View source for Peranakan Chinese

{{Short description|Chinese-descended ethnic group of Southeast Asia}}
{{About|Peranakans with Chinese ancestry|Peranakans with Indian ancestry|Chitty|Peranakan Muslims of Indian and Malay descent|Jawi Peranakan}}
{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Peranakan Chinese
| native_name      = 峇峇娘惹<br/>''Baba Nyonya''<br/>''Baba Yaya ''
| image            = [[File:Wedding portrait of a Peranakan couple.jpg|250px]]
| caption          = A photograph of Peranakan wedding couple – Chung Guat Hooi, the daughter of Kapitan [[Chung Thye Phin]] and Khoo Soo Beow, the son of Khoo Heng Pan, both of Penang – from a museum in [[Penang]]
| population       = 8,000,000+ (estimates)<ref name="thejakartapost">{{cite news|url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/26/chinese-indonesians-can039t-be-put-boxes.html|title=Chinese Indonesians can't be put in boxes|newspaper=The Jakarta Post|date=26 May 2008|access-date=10 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225114454/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2008/05/26/chinese-indonesians-can039t-be-put-boxes.html|archive-date=25 February 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>
| popplace         = [[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]],<ref name="theperanakansourcelibrary">{{cite web|author=Peranakan Publications|url=http://peranakan.hostoi.com/IndonesiaPeranakans.htm|title=Tionghua Indonesian Chinese Peranakans|publisher=Peranakan.hostoi.com|access-date=10 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606155159/http://peranakan.hostoi.com/IndonesiaPeranakans.htm|archive-date=6 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Southern Thailand]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Forbes |first=Andrew |title=Phuket's Peranakan Community |url=https://www.cpamedia.com/article.php?pg=features&aid=120619144240 |website=CPA Media |language=en}}</ref>
| langs            = [[Malay trade and creole languages#Baba Malay|Baba Malay]] and other [[Malayic languages|varieties of Malay]], [[Penang Hokkien]], [[Singaporean Hokkien]], and other [[varieties of Chinese]], [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]], [[Sundanese language|Sundanese]], [[Javanese language|Javanese]], [[Betawi language|Betawi]], [[Southern Thai language|Southern Thai]], [[English language|English]], [[Singlish]], [[Dutch language|Dutch]]
| rels             = '''Majority:'''<br>[[Mahayana|Mahāyāna Buddhism]], [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]] <br> '''Minority:'''<br>[[Sunni Islam]], [[Christianity]] and Other religions
| related          = [[Chinese diaspora]], [[Benteng people|Benteng]], [[Chinese in the Bangka Belitung Islands|Bangka Island Peranakan Chinese]], [[Kelantan Peranakan Hokkien|Cina Kampung]], [[Sino-Natives]], [[Malaysian Chinese]], [[Thai Chinese]], [[Chinese Singaporeans]], [[Chinese Indonesians]] (Chindo), [[Sri Lankan Malays]], [[Filipino Chinese]]
}}
{{Infobox Chinese
| c = 峇峇娘惹
| p = Bābā-niángrě
| poj = Bā-bā-nō͘-niâ
| j = 
| mi = 
| ci = 
| tha = Baba Yaya / Baba Phuket
| msa = Baba Nyonya / Cina Peranakan / Cina Selat
}}
The '''Peranakan Chinese''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|r|ɑː|n|ə|ˌ|k|ɑː|n|,_|-|k|ən}}) are an [[ethnic group]] defined by their genealogical descent from the first waves of Southern Chinese settlers to [[maritime Southeast Asia]], known as [[Nanyang (region)|Nanyang]] ({{lang-zh|c=南洋|p=nán yáng|l=Southern Ocean}}), namely the [[British Empire|British]], [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], and [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] colonial ports in the [[Malay Peninsula]] and the [[List of islands of Indonesia|Indonesian Archipelago]], as well as [[Singapore Island|Singapore]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://forvo.com/word/peranakan/#ms|title=Peranakan|access-date=15 January 2020|website=Forvo}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=15 July 2019|title=Scientists in Singapore complete DNA study on Peranakans|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eEwDk630sI|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200116020142/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eEwDk630sI|archive-date=16 January 2020|access-date=16 January 2020|website=Youtube}}</ref> The Peranakan Chinese are often simply referred to as the '''Peranakans'''.{{Efn|"The Peranakan Chinese, however, form the largest and the most important group, and for this reason many scholars use Peranakan to refer specifically to the Chinese group."}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Peranakan {{!}} History, Cuisine & Language {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peranakan |access-date=2024-12-05 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Peranakan culture, especially in the dominant Peranakan centres of [[Malacca]], [[Singapore]], [[Penang]], [[Phuket]], and [[Tangerang]], is characterized by its unique hybridization of ancient Chinese culture with the local cultures of the [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] region, the result of a centuries-long history of [[transculturation]] and [[interracial marriage]].

Immigrants from the southern provinces of China arrived in significant numbers in the region between the 14th and 17th centuries, taking abode in the Malay Peninsula (where their descendants in Malacca, Singapore and Penang are referred to as '''Baba–Nyonya'''); the [[Southern Thailand]] (where their descendants are referred to as '''Baba-Yaya'''), primarily in [[Phuket]], [[Trang province|Trang]], [[Phang Nga]], [[Takua Pa]], and [[Ranong]];<ref name="D'Oliveiro">{{Cite web|last=D'Oliveiro|first=Michael|date=31 March 2007|title=The Peranakan Trail|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2007/3/31/lifefocus/17061503&sec=lifefocus|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120905005849/http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=%2F2007%2F3%2F31%2Flifefocus%2F17061503&sec=lifefocus|archive-date=5 September 2012|website=The Star Online|language=en}}</ref><ref name="West, Barbara A. 2009 657">{{cite book|author=West, Barbara A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pCiNqFj3MQsC&q=Encyclopedia+of+the+Peoples+of+Asia+and+Oceania|title=Encyclopedia Of The Peoples Of Asia And Oceania|publisher=Facts On File|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8160-7109-8|page=657}}</ref> [[Terengganu]] (where their descendants are referred to as '''Cheng Mua Lang''')<ref name="Keunikan peranakan Cina Terengganu">{{Cite web|first=Farah |last=Shazwani Ali |date=22 October 2019|title=Keunikan peranakan Cina Terengganu|url=https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/53372/khas/kitalahmalaysia/keunikan-peranakan-cina-terengganu|website=Sinar Harian|language=ms}}</ref> and [[North Borneo]] from the 18th century (where their descendants in [[Sabah]] are also referred to as '''[[Sino-Native]]s'''). Intermarriage between these Chinese settlers and their [[Malay people|Malay]], [[Thai people|Thai]], [[Javanese people|Javanese]], or other predecessors in the region contributed to the emergence of a distinctive hybrid culture and ostensible [[phenotype|phenotypic]] differences.<ref>{{cite web|title=Peranakan|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peranakan|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002043952/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peranakan|archive-date=2 October 2019|access-date=14 January 2020|website=Encyclopaedia Britannica}}</ref><ref name="Mixed">{{Cite book|last=Pue|first=Giok Hun|title=Mixed Race in Asia: Past, Present and Future|publisher=Routledge|year=2017|editor-last=Rocha|editor-first=Zarine L.|location=London|pages=147–161|chapter=‘Our Chinese’: the mixedness of Peranakan Chinese identities in Kelantan, Malaysia}}</ref> Through colonisation of the region, the impact and presence of the Peranakan Chinese spread beyond Nusantara.<ref name=Ceylon>{{Cite book |last=Ricci |first=Ronit|title=Banishment and Belonging Exile and Diaspora in Sarandib, Lanka and Ceylon |year=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=1–22}}</ref> In [[Sri Lanka]], the Peranakan Chinese went on to contribute to the development of the [[Sri Lankan Malays|Sri Lankan Malay identity]] that emerged in the nation during [[Dutch Ceylon|Dutch rule]].<ref name=Ceylon/>

The Peranakans are considered a [[multiracial people|multiracial]] community, with the caveat that individual family histories vary widely and likewise self-identification with multiracialism as opposed to Chineseness varies widely.<ref name="Mixed" /><ref name="Chia">{{Cite web|url=https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/peranakan-chinese-malay-identity-singapore-bicentennial-10745232|title=I am Peranakan, not Chinese|date=7 October 2018|access-date=14 January 2020|website=Channel News Asia|last=Chia|first=Josephine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126060621/https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/peranakan-chinese-malay-identity-singapore-bicentennial-10745232|archive-date=26 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The Malay/Indonesian phrase "orang Cina bukan Cina" ("a not-Chinese Chinese person")<ref>{{Cite web|title=Peranakans|url=http://babanyonyamuseum.com/the-peranakans/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112062658/http://babanyonyamuseum.com/the-peranakans/|archive-date=12 January 2020|access-date=16 January 2020|website=Baba & Nyonya Heritage Museum, Malacca}}</ref> encapsulates the complex relationship between Peranakan identity and Chinese identity. The particularities of genealogy and the unique syncretic culture are the main features that distinguish the Peranakan from descendants of later waves of Chinese immigrants to the region.

