All that glitters is not always gold in Bogor, West Java, which is home to one of Indonesia’s leading barongsai craftsmen

The dark, labyrinthine alley seemed to hold surprises that belied the hustle and bustle of Bogor’s Babakan traditional market. The sense of anticipation was increased by the number of steps, which led to a terrace of a house manned by five craftsmen.

The feeling of wonder was validated by the items the workers were tinkering with, namely panoplies of barongsai used for the lion dance, as well as longer liong used for the dragon dance. A fierce looking barongsai mask stared out of with its bulging chu plastic eyeballs, its thick red eyebrows further emphasizing the creature’s ferocity. Nearby, the head of a liong glared at visitors, its rectangular head and whiskers leaving one in little doubt of its identity as a dragon.

“The lamb’s wool eyebrows are made in China, as are the chu eyeballs. In fact, about 50 percent of the materials we work with are imported from that country,” Lily’s Barongsai and Liong Workshop head Lily Hambali told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 17. “We used to make [the eyebrows] from locally manufactured synthetic hair for dolls, but we found since that it is more convenient to import from China. We import them in bulk, otherwise there is no point.”

Simple beginnings

The surroundings and the craftsmen belie the preconception that these Chinese New Year fixtures would be made in Chinatown districts in Jakarta, Semarang or other Indonesian cities by craftsmen of Chinese descent. Yet Lily’s deft hand and those of his workers reflect the barongsai and liong’s standing in the Indonesian psyche, including Lily’s, particularly over the past 20 years.

“I started making barongsai and liong a year before then-president Abdurrahman ‘Gus Dur’ Wahid lifted the ban on Chinese traditions and officially named the Chinese New Year a holiday in 2000. However, I had been performing liong the year before,” recalled the 63-year-old, who was previously an electrician and handyman by trade. “I first noticed barongsai and liong effigies years before in the house of Yopi, a Chinese traditional culture aficionado who collected them, as I was installing electricity at the place. He noticed my interest in them, gave the items for me to practice, and encouraged me to try my hand at the performances, as well as making them.”

Lily noted the public’s enthusiasm for the traditional Chinese art as he performed liong on behalf of Megawati Soekarnoputri’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) during the 1999 elections. Their reception was a far cry from former the stance taken by president Soeharto’s New Order regime, which curtailed barongsai, liong and other Chinese-Indonesian traditions during its 32-year authoritarian rule.

Lily wasted no time getting oriented with the ins and outs of barongsai and liong. “As a barongsai and liong practitioner since the 1950s, Yopi was an expert in maintaining them. His methods included using wooden boxes, cloth covers and camphor to safeguard them from mold, fungi and other damage from humidity, damp and such like,” he said. “He also advised me to store barongsai and liong in a dry, clean place with good air circulation.”

Making strides

The 2000s and 2010s were heady days for Lily and other barongsai and liong manufacturers, as the performances became ubiquitous fixtures of the Chinese New Year. So much so, that he did not follow his revenue stream.

“I had no idea how much I made; all I knew was that I received constant orders, fulfilled them, then got paid. Public exposure through social media and other means kept the orders coming,” said Lily, who currently charges Rp 6 million (US$397) and Rp 8 million for a barongsai and liong, respectively. “The process of making and sending both effigies takes about 10 days to a month, depending on whether one orders from the Greater Jakarta area and other parts of Java, as well as other parts of Indonesia like Lampung and Papua. I have also received orders from other countries like Austria, Germany and Saudi Arabia, but they, of course, take much longer to send.”

Like other businesses, Lily’s workshop was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We did not receive any orders for about two years from when [COVID-19] struck in 2020. Business only looked up in 2022 with the gradual lifting of lockdowns and other preventive measures to check the public’s movements,” he said. “Now business is nearing [pre COVID-19 levels], as we’ve received barongsai and liong orders for the Chinese New Year since October, forcing us to stop taking orders in January. After that, we’ll take orders for various barongsai and liong tournaments year-round in Indonesia and overseas, as well as for Chinese New Year the following year.”

Lily’s Barongsai and Liong Workshop perhaps can attribute its ability to survive the pandemic while many of his counterparts did not to the painstaking craftsmanship he puts into each of his barongsai and liong. This starts with the rattan frame, followed by the paper and satin covering, which he then paints in red, yellow, and other bright colors before putting the finishing touches.

“We use parchment paper in our barongsai and liong because of their sturdy fibers, which are backed by a cloth inner lining. If they get in contact with glue or rain, the fibers keep them out,” he said. “We use high-quality rattan for the frames instead of bamboo, which is of comparable strength. Its flexibility makes it ideal to make eye sockets and other round parts compared with bamboo, which might break if put to a similar role.”

Lily said that the barongsai and liong’s colors were at the request of the customers. “The customers can order and customize the colors. Red and yellow are Chinese New Year colors of choice, particularly for acclaimed troupes like Kong Ha Hong. But smaller scale groups, especially those that perform in one mall, prefer brighter colors like pink or blue. But regardless of the venue, the barongsai and liong are made according to competition standards. However, the items are not always what they seem.”

“Liong are actually more challenging to make, especially if they are for children, because their smaller size makes them harder to work with, as well as being longer than barongsai. Barongsai are less complicated, because they are roomier and made only for the two people controlling them, in contrast to liong that are manned by 10 people.”

Looking ahead

For now, Lily is set to carry on working with various clients, among them the highly acclaimed Kong Ha Hong barongsai troupe, as well as continuing to perform liong with his own group. He has other reasons to be upbeat, as the number of barongsai and liong orders for sports events in Indonesia and overseas, as well as Chinese New Year, will keep him busy.

“KONI [the National Sports Committee of Indonesia] has officially designated barongsai and liong as sports in the upcoming National Sports Week [PON] games, which will be held in Medan, North Sumatra, in 2024. Though the competitions were held in previous games, they were experimental in nature,” he said. “This has led to an upsurge of orders from Medan, which even surpasses those from Jakarta, as the city is hosting the games.”

But regardless where and when one catches a barongsai or liong performance, it is a good bet that Lily will have had a hand in its inception.

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