Ask Not What The Association Can Do For You!
“So you are a Baba,” my Chinese-Chinese friends would say (somewhat disdainfully) when they discover that I don’t know the lingo. Some would even label me “half-past-six Chinese” or “Chinese celup” and laugh loudly. Good thing for them that I can laugh with them. Yes, I am a Baba although that is not the reason why I don’t speak Chinese because most Peranakans I know do. The reason is my ethnic origin and the un-Chinese environment in which I grew up. Let me give you the tedious details…
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Peranakan Personalities- Behind Street & Institutional Names
Learn more about the Peranakan personalities behind streets & institutional names.
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The Philippine “Peranakan” Experience
Ms Dee Huat Guan visited our website in March 2000, and was inspired enough to contribute this insight to the Chinese Filipino experience.
The first Chinese junks arrived in the Philippines around the 9th century A.D. When the Spaniards settled in the kingdom of Maynilad (today the city of Manila) in 1571, there were only about 150 Chinese settling with the natives. Upon the establishment of the Spanish colony, the number of Chinese drastically changed, and, by 1600, their number had increased to 15,000.
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The Chinese Peranakan Heritage in Singapore
Heritage is valued in a community for its cultural content whether all the inherited practices and rituals represented by it are being continued or otherwise. This is because the inherited values always remain with the community. If you visit the Images of Singapore show at Sentosa, as the brochure you pick up quite truthfully claims, ‘life-sized figures come alive, and rare artifacts and state-of-the-art technology bring you realistic sights, sounds and smells.’ Among the treats offered to you is a full-scale Peranakan wedding ceremony! In the course of the realistic enactment of the traditions and celebrations ‘you can be part of’, the Images show offers you a real kaleidoscope of Tamil, Malay, Chinese and Peranakan practices. The Asian Civilisations Museum at Armenian Street has a permanent exhibition called Peranakan Legacy.
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The Romantic Master of Dondang Sayang Gwee Peng Kwee
I met the late Mr Gwee Peng Kwee during the twilight of his life. He was 81 years old, trapped with weakened limbs and dimming eyesight but his mind was brilliant with memories of his youth, his passion for music and dance, and most of all, his superlative gift of composing dondang sayang verses.
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Growing Up in Katong
It was a rather dusty lane, leading to the original Marine Parade, a seaside promenade, on one end, and to the main East Coast Road on the other. This is where I grew up, and I recall a childhood swirling with the language, habits and culture of the Peranakans who lived alongside the Eurasians, China-born Chinese, Boyanese Malays, Jews and an exotic parade of Indians of all castes and colours. This was Singapore at the end of British rule and the dawn of independence.
Cynthia Wee-Hoefer reminisces on growing up in the Peranakan heartland during the 50s and 60.
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Little Phoenixes and Dragons at Play!
Free entry for for all. Children’s Season Weekend Festival 18 & 19 June 2011 / activites from 12pm -5pm Free icecream for the first 500 visitors each day!
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Chinese Peranakan Food and Symbolism in Malaysia
Extracts of a paper by Tan Chee Beng,
Department of Anthropology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
First published in The 5th Symposium on Chinese Dietary Culture, Foundation of Chinese Dietary Culture, Taipei, 1998
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Chongkak, anyone?
Heather Ong On the afternoon of July 17, a group of members embarked on a nostalgic trip to rediscover traditional Peranakan Games. The wonderful aroma of laksa, mee siam, bubor cha-cha & Nonya kueh greeted us as we arrived at Chilli Padi – the Nonya Family Restaurant. There was a good mix of members, young [...]
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Past issues of the Peranakan now online !
Note: you have to be logged in as a member in order to access them
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