== Etymology ==
The word ''Peranakan'' is a grammatical [[inflection]] of the [[Malay language|Malay]] and [[Indonesian language|Indonesian]] word ''anak'', meaning ''child'' or ''offspring''. With the addition of the prefix ''per-'' and the suffix ''-an'' to the root ''anak'', the modified word ''peranakan'' has a variety of meanings. Among other things, it can mean ''womb'', or it can be used as a designator of genealogical descent, connoting ancestry or lineage, including great-grandparents or more-distant ancestors. On its own, when used in common parlance, the word "peranakan" does not denote a specific ethnicity of descent unless followed by a subsequent qualifying noun. For example ''Peranakan Tionghoa/Cina'' may simply mean "Chinese descendants"; likewise ''Jawi Peranakan'' can mean "Arab descendants", or ''Peranakan Belanda'' "Dutch descendants".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kridalaksana |first=Harimurti |title=Kamus Sinonim Bahasa Indonesia |year=1974 |publisher=Nusa Indah |language=id |author-link=Harimurti Kridalaksana}}</ref><ref name="Kamus"/>

However, in a semantic shift, the word ''peranakan'' has come to be used as a "metaphorical" adjective that has the meaning of "locally born but non-indigenous".<ref name=Mixed/> In Indonesian, it can denote "hybrid" or "crossbred".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/indonesian-english/peranakan|title=Peranakan|access-date=15 January 2019|website=Cambridge Dictionary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115052016/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/indonesian-english/peranakan|archive-date=15 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Thus the term "Peranakan Cina" or "Peranakan Tionghoa" can have the literal or archaic meaning of "Chinese womb" or "Chinese descendants" or "Chinese ancestry" or "descended from the Chinese"—but more latterly has come to mean "locally born but non-indigenous Chinese" or even "[[half-caste]] Chinese". The semantic shift is presumed to have arisen from the thorough hybridization or [[Cultural assimilation|assimilation]] of the earliest Chinese or other non-indigenous settlers in the Malay Archipelago such that their ethnic heritage needed to be specified whenever referring to them, either to avoid confusion or to emphasise difference. The designator ''peranakan''—in its original sense simply connoting "descendant of X ethnicity", or "the wombs of X"—emerged as the name for entire ethnic groups that were "locally born but non-indigenous" or perceived to be "hybrid" and "crossbred", and, in time, the latter meaning has come to predominate. It should also be noted that the broadness of the semantic range of ''peranakan'' means that it can have significantly different connotations in different parts of the Nusantara region and across different dialects or variants of the Malay and Indonesian languages.

The word ''Peranakan,'' which can have very broad and labile meanings in [[Malay language|Malay]] and Indonesian and, when used in common parlance, is simply an indicator of heritage or descent, may also be used to refer to other ethnic groups in the same region. Owing to the broad meaning of the term 'peranakan', the term is also encountered when referring to other communities in the region with similar histories of immigration and assimilation. For example, the [[Chitty]] may accurately refer to themselves as 'Indian Hindu Peranakans', meaning "of Indian Hindu descent" or "locally born but non-indigenous Indian Hindu". Likewise the [[Kristang people|Kristang]] may accurately refer to themselves as 'Eurasian Peranakans'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.peranakanmuseum.org.sg/themuseum/abtperanakans.html |title=Peranakan Museum |publisher=Peranakan Museum |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209102126/http://www.peranakanmuseum.org.sg/themuseum/abtperanakans.html |archive-date=9 February 2014 }}</ref> The name of the [[Jawi Peranakan|Jawi Pekan]] people is derived from 'Peranakan', [[Jawi alphabet|Jawi]] being the Javanised [[Arabic script]], and ''Pekan'' being a colloquial contraction of ''Peranakan''.<ref name="Kamus">{{Cite book |last=Nasution |first=Sadaoh |title=Kamus Umum Lengkap: Inggris-Indonesia Indonesia-Inggris |year=1989 |publisher=University of California |language=id}}</ref>

== Chinese Peranakan ==
[[File:Njonja Majoor-titulair Be Biauw Tjoan (née Tan Ndjiang Nio).png|thumb|[[Tan Ndjiang Nio|Njonja Majoor-titulair Be Biauw Tjoan]] (née Tan Ndjiang Nio), a prominent member of the ''[[Cabang Atas]]'' aristocracy]]
The prominence of Peranakan Chinese culture, however, has led to the common elision whereby 'Peranakan' may simply be taken to refer to the Peranakan Chinese, i.e. the culturally unique descendants of the earliest Chinese settlers in the Malay Archipelago, as opposed to the other smaller groups that also justifiably call themselves 'peranakan'. For some Peranakans of Chinese descent, calling oneself "Peranakan" without the qualifier "Chinese" can be a way of asserting an ethnic identity distinct from and independent of Chineseness (though such a use of "Peranakan" as a single-word [[ethnonym]] may clash with the desire of other groups of non-Chinese descent to equally call themselves "Peranakan").<ref name="Chia"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12222280|title=Peranakans at a loss on how many of them there are in NZ|date=15 April 2019|access-date=15 January 2020|website=New Zealand Herald|last=Tan|first=Lincoln|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191114185414/https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12222280|archive-date=14 November 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Later waves of immigrants to South East Asia are generally referred to using larger umbrella terms such as [[Malaysian Chinese]], [[Chinese Singaporeans|Chinese Singaporean]], [[Chinese Indonesian|Chinese Indonesian or Tionghoa]], or [[Thai Chinese]].

== Straits Chinese ==
One of the sub-groups of Chinese-Peranakan, '''Straits Chinese''' or '''Straits-born Chinese''' were defined as those born or living in the [[Straits Settlements]]: a British colony consisting of [[Malacca]], [[Penang]], and [[Singapore]] which was established in 1826.<ref name="google"/> Straits Chinese were not considered Baba Nyonya unless they displayed certain Sino-Malay syncretic attributes, in terms of attire worn, food, spoken language, choice of education, preferred career choices, choice of religion and loyalties.<ref name="google">{{cite book |author=Ooi |first=Keat Gin |author-link=Keat Gin Ooi |url= |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-57607-770-2}}</ref>

However, given that 'Straits Chinese' is a geographical designator specific to the former British colonies in the region, whereas 'Peranakan Chinese' is a broader genealogical designator covering all parts of the Nusantara region where Chinese people settled (including areas colonized by the Dutch, who would not have used the word 'Straits'), the two terms cannot be said to fully overlap or be interchangeable. Someone who is said to be 'Straits Chinese' in British colonial documents might, for example, be non-Peranakan, i.e. a person who arrived in the Nusantara region during much later periods of Chinese migration.

Conversely, the other Dutch, Malay and Siamese-speaking Peranakan Chinese in Dutch East Indies, Siam and Malaya would be unlikely to refer to themselves using the English term 'Straits Chinese'.

== Baba-Nyonya ==
The Peranakan Chinese commonly refer to themselves as Baba-Nyonya. The term ''[[Baba (honorific)|Baba]]'' is an honorific for Straits Chinese men. It originated as a Hindi (originally Persian) loan-word borrowed by [[Malay language|Malay]] speakers as a term of affection for one's grandparents, and became part of the common vernacular. In [[Penang Hokkien]], it is pronounced ''bā-bā'' (in [[Pe̍h-ōe-jī]]),<ref name="tan2016">{{cite book |last1=Tan |first1=Siew Imm |title=Penang Hokkien-English dictionary: with an English-Penang Hokkien glossary |year=2016 |publisher=Sunway Education Group |isbn=978-967-13697-1-5}}</ref> and sometimes written with the [[Chinese character classification#Rebus (phonetic loan) characters|phonetic loan characters]] 峇峇. Female Straits-Chinese descendants were either called or styled themselves ''Nyonyas''. ''Nyonya'' (also spelled ''nyonyah'' or ''nonya'') is a Malay and [[Indonesia language|Indonesian]] honorific used to refer to a foreign married lady. It is a loan word, borrowed from the old Portuguese word for lady ''donha'' (compare, for instance, [[Macanese language|Macanese creole]] ''nhonha'' spoken on Macau, which was a Portuguese colony for 464 years). Because Malays at that time had a tendency to address all foreign women (and perhaps those who appeared foreign) as ''nyonya'', they used that term for Straits-Chinese women as well. It gradually became more exclusively associated with them.<ref>Joo Ee Khoo, ''The Straits Chinese: a cultural history'', Pepin Press: 1996 {{ISBN|90-5496-008-6}}, 288 pages</ref><ref>Soeseno Kartomihardjo, ''Ethnography of Communicative Codes in East Java'' Dept. of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 1981, {{ISBN|0-85883-255-0}}, page 96</ref> In [[Penang Hokkien]], it is pronounced ''nō͘-niâ'' (in Pe̍h-ōe-jī),<ref name="tan2016"/> and sometimes written with the phonetic loan characters 娘惹.

==Ancestry==
A 2021 genetic study Singapore's Peranakan Chinese have Malay ancestry, with an average of 5–10%.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Degang |last2=Li |first2=Peter Yiqing |last3=Pan |first3=Bangfen |last4=Tiang |first4=Zenia |last5=Dou |first5=Jinzhuang |last6=Williantarra |first6=Ivanna |last7=Pribowo |first7=Amadeus Yeremia |last8=Nurdiansyah |first8=Rizky |last9=SG Peranakan Project |last10=Foo |first10=Roger S. Y. |last11=Wang |first11=Chaolong |date=27 September 2021 |title=Genetic Admixture in the Culturally Unique Peranakan Chinese Population in Southeast Asia |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=38 |issue=10 |pages=4463–4474 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msab187 |issn=1537-1719 |pmc=8476152 |pmid=34152401}}</ref>

[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM De echtgenotes van twee werknemers van de Singkep Tin Maatschappij Riouw TMnr 10007287.jpg|thumb|Two Peranakan women at a tin factory in [[Singkep|Pulau Singkep]], [[Riau Islands]].]]

