The Complex Task of Being Chinese Peranakan

By Peter Soh

January 2020 FEATURE
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Cedric and his family during Chap Goh Mei 2002. Photo: Peter Soh.
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The Baba-Nyonya (or Chinese Peranakan) remains a subject of fascination. Much has been debated about the different nomenclatures – Peranakan, Straits Chinese, Straits-born Chinese and King’s Chinese – but the narrative of this Sino-Malay culture is never far from the popular image of a Nyonya in her embroidered sarong kebaya and her resplendent jewellery.Such a gendered narrative has “frozen Peranakan culture and identity to a specific past”,1 and has led to the Peranakan identity being perceived as nothing more than...

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Peter Soh

is a Peranakan writer who is very interested in exploring the discourse and identity of the Chinese Peranakan. One of his Peranakan short stories was featured in the Emerging Malaysian Writers 2018 anthology. He is currently the Head of Humanities in Maple Leaf Kingsley International School, and teaches Sociology.

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