Chingay, the art of balancing giant flag poles, some 7.8 metres to 9.8 metres long, was designated Malaysia’s cultural heritage in 2012. It is especially popular in Penang, where the batik-art doyen Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng came from. The annual street parade is a huge tourist attraction and it has been held since 1905 to celebrate the birthdays of Chinese deities. People young and old would line the parade route to watch the skilful exponents moving in the streets, balancing the heavy poles some as much as 27kg, on the head, shoulder and even navel as the strong man closest to viewer can be seen, a fount of stability, as his comrades around him show off their skills. Dato’ Chuah Thean Teng is acknowledged as the progenitor of Batik Painting, a world art genre from a 2,000 crafts tradition, which he developed in 1953 and continuously pushed the parameters, since his first solo at the Arts Council in Penang in 1955. He was arguably the first Malaysian to have an exhibition abroad, at the Commonwealth Institute, London, in 1959, and was a guest in the Commonwealth Artists of Fame exhibition in London, to mark the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation in 1977. Images of his paintings, Two Of A Kind (1968) and Tell You A Secret (1988), were selected for UNICEF greeting cards. The National Art Gallery Kuala Lumpur accorded him a Retrospective in 1965 and a Tribute exhibition in 2008. He was given a Retrospective by the Penang State Art Gallery in 1994. He was awarded the Dato’ title in 1998 and the Living Heritage Award in 2005. His main works are housed in the Yahong Art Gallery, established in 1974, which sells art, antiques and trinkets.