Many Peranakans identify as Holoh ([[Hokkien]]) despite being of numerous origins, such as the descendants of adopted local Malaysian aborigines. A sizeable number are of [[Teochew people|Teochew]] or [[Hakka people|Hakka]] descent, including a small minority of [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]].

Baba Nyonya are a subgroup within Chinese communities. Peranakan families occasionally arranged brides from China for their sons or arranged marriages for their daughters with newly arrived Chinese immigrants.

There are parallels between the Peranakan Chinese and the [[Cambodian Hokkien]], who are descendants of Hoklo Chinese. Likewise the ''[[Malay-based creole languages#Baba Malay|Pashu]]'' of [[Myanmar]], a [[Burmese language|Burmese word]] for the '''Peranakan''' or Straits Chinese who have settled in Myanmar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Talks: Peranakan Museum: Preliminary Survey of the Peranakan in Myanmar 23 Oct 2009 |url=http://www.acm.org.sg/exhibitions/564.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140310195406/http://www.acm.org.sg/exhibitions/564.html |archive-date=10 March 2014 |access-date=10 March 2014 |website=Asian Civilisations Museum |language=en }}</ref>

They maintained their culture partially despite their native language gradually disappearing a few generations after settlement.<ref name="Willmott1967">{{cite book|first=William E.|last=Willmott|title=The Chinese in Cambodia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWgKAQAAIAAJ|year=1967|publisher=Publications Centre, University of British Columbia|isbn=9780774800877 |access-date=16 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424211914/https://books.google.com/books?id=MWgKAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=24 April 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> <!-- [[YANG Jin Fong]] D.Mus., an Assistant Professor of [[National Cheng Kung University]], who say, Bā-bā is the Taiwanese pronunciation of the father, and Niû-liá is a Taiwanese pronunciation of "Mom." Niû-liá was a vulgar dialect, only a few of old persons use it, in Taiwan.-->

Popular myths by the Malays of the Peranakan Chinese in Malacca, Singapore, and Penang sometimes state exclusive descent from the royal retinue of an allegedly princess named Hang Li Po<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lgsquirrel.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/royal-blood/|title=Royal Blood|date=17 May 2014|access-date=14 January 2020|website=Realm of the Lone Grey Squirrel|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029100422/https://lgsquirrel.wordpress.com/2014/05/17/royal-blood/|archive-date=29 October 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nyonyakitchen.my/|title=Siew Tin's Nyonya Kitchen|access-date=14 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106015319/http://www.nyonyakitchen.my/|archive-date=6 November 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>—alleged by the [[Malay Annals]] as having made a marriage of alliance with the Sultan of Malacca in the fifteenth century<ref>{{Cite book|title=Malay Annals|last=Anonymous|publisher=Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown|year=1821|location=London|pages=179–80|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Malay_Annals/Chapter_15|translator-last=Leyden|translator-first=John|access-date=14 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114031132/https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Malay_Annals/Chapter_15|archive-date=14 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> however modern historians disproved the princess marriage as a false myth by the Malay Annals.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/01/16/prof-khoo-no-record-of-the-existance-of-princess-hang-li-po-its-a-myth|title=Prof Khoo: No record of the {{sic|nolink=y|exis|tance}} of Princess Hang Li Po; its a myth|date=16 January 2012|access-date=14 January 2020|website=The Star (Malaysia)|last=Kulasagaran|first=Priya|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170823014655/http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2012/01/16/prof-khoo-no-record-of-the-existance-of-princess-hang-li-po-its-a-myth/|archive-date=23 August 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/04/228020/search-hang-li-po|title=The search for Hang Li Po|date=7 April 2017|access-date=14 January 2020|website=New Straits Times|last=Wain|first=Alexander|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511010633/http://www.nst.com.my/news/2017/04/228020/search-hang-li-po|archive-date=11 May 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Language==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2022}}
[[File:Tjhit Liap Seng cover.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.70|''[[Tjhit Liap Seng]]'' (1886) by [[Lie Kim Hok]] was considered the first Chinese Malay novel.]]

The language of the Peranakans, [[Malay-based creole languages#Baba Malay|Baba Malay]] (''Bahasa Melayu Baba'') or Peranakan Malay, is a [[creole language]] related to the [[Malay language]] (''Bahasa Melayu''), which contains many [[Hokkien]] words. It is a dying language, and its contemporary use is mainly limited to members of the older generation. It is common for the Peranakan of the older generation (particularly among women) to ''[[latah]]'' in Peranakan Malay when experiencing unanticipated shock.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frank Bures|author-link=Frank Bures|title=The Geography of Madness: Penis Thieves, Voodoo Death, and the Search for the Meaning of the World's Strangest Syndromes|year=2016|publisher=Melville House|isbn=978-16-121-9373-1|page=69}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Kok Seong Teo|title=A Sociolinguistic Description of the Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan, Malaysia, Volume 1|year=1993|publisher=University of California|oclc=1038840747|page=83}}</ref>

The Peranakan Malay spoken by the Malaccan Peranakans community is strongly based on the [[Malay language]] as most of them can only speak little to none of the language of their Chinese forebears.<ref>{{cite book|author=Zhiming Bao|title=The Making of Vernacular Singapore English: System, Transfer, and Filter|year=2015|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-02208-9}}</ref> Whereas in the east coast of [[Peninsula Malaysia]], the Peranakans are known to not only speak a Hokkien version of their own but also [[Thai language|Thai]] and [[Kelantanese Malay]] in [[Kelantan]] and [[Terengganu Malay]] in [[Terengganu]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tan |first=Chee-Beng |year=2010 |title=Peranakan Chinese in Northeast Kelantan with special reference to Chinese Religion |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |language=en |volume=55 |issue=1(242) |pages=26–52 |asin=B004124IMY |jstor=41492910}}</ref><ref name="STperanakanganu" /> Unlike the rest of the Peranakans in Malaysia, Penang Peranakans are much heavily influenced by a dialect of Hokkien known locally as [[Penang Hokkien]].

In [[Indonesia]], the Peranakan language is mainly based on Indonesian and [[Javanese language|Javanese]], which is mixed with elements of different [[Chinese varieties]], mostly Hokkien. Speakers of the Peranakan language can be found scattered along the northern coastline area throughout [[West Java]], [[Central Java]] and [[East Java]], and also in [[Special Region of Yogyakarta]], Indonesia.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ethnologue.com/language/pea |title=Indonesian, Peranakan |publisher=ethnologue |access-date=17 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921140214/http://www.ethnologue.com/language/pea |archive-date=21 September 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref> Young Peranakans can still speak this creole language, although its use is limited to informal occasions.

==History==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2022}}
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Straatgezicht bij een Chinese tempel in Soerabaja TMnr 10015151.jpg|thumb|Hok An Kiong Chinese Temple, Jalan Coklat, [[Surabaya]] c. 1900 – 1920. Large Chinese communities were already present in [[Java]] when the Dutch arrived just before the 1600s. Many Chinese had native concubines until a large group of mestizos arose, who spoke Malay or Javanese.]]

The first Chinese immigrants to settle in the Malay Archipelago arrived from Guangdong and Fujian provinces in the 10th century C.E. They were joined by much larger numbers of the Chinese in the 15th through 17th centuries, following on the heels of the Ming emperor's reopening of Chinese-Malay trade relations in the 15th century.<ref name="West, Barbara A. 2009 657"/>

In the 15th century, some small city-states of the Malay Peninsula often paid tribute to various kingdoms such as those of China and [[Thailand|Siam]]. Close relations with China were established in the early 15th century during the reign of [[Parameswara (sultan)|Parameswara]] when Admiral [[Zheng He]] (''Cheng Ho''), a Muslim Chinese, visited Malacca and Java during his expedition (1405–1433). According to a legend in 1459&nbsp;CE, the Emperor of China sent a princess, [[Hang Li Po]], to the Sultan of Malacca as a token of appreciation for his tribute. The nobles (500 sons of ministers) and servants who accompanied the princess initially settled in [[Bukit Cina]] and eventually grew into a class of [[Straits-born]] Chinese known as the Peranakans.

