governing mining companies, the Lanfang among them, which functioned for a century with elected leadership until the Dutch broke them. The town is called the city of a thousand temples for the density of Chinese shrines, and its Cap Go Meh, the fifteenth night of the lunar new year, is the largest in Indonesia: hundreds of tatung, spirit mediums, process through the streets in trance, pierced through the cheeks with skewers and standing on blades set into carried chairs, in a practice that draws very large crowds and considerable controversy.

History

The name comes from the Hakka San-Khew-Jong: san, "mountain", khew, "river mouth", and jong, "sea". The Salako Dayak long lived in the Sakawokng area before it became a busy trading place, Hakka Chinese farmers, traders and gold miners from south China came in along the small rivers and rested here on the way to the goldfields of Monterado, and the city was created on 21 June 2001 (Wikipedia, Singkawang).

What you'll find

• Hundreds of Chinese temples - the shrine density that gave the town its nickname.
• Cap Go Meh tatung - mediums in trance, pierced and carried on bladed chairs.
• Hakka gold-mining descent - the kongsi history behind the community.
• The most Chinese city in Indonesia - roughly four residents in ten, the largest single group.

When to go

Cap Go Meh in February or March; any time otherwise. Two days.

Before you go

Cap Go Meh involves body piercing and blood and is genuinely difficult viewing for some. Accommodation fills entirely for it. The date moves with the lunar calendar.

Nearby

Pontianak and the equator monument are south; the Sarawak border is north.

Key facts