The Baba Nyonya or ‘Peranakan’ are terms used for the descendents of the early Chinese immigrants of Melaka on the Malay Peninsula. The word Peranakan is also used to describe Indonesian Chinese. In both Malay and Bahasa Indonesia Peranakan means ‘descendants’. Babas refer to the male descendants and the Nyonyas the female. Most Peranakan are of Hokkien ancestry, with a few of Teochew or Cantonese descent.
Whether there was ever any intermarriage with the indigenous Malay people is a matter for debate. Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that Peranakan men usually took brides from within the local Peranakan community. Peranakan families also commonly imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands. If a Chinese man took a Malay bride, he usually became assimilated into the Malay community and converted to Islam, rather than his bride remaining within the Peranakan community.
Continue reading ‘Baba Nyonya Community’
— asmaliana
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