Chinese men in [[Melaka]] fathered children with [[Javanese people|Javanese]], [[Batak people|Batak]] and [[Balinese people|Balinese]] slave women. Their descendants moved to Penang and Singapore during the period of British rule.<ref>Rodgers (1996), p. 57 {{Google books|YFIGVqZ9ZKsC|Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese|page=57}}</ref> Chinese men in colonial southeast Asia also obtained slave wives from [[Nias]]. Chinese men in Singapore and Penang were supplied with slave wives of [[Bugis]], [[Batak]], and [[Balinese people|Balinese]] origin.<ref name="Klein1993">{{cite book|author=[[Martin A. Klein]]|title=Breaking the Chains: Slavery, Bondage, and Emancipation in Modern Africa and Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/breakingchainssl00klei|url-access=registration|year=1993|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|isbn=978-0-299-13754-0}}</ref>{{rp|71}} The British colonial government tolerated the importation of slave wives since they improved the standard of living for the slaves and provided contentment to the male population.<ref name="Klein1993"/>{{rp|72}} The usage of slave women or house maids as wives by the Chinese was widespread.<ref name="Hussin2007">{{cite book|author=Nordin Hussin|title=Trade and Society in the Straits of Melaka: Dutch Melaka and English Penang, 1780–1830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRrd8EBOqxwC|year=2007|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-354-1|access-date=16 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617142521/https://books.google.com/books?id=TRrd8EBOqxwC|archive-date=17 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

<blockquote>It cannot be denied, however, that the existence of slavery in this quarter, in former years, was of immense advantage in procuring a female population for [[Penang Island|Pinang]]. From [[Asahan Regency|Assaban]] alone, there used to be sometimes 300 slaves, principally females, exported to Malacca and Pinang in a year. The women get comfortably settled as the wives of opulent Chinese merchants, and live in the greatest comfort. Their families attach these men to the soil; and many never think of returning to their native country. The female population of Pinang is still far from being upon a par with the male; and the abolition therefore of slavery, has been a vast sacrifice to philanthropy and humanity. As the condition of the slaves who were brought to the British settlements, was materially improved, and as they contributed so much to the happiness of the male population, and the general prosperity of the settlement, I am disposed to think (although I detest the principles of slavery as much as any man), that the continuance of the system here could not, under the benevolent regulations which were in force to prevent abuse, have been productive of much evil. The sort of slavery indeed which existed in the British settlements in this quarter, had nothing but the name against it; for the condition of the slaves who were brought from the adjoining countries, was always ameliorated by the change; they were well fed and clothed; the women became wives of respectable Chinese; and the men who were in the least industrious, easily emancipated themselves, and many became wealthy. Severity by masters was punished; and, in short, I do not know any race of people who were, and had every reason to be, so happy and contented as the slaves formerly, and debtors as they are now called, who came from the east coast of Sumatra and other places.<ref>Anderson (1826) {{Google books|flvqWUGVD58C|Mission to the east coast of Sumatra: in M.DCCC.XXIII, under the direction of the government of Prince of Wales island: including historical and descriptive sketches of the country, an account of the commerce, population, and customs of the inhabitants, and a visit to the Batta cannibal states in the interior|page=298}}</ref><ref>Anderson {{Google books|flvqWUGVD58C|Mission to the east coast of Sumatra: in M.DCCC.XXIII|page=299}}</ref>
John Anderson – Agent to the Government of Prince of Wales Island</blockquote>

People of [[Thai Chinese|Chinese]] ancestry in [[Phuket]], [[Thailand]] make up a significant population, many of whom having descended from tin miners who migrated to the island during the 19th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship and Capitalist Development in Southeast Asia|publisher=LIT Verlag Berlin-Hamburg-Münster|year=2000|page=108|author=Annabelle Gambe|isbn=978-3-8258-4386-1}}</ref> The Peranakans there are known as "''Phuket Babas''" in the local tongue, constitute a fair share of members Chinese community, particularly among those who have family ties with the Peranakans of Penang and Malacca.<ref name="D'Oliveiro" />

Chinese who married local Javanese women and converted to Islam created a distinct Chinese Muslim Peranakan community in Java.<ref name="Ooi2004">{{cite book|author=Keat Gin Ooi|title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&pg=PA1057|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-57607-770-2|pages=1057–}}</ref> Chinese rarely had to convert to Islam to marry Javanese [[abangan]] women but a significant number of their offspring did, and Batavian Muslims absorbed the Chinese Muslim community which was descended from converts.<ref name="ReidAlilunas-Rodgers1996">{{cite book|author1=Anthony Reid|author2=Kristine Alilunas-Rodgers|title=Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast China and the Chinese|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFIGVqZ9ZKsC&pg=PA75|year=1996|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2446-4|pages=75–}}</ref> Adoption of Islam back then was a marker of peranakan status which it no longer means. The Semaran Adipati and the Jayaningrat families were of Chinese origin.<ref name="Remmelink1990">{{cite book|author=Willem G. J. Remmelink|title=Emperor Pakubuwana II, Priyayi & Company and the Chinese War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H6wuAQAAIAAJ&q=The+general+term+for+Javanized+Chinese+was+peranakan,+which+nowadays+simply+means+locally+born,+but+at+the+time+also|year=1990|publisher=W.G.J. Remmelink|page=136}}</ref><ref name="Remmelink1994">{{Cite book |last=Willem G. J. |first=Remmelink |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ZVuAAAAMAAJ&q=The+general+term+for+Javanized+Chinese+was+peranakan,+which+nowadays+simply+means+locally+born,+but+at+the+time+also |title=The Chinese War and the Collapse of The Javanese State, 1725–1743 |year=1994 |publisher=KITLV Press |isbn=978-90-6718-067-2 |page=136 |language=en}}</ref>

Peranakans were held in high regard by Malays. Some Malays in the past may have taken the word "Baba", referring to Chinese males, and put it into their name, when this used to be the case.<ref>[http://www.sailanmuslim.com/news/wp-content/uploads/names-and-surnames-among-the-malays.pdf Names and Surnames among the Malays] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105042/http://www.sailanmuslim.com/news/wp-content/uploads/names-and-surnames-among-the-malays.pdf |date=4 March 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://freedownload.is/pdf/names-and-surnames-among-the-malays-1495749.html |title=Names and Surnames among the Malays PDF - Ebookily.net |publisher=Freedownload.is |date=13 October 2011 |access-date=10 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120721063039/http://freedownload.is/pdf/names-and-surnames-among-the-malays-1495749.html |archive-date=21 July 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|access-date=14 December 2011|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmMVAAAACAAJ|title=Cultural Melaka|author=Donna Jeremiah|year=2002|publisher=IKSEP|isbn=978-983-2600-01-5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140627165339/http://books.google.com/books?id=VmMVAAAACAAJ|archive-date=27 June 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> This is not followed by the younger generation, and the current [[Chinese Malaysians]] do not have the same status or respect as Peranakans used to have.

In Penang, Thai women replaced Nias slave women and Batak slave women as wives of Chinese men after the 1830s when slavery was abolished.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nasution |first1=Khoo Salma |year=2009 |title=Hokkien Chinese on the Phuket Mining From The Penang Connection and the Emergence Phuket Baba Community |url=https://www.academia.edu/3488733 |journal=JMBRAS |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=82}}</ref>

Many Peranakan in [[Java]], [[Indonesia]] are descendants of non-Muslim Chinese men who married abangan Javanese Muslim women. Most of the Chinese men did not convert to Islam since their Javanese wives did not ask them to, but a minority of Javanese women asked them to convert so a Chinese Muslim community made out of converts appeared among the Javanese. In the late half of the 19th century, Javanese Muslims became more adherent to Islamic rules due to going on hajj and more Arabs arriving in Java, ordering [[circumcision]] for converts. The Batavian Muslims in the 19th century completely absorbed the converted Chinese Muslims who originally had their own separate kapitan and community in the late 18th century. The remaining commoner non-Muslim Chinese Peranakans descended from Chinese men and Javanese Muslim women generally stopped marrying Javanese and the elite Peranakans stopped marrying Javanese completely and instead started only marrying fellow Chinese Peranakans in the 19th century, as they realized they might get absorbed by the Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |last=Skinner |first=G. William |title=Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast Asia and the Chinese |date=2001 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824824466 |editor-last=Reid |editor-first=Anthony |edition=illustrated, reprint |series=Diaspora studies / Southeast Asian History |location= |page=75 |chapter=3 Creolized Chinese Societies in Southeast Asia |author-link= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFIGVqZ9ZKsC&dq=%22consented+to+nominal+conversion+in+old+age+to+please+their+wives%22&pg=PA75}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wijaya |first=Yahya |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ShYQAQAAIAAJ&q=%22In+this+period+,+conversion+to+Islam+for+the+ethnic+Chinese+was+likely+a+part+of+their+attempt+to+assimilate+themselves+into+Javanese+society+,+since+the+converted+ethnic+Chinese+were+usually+those+who+had+been+married+to+local+people%22 |title=Business, Family, and Religion: Public Theology in the Context of the Chinese-Indonesian Business Community |date=2002 |publisher=P. Lang |isbn=390676849X |location= |page=71 |author-link=}}</ref> DNA tests done on Chinese Peranakan in [[Singapore]] showed that those Peranakan who are mixed with Malays are mostly of paternal Han Chinese descent and of maternal Malay descent.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wu |first1=Degang |last2=Li |first2=Peter Yiqing |last3=Pan |first3=Bangfen |last4=Tiang |first4=Zenia |last5=Dou |first5=Jinzhuang |last6=Williantarra |first6=Ivanna |last7=Pribowo |first7=Amadeus Yeremia |last8=Nurdiansyah |first8=Rizky |last9=Foo |first9=Roger S Y |last10=Wang |first10=Chaolong |date=October 2021 |title=Genetic Admixture in the Culturally Unique Peranakan Chinese Population in Southeast Asia |url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/38/10/4463/6307269 |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=38 |issue=10 |pages=4463–4474 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msab187 |pmid=34152401 |pmc=8476152 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1=Wu | first1=Degang | last2=Li | first2=Peter Yiqing | last3=Pan | first3=Bangfen | last4=Tiang | first4=Zenia | last5=Dou | first5=Jinzhuang | last6=Williantarra | first6=Ivanna | last7=Pribowo | first7=Amadeus Yeremia | last8=Nurdiansyah | first8=Rizky | last9=Foo | first9=Roger S Y | last10=Wang | first10=Chaolong | title=Genetic Admixture in the Culturally Unique Peranakan Chinese Population in Southeast Asia | journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution | publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) | volume=38 | issue=10 | date=2021-06-21 | issn=1537-1719 | doi=10.1093/molbev/msab187 | pages=4463–4474 |pmid=34152401| pmc=8476152 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last= |first= |date=August 6, 2021 |title=Genomic analysis of Peranakan Chinese reveals insight into ancestry |work=Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Singapore |location= |url=https://phys.org/news/2021-08-genomic-analysis-peranakan-chinese-reveals.html |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Chee |first=Colin |date=30 June 2021 |title=THE SINGAPORE PERANAKAN GENOME PROJECT |url=https://www.peranakan.org.sg/2021/07/the-singapore-peranakan-genome-project/ |access-date= |website=The Peranakan Association Singapore |publisher= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.cell.2019.09.019 | title=Large-Scale Whole-Genome Sequencing of Three Diverse Asian Populations in Singapore | year=2019 | last1=Wu | first1=Degang | last2=Dou | first2=Jinzhuang | last3=Chai | first3=Xiaoran | last4=Bellis | first4=Claire | last5=Wilm | first5=Andreas | last6=Shih | first6=Chih Chuan | last7=Soon | first7=Wendy Wei Jia | last8=Bertin | first8=Nicolas | last9=Lin | first9=Clarabelle Bitong | last10=Khor | first10=Chiea Chuen | last11=Degiorgio | first11=Michael | last12=Cheng | first12=Shanshan | last13=Bao | first13=Li | last14=Karnani | first14=Neerja | last15=Hwang | first15=William Ying Khee | last16=Davila | first16=Sonia | last17=Tan | first17=Patrick | last18=Shabbir | first18=Asim | last19=Moh | first19=Angela | last20=Tan | first20=Eng-King | last21=Foo | first21=Jia Nee | last22=Goh | first22=Liuh Ling | last23=Leong | first23=Khai Pang | last24=Foo | first24=Roger S.Y. | last25=Lam | first25=Carolyn Su Ping | last26=Richards | first26=Arthur Mark | last27=Cheng | first27=Ching-Yu | last28=Aung | first28=Tin | last29=Wong | first29=Tien Yin | last30=Ng | first30=Huck Hui | journal=Cell | volume=179 | issue=3 | pages=736–749.e15 | pmid=31626772 | display-authors=1 | doi-access=free | hdl=10356/150428 | hdl-access=free }}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=May 2023}} Peranakans in Malaysia and Singapore formed when non-Muslim Chinese men were able to marry Malay Muslim women a long time ago without converting to Islam. This is no longer the case in modern times where anyone who marries Malay women is required to convert to Islam.<ref name="Chua 2013">{{cite book |last=Chua |first=Beng Huat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gxpqDwAAQBAJ&dq=non-muslim+men+malay+marry&pg=PT165 |title=Life Is Not Complete Without Shopping |date=2013 |publisher=Flipside Digital Content Company Inc. |isbn=978-9971697273 |location= |page= |author-link=}}</ref>

