At the 22nd China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF), cultures from across China are sharing the stage with voices from around the world. Among the international exhibitors are many economies from the Asia-Pacific region, including Indonesia, which brings its own traditions, products, and stories to Shenzhen.
At the Indonesian booth, I met Hartanto W. Tanto, a fourth-generation Chinese Indonesian whose family history mirrors more than a century of cultural exchanges between China and Southeast Asia.
"My family originally came from Fujian during the 'Nanyang' migration period," he said, referring to the mass migration of southern Chinese people to Southeast Asia. "My grandmother sent my father to China to study Chinese in the 1960s, and later in 1999, she also sent me here. So she had two generations of the family return to China to study Chinese."
This year, his team brought two signature Indonesian products to ICIF: sambal sauce and Batik (wax-dyeing) textiles.
He described sambal as Indonesia's version of "Lao Gan Ma", a versatile sauce commonly paired with rice and snacks. But for him, the sauce carries something more personal.
"The recipe came from my grandmother," he explained. "It may have originated from older family cooking traditions brought from China, but over time, local Indonesian ingredients changed the flavor. Eventually, it became the taste I grew up with."
For Hartanto, these products represent the blending of cultures rather than a fixed identity.
"It's not black and white," he said. "It's a process of fusion."
He believes many elements of Indonesian Chinese culture can be traced back to Guangdong and Fujian, having been brought overseas by earlier generations of migrants. Over time, those traditions mixed with local Indonesian culture and evolved into something entirely new.
Through cultural products and creative industries, he hopes more people can understand the shared history between China and Indonesia, and the stories carried across generations.
At ICIF, those stories are not only found in museums or history books, but also in daily things: a bottle of chili sauce and the memories of families connected across the seas.
Reporter: Li Fangwang
Video & Poster: Li Fangwang
Photo: Li Fangwang
