By Foo Ming Li
The Mid-Autumn Festival is an annual celebration where family members gather together to gaze at the full moon while enjoying mooncakes. The most anticipated activity during the celebration involves carrying lanterns of various colours and sizes at night. The lights from the lanterns brighten the mood and atmosphere for everyone. However, this practice of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival is no longer popular among the youth of today.
Goh Hun Sim is the second-generation owner of Goh Gin Seong Biscuits, that sells biscuits and other local products including lanterns when the Mid-Autumn Festival is just around the corner. Goh says that the shop was opened in 1966 by his father, and his family has been selling lanterns ever since.
Goh says that the pandemic has affected his business, and lantern suppliers are reducing lantern orders. Goh adds that he is not familiar with the process of setting up an online business due to his lack of knowledge in relation to use of technology. He is also worried about scammers who may take advantage of his lack of knowledge or experience in online business.
When asked about cellophane lanterns, Goh explains that there are not many lantern makers in Penang who are willing to pass on their lantern-making skills to the younger generation to make cellophane lanterns. He adds that the youth of today are not interested in inheriting and running traditional businesses as they would like to start a new life by migrating overseas.
“My children are now working overseas and they would not want to risk leaving their jobs to come back to Penang and manage our old shop,” says Goh.
Kong Fatt Trading is another traditional shop that sells prayer products and decorative items, including Mid-Autumn Festival lanterns. However, Kong Fatt Trading has made the decision to utilise Shopee as an online platform for commerce.
Kenny Lim, the fourth-generation owner of Kong Fatt Trading, says that selling his products online has helped him to gain some profit. He says that he is adaptive as a business owner who does not mind resorting to online shopping platforms to sell his products.
Lim adds that having set up his business on Shopee, there have been overseas customers who are interested in buying his lanterns.
“I had a customer from Singapore who bought my lanterns via Shopee, and another customer from London who sometime sends me WhatsApp messages asking me details about my lanterns,” says Lim.
Lim says that it is hard to source for traditional lanterns nowadays, especially when the youth of today are not interested in celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival, and shopping malls or condominiums rarely employ lanterns as decorative items. Lim also adds that he sells traditional cellophane lanterns because he used to celebrate the Festival by carrying lanterns when he was young.
Leave a Reply