Peranakan, Straits Chinese, Baba Nyonya are all names for the descendants of Han Chinese men and their Javanese, Sumatran and Malay wives. Han Chinese men did not allow their women to leave China, so they married local Muslim Javanese and other Southeast Asian women.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kerlogue |first=Fiona G. Kerlogue |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QKgraWbb7yoC&q=chinese+javanese+women |title=Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia, from Angkor Wat to East Timor |date=2004 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=1576077705 |editor-last=Ooi |editor-first=Keat Gin |edition=illustrated |location= |pages=198, 945, 1057 |quote=}}</ref> Dayak women were married by Han Chinese men who settled in Borneo as noted in the 18th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Andaya |first=Barbara Watson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G5cBEAAAQBAJ&dq=first+waves+of+Chinese+males+reaching+Borneo+had+readily+taken+Dayak+women+as+sexual+partners&pg=PA146 |title=The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia |date=2006 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=0824864727 |edition=illustrated |series=UPCC book collections on Project MUSE |location= |page=146 |quote=Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia Barbara Watson Andaya ... composed his Hai-lu (A record of the seas), he noted that the first waves of Chinese males reaching Borneo had readily taken Dayak women as sexual partners.}}</ref> One Dayak man named Budi mentioned a Chinese man married Budi's sister and that he liked Chinese but he hated Madurese as he was talking about the massacres of Madurese settlers.<ref>{{cite book |last=Parry |first=Richard Lloyd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8imo5gPToE8C&dq=sister+married+chinese+madurese&pg=PA55 |title=In the Time of Madness: Indonesia on the Edge of Chaos |date=2007 |publisher=Grove Press |isbn=978-0802142931 |edition=reprint |location= |page=55 |quote=He liked the Chinese, he told Budi . His sister was married to a Chinese . What about Madurese ? ' I asked . Budi chuckled anxiously as he translated the question, and there was more unconvincing giggling over the reply .}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Jack |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pjp23eeKs6wC&q=sister+married+chinese+madurese |title=What Young Men Do |date=1998 |publisher=Granta USA |isbn=0140141545 |series=Granta (Viking) |location= |page=122 |quote=He liked the Chinese, he told Budi . His sister was married to a Chinese . ' What about Madurese ? ' I asked . Budi chuckled anxiously as he translated the question, and there was more unconvincing giggling over the reply .}}</ref> Malay and Dayak ethnically cleansed Madurese settlers from their and in West Kalimantan starting in Sambas from December 1996 to February 2001 after the Sampit fights in December 2000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Steenbrink |first=Karel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1N8zDwAAQBAJ&dq=dayak+sister+married+chinese+madurese&pg=PA434 |title=Catholics in Independent Indonesia: 1945-2010 |date=2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-9004285422 |series=Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |location= |page=434}}</ref>

The Chinese are perhaps the most important people in Borneo. They have been traders and settlers on the coast from beyond historic times, and, as has just been stated, have for an equally long period mixed with the natives; so that some Dyaks—the Dusuns especially might almost be classed with them. They are not only traders who amass wealth merely to return with it to their own empire, but miners, agriculturists, and producers, without whom it would be difficult to develop the country. The Philippines, Singapore, and Borneo receive, perhaps, a larger number of these immigrants than any other countries. In Borneo they are scattered over the whole seaboard, carrying on a good deal of the river trade, and supplanting in many ways the less energetic Malay. But they are chiefly to be found in West Borneo, especially in the mining districts, as in Sambas and Montrado (Menteradu) in Dutch territory. Numbers are settled around Bau and Bidi, in Sarawak, and in the capital, Kuching. In North Borneo an irruption of some thousands occurred on the opening up of the country, and great numbers are employed on the tobacco plantations lately established. In Labuan, and in Pengaron in South Borneo, the coal mines were worked by Chinese, and they still act as sago-washers in the former island. Bound together by societies with stringent laws, their system of co-operation enables them to prosper where others would fail. In West Borneo they thus became so powerful as to defy the Dutch Government, who had great difficulty in subduing them.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9ZLAAAAYAAJ&dq=pigafetta+malay+lingua+franca+philippines&pg=PA238 |title=Malaysia and the Pacific Archipelagoes |date=1894 |publisher=E. Stanford |editor-last=Guillemard |editor-first=Francis Henry Hill |volume=2 of Stanford's compendium of geography and travel. New issue. [Australasia, vol. II] |location= |page=238 |quote=It is not necessary, however, to conclude that the Malay power was established by the single invasion of a conquering ... widely spoken Philippine tongue, Bisayan, but Malay is used by most as the lingua franca of that 1 region .}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=John Walter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kq0tAAAAYAAJ&dq=pigafetta+malay+lingua+franca+philippines&pg=PA238 |title=Australasia: Malaysia and the Pacific Archipelagos, by Guillemard |last2=Guillemard |first2=Francis Henry Hill |date=1908 |publisher=E. Stanford |edition=2 |series=Stanford's compendium of geography and travel |volume=2 of Australasia, Francis Henry Hill Guillemard |page=238 |quote=It is not necessary, however, to conclude that the Malay power was established by the single invasion of a ... to another widely spoken Philippine tongue, Bisayan, but Malay is used by most as the lingua franca of that region . |last1=Gregory}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wallace |first=Alfred Russel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OmBPAQAAMAAJ&dq=pigafetta+malay+lingua+franca+philippines&pg=PA238 |title=Australasia: Malaysia and the Pacific archipelagoes, by F.H.H. Guillemard |date=1894 |publisher=E. Stanford |editor-last=Guillemard |editor-first=Francis Henry Hill |series=Stanford's compendium of geography and travel: New issue |volume=2 of Australasia, Francis Henry Hill Guillemard |location= |page=238 |quote=It is not necessary, however, to conclude that the Malay power was established by the single invasion of a ... to another widely spoken Philippine tongue, Bisayan, but Malay is used by most as the lingua franca of that region .}}</ref> In 1912, Chinese engaged in mass violent riots against Dutch colonial rule in Surabaya and Batavia in the Dutch East Indies.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=2 Feb 2022 |title=Bloody Riots During The 1912 Chinese New Year In The Archipelago Of The Dutch East Indies |work=VOI - Waktunya Merevolusi Pemberitaan |url=https://voi.id/en/memori/130523/bloody-riots-during-the-1912-chinese-new-year-in-the-archipelago-of-the-dutch-east-indies |access-date= |publisher= |quote= |archive-date=14 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414030615/https://voi.id/en/memori/130523/bloody-riots-during-the-1912-chinese-new-year-in-the-archipelago-of-the-dutch-east-indies |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Among the Straits Chinese (Peranakan) descendants in [[Sulu]], the Philippines is Abdusakur Tan II, the governor.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Antolihao |first1=Lou |title=Singapore Ethnic Mosaic, The: Many Cultures, One People |last2=Mesenas |first2=Clement |date=2017 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-9813234758 |editor1-last=Mathew |editor1-first=Mathews |page=409 |chapter=Chapter 13 Filipino Community and Culture in Singapore |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y4RIDwAAQBAJ&dq=abdusakur+straits+chinese+tan&pg=PA409}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=See |first=T. Ang |title=Migration, Indigenization And Interaction: Chinese Overseas And Globalization |date=2011 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-9814458269 |editor-last=Suryadinata |editor-first=Leo |location= |page=237 |chapter=Part 3 South and Southeast Asia 3. Localization of the Chinese in the Philippines |author-link= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TA-7CgAAQBAJ&dq=abdusakur+straits+chinese+tan&pg=PA237}}</ref>

