Brown Earth Dog lantern wins accolades
For the record: Jue Cheng (sixth from right) receiving the Malaysia Book of Records certificate for the ‘Biggest revolving dog lantern’ from Tio (fifth from left) in Kuala Langat as Bai Tian (centre) looks on. KUALA LANGAT: It took volunteers several months to complete the giant “Brown Earth Dog” lantern with thousands of LEDs in it.
Their grand effort paid off with the lantern making it into the Malaysia Book of Records as the “Biggest Revolving Dog Lantern”.
Standing at 12.36m tall and 11.55m wide, the structure, made of yellow velvet and recycled material, is able to rotate 360 degrees.
The giant dog lantern is the main attraction at this year’s lantern festival at the Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Dong Zen Temple in Jenjarom.
The design embodies loyalty and honour, and commemorates the Year of the Dog.
It is also in line with a couplet written by FGS founder Master Hsing Yun that emphasises loyalty.
Malaysia Book of Records CEO Datuk Michael Tio presented the certificate to Ven Jue Cheng, who is the chief abbess of FGS for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.
Witnessing the ceremony was special guest Bai Tian, who is China’s Ambassador to Malaysia.
The envoy arrived with his team earlier in the day to attend several community events where he met with local community leaders.
Bai Tian congratulated FGS and the temple for making it to the record book, and thanked them for their warm hospitality.
“The beautiful and fascinating lantern festival here not only livens up the Chinese New Year spirit, it is also a good example of inheritance of Chinese culture,” he said.
Thousands of visitors have visited the temple since the lantern festival began on Feb 14.
The festival will be held till March 4. It is open from 10am to 10pm and admission is free.