Top 6 Fun Things To Do In Jakarta During The Chinese New Year - Updated 2023

1. Release a bird at Vihara Dharma Bakti

A Chinese temple is an exciting place to be during the festive season, as it’s packed with worshippers doing their rituals. Keep a lookout for one of the popular rituals known by the locals as ciamsi (求签), where one seek answers or check their fortunes. You’d notice devotees shaking a wood cylinder containing some bamboo sticks - each labeled with a number - till one of the sticks fall onto the floor. The stick can then be exchanged for a piece of paper containing words (in Chinese and Indonesian) of wisdom that address your current situation. If you go to a temple named ‘Vihara Dharma Bakti’ (金德院) in Glodok area, you might see people releasing sparrows to gain merit. Known as 'fang shen’ (放生), you can also buy the live sparrows from one of the hawkers for 20,000 IDR (1.40 USD for 10 sparrows) to release them. It’s believed that you’d have better luck in life as you have helped save some lives by freeing these little creatures. This is one of the fun activities in Jakarta during this season.

2. Go to Glodok to buy Chinese ornaments

Spending Chinese New Year in Jakarta? During normal days, Glodok, Jakarta’s Chinatown (West Jakarta), is the place for Jakartans to go and buy electronics at relatively cheaper prices. Nevertheless, prior to the festive Imlek, this area always becomes busier as the Chinese would come here to buy Chinese New Year ornaments like red lanterns and pink sakura tree (imitation) to decorate their houses and shops. Festive decorations and products are readily available and as you walk along the streets, take in the festive ambience and cheerful music. Don’t miss the wide variety of red packets commonly known as hong bao. These red-coloured envelopes would be filled with money to be given to the younger generation as a form of auspiciousness. You can bring home some ornaments as souvenirs.

3. Go to a mall to watch free lion dance performances

During this festive season, all malls in Jakarta would be decked in auspicious red and gold, with Chinese decorations such as dragons, red lanterns, etc. and interestingly in many malls, these decorations start as early as a month before the actual day. On selected days before or during the Chinese New Year, you will be entertained by lion dancers doing acrobatic performances (舞龙舞狮) in the mall’s atrium. Accompanied with drums and auspicious props, the dance troupe puts up an interesting performance. It is believed that shops that has been graced with these lion dancers would enjoy prosperity and good fortune in the year. Bigger malls like Grand Indonesia, Ciputra, Bay Walk, Kelapa Gading and Pondok Indah are known to have grand lion dance performances.

4. Eat and get your lucky 'hong bao' (from USD 49)

It’s Chinese New Year Eve, so eat Chinese food! All top notch Chinese restaurants in Jakarta have Chinese New Year’s dinner specials where your dinner will be accompanied with Chinese performances. You will get to see the performers singing Chinese songs, dancing and playing Chinese traditional musical instruments such as guzheng (Chinese plucked zither) and erhu (a spiked fiddle).

A useful tip: Go to Graffiti restaurant, a Chinese restaurant inside Mercure Hotel in South Jakarta. With 14 USD, not only will you get the dinner buffet (they have good steamed grouper and roasted duck) and watch Chinese performances, but you will also get a red packet containing a door prize, and if you are lucky, you might get a hotel voucher in Bali!

5. Watch midnight fireworks

In Jakarta, the midnight firework parties are held every year on Chinese New Year’s eve in many Chinese temples like Vihara Dharma Bakti, as well as two of Jakarta’s biggest malls, Central Park in West Jakarta and Bay Walk in North Jakarta. It’s better if you can stay in a hotel close to the Chinese temple or mall so that you can simply go to the location on foot, as the traffic is very congested during this time.

6. Dine at Li Feng in Mandarin Oriental

Editor's Note: Photo taken from the establishment's official social account

What better way to celebrate the Chinese New Year than by indulging in some of their best-tasting delicacies? Should you find yourself celebrating this festivity in Jakarta, one of the best places to get a taste of delicious Chinese food is at Li Feng, which is located in Mandarin Oriental Hotel. This upscale restaurant features a luxurious dining set-up and serves traditional Cantonese dishes. Li Feng has partnered with Chef Fei, the mastermind behind the Michelin-starred Jiang restaurant at Guangzhou’s Mandarin Oriental. Menu highlights include deep-friend swan dumplings and sweet and sour chicken. Be sure to make a reservation to secure your table!

Li Feng in Mandarin Oriental

Address: Jl. M.H. Thamrin, RT.1/RW.5, Menteng, Kec. Menteng, Jakarta, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta 10310, Indonesia

Website: Li Feng in Mandarin Oriental

Opening hours: Mon - Fri: 11:30am - 2:30pm, 4pm - 7pm; Sat - Sun: 11am - 3pm, 4pm - 7pm