Many Straits Chinese (Peranakans) migrated from Singapore to Jolo, Sulu and Mindanao to live and trade among the Moro Muslims like the Tausug people and Maguindanaons and sell weapons, rifles, cannon and opium to them in exchange for gutta-percha.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warren |first1=James Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUZq93ydrrwC&pg=PA128 |title=The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State |date=2007 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971693862 |pages=128–131}}</ref> Tausug and Chinese married each other and Chinese also converted to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warren |first1=James Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUZq93ydrrwC&pg=PA127 |title=The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State |date=2007 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971693862 |page=127}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3YNuAAAAMAAJ&q=%22had+intermarried+with+Taosug+commoners+or+slaves+and+accepted+Islam%22 |title=Philippine Studies, Volumes 25-26 |date=1977 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila |others=Contributors Jesuits. Philippine Province, Ateneo de Manila University |location= |page=69 |quote=Often, these Chinese had intermarried with Taosug commoners or slaves and accepted Islam to improve their status . In this period it was not at all unusual for powerful Taosug to provide Chinese with the wherewithal to trade – the ...}}</ref> Moros carried out suicide juramentado attacks against the Japanese.<ref>{{cite book |last=Federspiel |first=Howard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vY4BEAAAQBAJ&dq=suicide+commandos+revived+japanese&pg=PA125 |title=Sultans, Shamans, and Saints: Islam and Muslims in Southeast Asia |date=2007 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0824864521 |edition=illustrated |location= |page=125 |quote=Retaliation against local populations for guerrilla actions led to a revival of the suicide commando (juramentado), who attackedsmall groups of Japanese anddied in the fighting.Also, there were guerrilla units dominated by Muslim ...}}</ref> Moro juramentados used opium in their attacks against US soldiers.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLgPAAAAIAAJ&q=%22of+the+same+gold+cup+with+him+.+Death+%22 |title=The World's Work, Volume 47 |date=1924 |publisher=Doubleday, Page & Company |others=Contributors Walter Hines Page, Arthur Wilson Page |location= |page=183 |quote=... he had a repu- of the same gold cup with him . Death was tation for power just short of the Almighty . meat and drink, the Juramentados went to it It was said that in the days of Arolas, Sulu like you and I would go to dinner .}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Archer |first1=Herman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i6ZQAQAAMAAJ&q=%22of+the+same+gold+cup+with+him+.+Death+%22 |title=Mr. Archer, U. S. A.: As Told to R. H. Platt, Jr |last2=Platt |first2=Rutherford Hayes |date=1924 |publisher=Doubleday, Page |location= |page=178 |quote=they were killed by a Christian they sat on the right hand of Mahomet and drank out of the same gold cup with him . Death was meat and drink; the Juramentados went to it like you and I would go to dinner . |author-link=}}</ref> American military officers Charles Wilkes saw Sulu Moro Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand (spelling error of Jamalul Kiram) and his sons smoke opium and he had bloodshot eyes because of it.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zarco |first1=Ricardo M. |date=1995 |title=A Short History of Narcotic Drug Addiction in the Philippines, 1521-1959 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/23898530 |journal=Philippine Sociological Review |volume=43 |issue=1/4 |pages=1–15 |doi= |jstor=23898530 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-01-21 |title=Early Filipino warriors used drugs to enhance their killing capabilities (or did they?) |url=https://filipiknow.net/early-filipino-warriors-used-drugs-to-enhance-their-killing-capabilities/ |access-date= |website=FilipiKnow – The Most Trusted Online Learning Site for Filipinos |publisher= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rahmat |first=Hadijah Bte |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HZwPEAAAQBAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=RA1-PA10 |title=Abdullah Bin Abdul Kadir Munshi (In 2 Volumes) |date=2020 |publisher=World Scientific |isbn=978-9811205811 |location= |page=10 |quote=Wilkes met the Sultan of Sulu, Sultan Mohammad Damaliel Kisand, a Muslim king who ... cutlery and crockery, opium, and “arms of all kinds” (Wilkes, 1842). |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=1842 - Naval History and Heritage Command |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/art/exhibits/exploration-and-technology/alfred-agate-collection/1842.html |access-date= |website=Naval History and Heritage Command |publisher= |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkes |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqNbAAAAQAAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA277 |title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition: During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Volume 2 |date=1852 |publisher=Ingram, Cooke |isbn= |series=National illustrated library |volume=1-5 of United States Exploring Expedition |location= |page=277 |quote=... he was under the effects of opium, of which they all smoke large quantities . ... the Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand, but said that he might feel ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkes |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L1xHAAAAYAAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA337 |title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Volume 5 |date=1845 |publisher=Lea and Blanchard |isbn= |series=United States. Navy Dept |location= |page=337 |quote=... gratitude or obligation for the sight of His Majesty the Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand, but said that he might feel grateful ... influence of opium . |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkes |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rvlWAAAAcAAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA620 |title=Voyage round the World, etc |date=1851 |publisher=G. P. Putnam |isbn= |location= |page=620 |quote=... the Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand, but said that he might feel grateful to me if he ... as though he was constantly under the influence of opium . |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Chq7EQhwCD0C&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA337 |title=United States Exploring Expedition: During the Year 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Volume 5 |date=1845 |publisher=C. Sherman |others=Contributor United States. Congress |isbn= |location= |page=337 |quote=... Majesty the Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand, but said that he might feel grateful to me if ... as though he was constantly under the influence of opium ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkes |first=Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1ZHAAAAYAAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA337 |title=Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition ... 1838-1842, Volume 5 |date=1851 |publisher=Putnam |isbn= |location= |page=337 |quote=... of His Majesty the Sultan Mohammed Damaliel Kisand, but said that he might feel grateful ... as though he was constantly under the influence of opium . |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=United States |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i44NAQAAMAAJ&dq=damaliel+kisand+opium&pg=PA359 |title=Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America, Volume 4 |date=1931 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn= |editor-last=Miller |editor-first=David Hunter |series=Department of State publication |location= |page=359 |quote=... was under the effects of opium, of which they all smoke large quantities . ... “ Wilkes ' Damaliel Kisand must be a writer's error for JamâlulKirâm . |number=Dept. of state. Publication no. 175, 453, 645, 1017}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=May 2023}} Datu Uto received Spencer and Enfield rifles from Straits Chinese (Peranakan) merchants.<ref>{{cite book |last=Warren |first=James Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VUZq93ydrrwC&dq=spencer+enfield+sulu+chinese+taosug&pg=PA129 |title=The Sulu Zone, 1768-1898: The Dynamics of External Trade, Slavery, and Ethnicity in the Transformation of a Southeast Asian Maritime State |date=2007 |publisher=NUS Press |isbn=978-9971693862 |location= |page=129 |quote=4 Once the Spanish began the calculated destruction of Sulu shipping, Chinese merchants freighted their goods from ... the Taosug and Chinese of Maimbung ( the de facto capital of the Sultanate ) but now the Enfield and Spencer rifles ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3YNuAAAAMAAJ&q=spencer+enfield+sulu+chinese+taosug |title=Philippine Studies, Volumes 25-26 |date=1977 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila |others=Jesuits. Philippine Province, Ateneo de Manila University |isbn= |location= |page=72 |quote=... exports went to Sulu . After 1876 Labuan still found its principal customers in the Taosug and Chinese of Maimbung ( the de facto capital of the Sultanate ) but now the Enfield and Spencer rifles, assorted pistols, and gunpowder ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Schult |first=Volker |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyiNDRUOm_EC&dq=spencer+Gewehre+sulu&pg=PA64 |title=Wunsch und Wirklichkeit: deutsch-philippinische Beziehungen im Kontext globaler Verflechtungen 1860-1945 |date=2008 |publisher=Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH |isbn=978-3832518981 |volume=8 of Berliner Südostasien-Studien/Berlin studies on South East Asia |location= |page=64 |issn=1619-7593 |quote=Zwischen 1870 und 1886 verloren die Taosug ihre Rolle als Umschlaghändler im Sulu-Archipel Die Gründe lagen in der spanischen ... Von dort transportierten die Chinesen Enfield und Spencer Gewehre weiter zu den Maginda- nao von Buayan, ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vLJBAQAAMAAJ&dq=waffen+enfield+sulu&pg=PA53 |title=Globus, Volume 46 |date=1884 |publisher=Bibliographischen Institut |isbn= |location= |page=53 |quote=Die Hinrichtung ist auf Sulu ein Att scheußsind, nachzuahmen, daß sie bei der Billigkeit ihrer Erzeug- licher Barbarei ... Die Chinesen importiren überdies Waffen, schen Stadt zurück, um die nöthigen Vorbereitungen zur Munition ... |author-link=}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=May 2023}} Lantaka swivel bronze cannon were sold by Chinese to the Moros who were fighting the Americans.<ref>{{cite book |last=Arnold |first=James R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgWnN4hyjoQC&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PA45 |title=The Moro War: How America Battled a Muslim Insurgency in the Philippine Jungle, 1902-1913 |date=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA |isbn=978-1608193653 |location= |page=45 |quote=Having fought one pitched battle at Bayan against the Moros, the Americans had acquired a good idea of their ... the Moros obtained in trade with the Chinese or manufactured themselves small-caliber bronze swivel guns called lantakas. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Edgerton |first=Ronald K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdPXDwAAQBAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PT289 |title=American Datu: John J. Pershing and Counterinsurgency Warfare in the Muslim Philippines, 1899-1913 |date=2020 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0813178967 |edition=illustrated |series=Battles and Campaigns |location= |page= |quote=... consisting of felled trees adat customary law agama kinship-based community among Maranao Moros agung brass gong amuk ... panglima among Tausug Moros laksamana lantaka small, muzzle-loaded brass cannon usually of Chinese manufacture ... |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ScgAQAAMAAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=RA5-PA17 |title=Journal, Volumes 6-7 |date=1926 |publisher= |isbn= |location= |page=17 |quote=Smoking Lantakas : Moros Mad in Lanao lic works have been established, that in these things themselves lie very largely the solution of the problem of government . Even the Malanao desires the aid of capital and of Americans, but a ... |author-link=}}</ref> A novel was written about this.<ref>{{cite book |last=Denson |first=Gene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Tz9CAAAQBAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PT288 |title=Mindanao: A Novel of the Philippine Insurrection |date=2015 |publisher=X libris US |isbn=978-1503540972 |location= |page= |quote=... the Moro riflemen and embrasures were constructed for the Moro cannon that included several crude Chinese lantakas. ... of a bullet and feeling dreadfully vulnerable, Jaime crouched low as the American 3.6 inch mortars opened fire. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=George Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KtoBAAAAMAAJ&q=lantaka+moro+chinese+american |title=The Commonwealth of the Philippines |date=1936 |publisher=D. Appleton-Century Company, incorporated |others=Contributors Philippines, Philippines islands |isbn= |series=Philippine law collection World constitutions illustratedn |location= |page=47 |quote=Friend of Moros, Chinese, Spaniards, Americans, and Filipinos . ... The wealthiest Moro of his day . ... ran from an engraved lantaka ( THE MOROS AND PAGANS 47 Datu Piang of a hundred or more wives and of a hundred or more children. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hurley |first=Vic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgacaW_qEOQC&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PA303 |title=Swish of the Kris, the Story of the Moros, Authorized and Enhanced Edition |date=2010 |publisher=Cerberus Books |isbn=978-0615382425 |editor-last=Harris |editor-first=Christopher L. |edition=illustrated, reprint |location= |page=303 |quote=Note: The author lists by name a great number of individuals - Spaniards, Moros, and Americans - who were instrumental during both the Spanish occupation and the subsequent American occupation of Philippine Moro territories. |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=University of the Philippines. Social Science Research Center |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvcZAAAAMAAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PA169 |title=An Annotated Bibliography of Philippine Social Sciences: Economics, by A.G. Hufana and R.V. Díaz |date=1956 |publisher= |others=Alejandrino G. Hufana, Rony V. Díaz, University of the Philippines. Institute of Asian Studies |isbn= |volume=1 of An Annotated Bibliography of Philippine Social Sciences, Cecilio Lopez |location= |page=169 |author-link=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Orosa |first=Sixto Y. |title=The Philippine Review: (Revista Filipina); a Monthly Magazine in English and Spanish, Volume 4 |date=1919 |publisher= |isbn= |editor-last=Nieva |editor-first=Gregorio |location= |page=820 |chapter=The Flag Day in Jolo |quote=Moros not to exhibit the Filipino flag, but A fourth, representing Liberty, standtheir un - American efforts in no ... in an attitude of protecting ened or dulled the general enthusiasm . the three, was unfurling the American flag . |author-link= |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nb87AQAAMAAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=PA820}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YlI-AQAAMAAJ&dq=lantaka+moro+chinese+american&pg=RA6-PA21 |title=Army-Navy-Air Force Register and Defense Times, Volume 44 |date=1908 |publisher= |isbn= |location= |page=21 |quote=No other milk approaches it China, the latter a colony of France . in actual food value or in any of the qualition ... In 1599 large numbers of Moro St., New York City, If your Druggist THE ANTIQUITY OF THE LANTAKA OF THE pirates ... |author-link=}}</ref>{{Excessive citations inline|date=May 2023}}

