The Chinese are waking up to Malaysian coffee

BEIJING: Malaysia and China may be thousands of kilometres apart, but the similarities of the two nations have brought the people together, if not closer.

Zhao Gang, who has made 36 working trips to Malaysia since 2001, said he felt like he had not left home because he still spoke Putonghua (Mandarin) with the locals. He was overwhelmed that Chinese lion dances, dragon boat races and festivals are well preserved and further developed in Malaysia.

Zhao Gang said he was touched to see a shoemaker making traditional embroidered shoes in an alley in Malacca.

“Even in China, many of these shops were eliminated from the business scene, and only the old and famous ones survived,” he added.

“We should learn from the spirit of this Malaysian shi fu (master) in preserving and passing on this traditional skill.”

He was also amazed that Malaysian troupes dominated the World Lion Dance Cham­pionship since it debuted in 1994.

Zhao Gang, who is in the tourism industry, said Malaysia has much to explore – cities, outskirts and islands – and he makes new discoveries on every trip even though he has been to the same place a dozen times.

Malaysia received some 2.1 million Chinese tourists last year.

“The people are friendly and helpful and many of the local Chinese speak Putonghua,” said backpacker Xue Rou, who had a worry-free trip to Malaysia a few years ago.

The beautiful islands along the East Coast states of the Peninsula made a deep impression on her and she wants to return in the future.

Apart from tourism, Malaysia has also introduced musang king durian and white coffee to the Chinese. The demand for these two products is growing, with many travel agencies adding a special durian stop on their tours to Malaysia to lure customers.

According to the Federal Agricultural Marketing Agency, Malaysia exported some RM60mil worth of durian products to China last year, nearly double the amount exported the previous year.

And the export of white coffee to China hit US$51mil (RM216mil) for the first quarter this year, almost the same amount as the whole of 2015.

“I love eating durian and my whole family loves it too,” said a housewife shopping for durian at a store here, “but mao shan wang (musang king in Mandarin) is very pricey so we can’t eat it often.”

The friendship of the two nations began decades ago, with Malaysia being the very first Asean country to extend its diplomacy to China.

To mark this significant milestone, China sent a pair of its national treasures – giant pandas – to Malaysia to celebrate the 40th anniversary of bilateral relations in 2014.

The panda couple adapted well and gave birth to a cub in 2015.