Balinese women, Bugis women and other native women in Indonesia who married Han Chinese men were buried according to Chinese custom with Chinese characters on their gravestones instead of being cremated.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Salmon |first1=Claudine |date=2016 |title=Ancient Chinese Cemeteries of Indonesia as Vanishing Landmarks of the Past (17th-20th c.) Anciens cimetières d'Indonésie comme jalons d'un passé en voie de disparition (xviie-xxe s.) |journal=Chinese Deathscapes in Insulindia |volume=92 |issue= |pages=23–61 |doi=10.4000/archipel.282 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Straits Chinese, Baba Nyonya or Peranakan are descended from Malay women and Chinese men.<ref>{{cite book |last=Daniels |first=Timothy P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p_mR2_TTWL4C&dq=%22people+considered+them+as+offspring%22&pg=PA51 |title=Building Cultural Nationalism in Malaysia: Identity, Representation and Citizenship |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135931223 |edition=illustrated |page=51}}</ref>

==Culture==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2022}}

===Clothing===
[[File:WLANL - mchangsp - Vitrine Baba Nonya (1).jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Kebaya]] Nyonya'' or ''Kebaya Encim'', a traditional Peranakan attire.]]

The Peranakan retained most of their ethnic and religious origins (such as ancestor worship), but assimilated the language and culture of the Malays.
The Nyonya's clothing, Baju Panjang (Long Dress) was adapted from the native Malay's Baju Kurung. It is worn with a [[batik]] [[sarong]] (batik wrap-around skirt) and three kerosang (brooches). [[Peranakan beaded slippers]] called ''Kasot Manek'' were hand-made with much skill and patience: strung, beaded and sewn onto canvas with tiny faceted glass cut beads (known as ''[[Peranakan cut beads|Manek Potong]]'') similar to ones from [[Bohemia]] (present-day [[Czech Republic]]).

Traditional ''kasot manek'' design often have European floral subjects, with colours influenced by Peranakan porcelain and batik sarongs. They were made into flats or bedroom slippers. But from the 1930s, modern shapes became popular and heels were gradually added.

In Indonesia, the Peranakans develop their own [[kebaya]], most notably ''kebaya encim'', derived from the name ''encim'' or ''enci'' to refer to a married Chinese woman.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Agnes Swetta Pandia |last2=Nina Susilo |date=13 January 2013 |title=Tantangan Bisnis Kebaya Encim |url=http://female.kompas.com/read/2013/01/13/10574438/Tantangan.Bisnis.Kebaya.Encim |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116064114/http://female.kompas.com/read/2013/01/13/10574438/Tantangan.Bisnis.Kebaya.Encim |archive-date=16 January 2013 |access-date=19 January 2013 |website=Female Kompas.com |language=id}}</ref> ''Kebaya encim'' was commonly worn by Chinese ladies in Javan coastal cities with significant Chinese settlements, such as [[Semarang]], Lasem, Tuban, [[Surabaya]], [[Pekalongan]] and [[Cirebon]]. It marked differently from Javanese kebaya with its smaller and finer embroidery, lighter fabrics and more vibrant colours. They also developed their own batik patterns, which incorporate symbols from China. The ''kebaya encim'' fit well with vibrant-coloured kain [[Batik#Pesisir Batik (Coastal Batik)|batik pesisiran]] (Javan coastal batik), which incorporated symbols and motives from China; such as dragon, phoenix, peony and lotus. For the Baba they will wear baju lokchuan (which is the Chinese men's full costume) but the younger generation they will wear just the top of it which is the long-sleeved silk jacket with Chinese collar or the batik shirt.

===Religion===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Schilderingen in het voorportaal van de Chinese tempel te Makassar. TMnr 60008243.jpg|thumb|A Chinese temple in [[Makassar]], [[Dutch East Indies]] (present-day Indonesia) c. 1900 – 1920.]]

Most Peranakans generally subscribed to Chinese beliefs systems such as [[Taoism]], [[Confucianism]] and [[Han Buddhism]], and even [[Roman Catholic|Roman Christianity]] nowadays. Just like the Chinese, the Peranakans also celebrate [[Chinese New Year]], [[Lantern Festival]] and other [[List of observances set by the Chinese calendar|Chinese festivals]], while adopting the customs of the land they settled in, as well as those of their colonial rulers. There are traces of [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[British people|British]], [[Malay people|Malay]] and [[Indonesian people|Indonesian]] influences in Peranakan culture.<ref name="google"/>

The Peranakans still believe in ''pantang larang'' (meaning [[taboos]]) especially among the older generations. In some cases, quite a number the Peranakan's ''pantang larang'' are deemed too strict and complex. But today, most Peranakans no longer practice complex ''pantang larang'' to keep up with the modern times.

====Christianity====
[[File:The Chapel, Sculpture Square, Singapore - 20101020-04.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Kampong Kapor Methodist Church]], Singapore.]]
A significant number of the modern Peranakan community have embraced [[Christianity]], most notably in Indonesia.

In 2019, a new branch of Singapore-specific Peranakan intermarriages were found to exist within the early Roman Catholic Church starting from 1834. This early church was set up by French missionaries (Mission Enstrangeres de Paris Order) in 1832 on Bras Basah Road, on the grounds  of the present day Singapore Art Museum. Approximately 26 intermarriages between mainly China-born Teochew men and Melaka Serani, Malay, Peranakan Chinese and Indian women, took place under the auspices of this church, between 1834 and the early 1870s. Most, if not all descendants, identify as Teochew Peranakans today.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Marc Sebastian Rerceretnam|title=A History of Immigrant Roman Catholics and Converts in Early Singapore 1832-1945|date=20 August 2021|publisher=Yesteryear Books|isbn=978-0-6452364-0-8|page=160}}</ref>

In Singapore, the [[Kampong Kapor Methodist Church]], founded in 1894 by an Australian missionary, [[Sophia Blackmore]], is considered one of the first Peranakan churches. During its establishment, Sunday service were conducted in [[Baba Malay]] language, and it is still one of the languages being used in their services.

Despite living in Muslim majority countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, converting to Christianity allows Peranakans to continue eating pork which is a key part of the Peranakan diet.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jacqueline Knorr|title=Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia|date=15 March 2014|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-269-0|page=150}}</ref> Moreover, Peranakans were traditionally English educated at missionary schools, notably in Penang.

====Islam====
In Indonesia, Peranakan<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jacqueline Knorr|title=Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia|date=15 March 2014|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-269-0|page=71}}</ref>  referred to all Indonesian Chinese who had converted to Islam up until the 19th century. This indicated the importance of Islamic identity as a "criterion of indigenization." Later, Peranakan referred to all Indonesian Chinese born in the country, including those of descendants of mixed race unions.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Jacqueline Knorr|title=Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia|date=15 March 2014|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-269-0|page=135}}</ref> Large numbers of Peranakans, many from [[Fujian]] having prior experience with foreign Muslims who had a dominant position in that provinces most important seaport, adopted Islam in Java, strongly Muslim areas of Indonesia,<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Reid|editor1-first=Anthony|editor2-last=Alilunas-Rodgers|editor2-first=Kristine|title=Sojourners and Settlers: Histories of Southeast China and the Chinese|year=1996|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|isbn=978-0-8248-2446-4|page=74|edition=illustrated, reprint}}</ref> and Malaysia.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Radcliffe|editor1-first=Sarah|title=Culture and Development in a Globalizing World: Geographies, Actors and Paradigms|date=27 September 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-27458-1|pages=141–2|quote=A large number of Chinese settlers were converted to Islam. Having come largely from Fujian, they not only found it advantageous to adopt the predominant religion of the Javanese port towns, but in fact were familiar with the role of Islam in Fujian's trade. In [[Quanzhou]], Fujian's most important seaport by the late thirteenth century, both trade and administration were dominated by foreign Muslims and an Islamic diaspora promoted trade with the rest of Asia.}}</ref> As in the case of the Peranakans in [[Cirebon]], this conversion process occurred over several centuries<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Tan|editor1-first=Chee-Beng|title=Routledge Handbook of the Chinese Diaspora|date=11 February 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-23096-7|page=348}}</ref> and was even recorded before the Dutch seized [[Jakarta]].<ref name="Berghahn Books">{{cite book|author1=Jacqueline Knorr|title=Creole Identity in Postcolonial Indonesia|date=15 March 2014|publisher=Berghahn Books|isbn=978-1-78238-269-0|page=137}}</ref> Many of these Peranakans in Indonesia who converted to Islam would marry into aristocratic dynasties.<ref name="Berghahn Books"/> One organisation of Indonesian Peranakan Muslims is the ''Persatuan Islam Tionghoa Indonesia'' (Association of Indonesian Chinese Muslims), which was formed in 1936 in [[Medan]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Leo Suryadinata|title=Prominent Indonesian Chinese: Biographical Sketches|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-3055-03-2|page=256}}</ref> Some prominent Peranakan Muslims include the Indonesians Junus Jahja,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Leo Suryadinata|title=Prominent Indonesian Chinese: Biographical Sketches|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-3055-03-2|page=46}}</ref> Abdul Karim Oei Tjeng Hien<ref>{{cite book|author1=Leo Suryadinata|title=Prominent Indonesian Chinese: Biographical Sketches|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-3055-03-2|pages=51–2}}</ref> and Tjio Wie Tay<ref>{{cite book|author1=Leo Suryadinata|title=Prominent Indonesian Chinese: Biographical Sketches|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-3055-03-2|pages=105–6}}</ref> and from [[Patani (historical region)|Pattani]], the Peranakan convert to Islam, Datu Seri Nara, who according to Wybrand of Warwijck was the most important commercial and military figure in [[Patani (historical region)|Pattani]] in 1602.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Montesano|editor1-first=Michael John|editor2-last=Jory|editor2-first=Patrick|title=Thai South and Malay North: Ethnic Interactions on the Plural Peninsula|year=2008|publisher=NUS Press|isbn=978-9971-69-411-1|page=35|edition=reprint}}</ref>

===Food===
{{main|Peranakan cuisine}}
[[File:Buahkeluak.JPG|thumb|left|''[[Ayam buah keluak]]'', a traditional Peranakan dish.]]

Due to the culture of Nyonya and Babas is merged between Malay and Chinese and influence by Indonesia. Malacca was once the world's merchant gathering point enabling the birth of Baba and Nyonya ethnic group. Therefore, the Nyonya food can be summarized as "Malay Archipelago Delicacies of Nanyang Cuisine".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jacky Liew |title=Truly Nyonya Malacca |year=2010 |publisher=Seashore |location=Malaysia |isbn=9789675413247 |page=18 |url=https://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblio/13558575 |access-date=18 June 2020|author1-link= Jacky Liew}}</ref>

From the Malay influence, a unique [[Peranakan cuisine|"Nyonya" cuisine]] has developed using typical Malay spices. Examples are ''chicken kapitan'', a dry chicken [[curry]] and ''inchi kabin'', a Nyonya version of fried chicken. ''Pindang bandeng'' is a common fish soup served in Indonesia during the Chinese New Year and so is a white round [[mooncake]] from [[Tangerang]] which is normally used during the [[Mid-Autumn Festival|Autumn Festival]]. ''[[Swikee|Swikee purwodadi]]'' is a Peranakan dish from [[Purwodadi Grobogan|Purwodadi]], a frog soup dish.

''Nyonya [[laksa]]'' is a very popular dish in Malacca, [[Malaysia]] while another variant called ''asam laksa'' is famous in Penang, Malaysia. ''Pongteh'' is also another popular and savoury dish of the Malaccan Peranakan community. The main ingredient is onion, black mushroom (optional), chicken (at times pork is used instead of chicken, hence it's called ''babi pongteh'') and fermented bean sauce. The Malaccan Nyonyas are well known for this dish.

Other dishes from the east coast of [[Peninsular Malaysia]] Peranakans in [[Kelantan]] include ''telur kesum'', ''ayam kerabu'' and ''khau jam'' are influenced by [[Chinese cuisine|Chinese]], [[Malay cuisine|Malay]] and [[Thai cuisine|Thai]] cuisine. While in [[Terengganu]], popular Peranakan foods are such as the local version of crab cake, ''ayam pachok'' which resembles satay with a stronger flavour, fish in spicy tamarind sauce and slow-cooked chicken with palm sugar.<ref name="STperanakanganu">{{cite web |url=http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/the-peranakans-of-terengganu |title=The Peranakans of Terengganu |publisher=Straits Times Singapore |date=2 February 2015 |access-date=26 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810224520/http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/the-peranakans-of-terengganu |archive-date=10 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Besides that, Peranakans of Malacca are also well known for a wide variety of traditional cakes ([[Kuih|''kueh'']] or ''[[kue]]'') such as ''lepak kacang'', ''[[Red tortoise cake|ang ku kue]]'' (a black variant is called ''kueh ku hitam''), [[Pineapple tart|''kueh tae'' or ''nastar'']], ''Nyonya [[Zongzi|bak chang]]'', [[Martabak manis|''apom balik'']] (Peranakan's version closely resembles Indonesian's ''[[serabi]]''), ''kueh bakol'', ''[[Tapai|tapae]]'', [[Kue kochi|''kueh kochi'']], ''kueh bongkong'', ''[[rempah udang]]'', ''pulot enti'', ''[[Kuih sepit|kueh gulong]]'' (another variant is ''[[Kuih sepit|kueh kapit]]''), ''kueh bolu'', ''galeng galoh'' (also known as ''[[kue seri muka|seri muka]]''), ''kueh bangket'' and many more. Traditional [[kueh]] (or [[kue]]) are sometimes made in conjunction with festivals that the Peranakans celebrate. For example, ''kueh genggang'' (also commonly known as ''kueh lapis''), is a type of multi layered cake, most often eaten during Chinese New Year to symbolise a ladder of continued prosperity.

A small number of restaurants serving Nyonya food can be found in Penang and Malacca in Malaysia; and Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya in Indonesia.

===Marriage===
[[File:Anonymous photograph of a Peranakan bride and groom dated 30 May 1939, The Intan, Singapore.jpg|thumb|upright|A Straits Peranakan bride and groom dated 30 May 1939.]]

It was not uncommon for early Chinese traders to take Malay women from Peninsular Malaya or Sumatra as wives or concubines.<ref name="google"/> Consequently, the Baba Nyonya display a mix of Sino-Malay cultural traits.<ref name="google"/>

Written records from the 19th and early 20th centuries show that ''Peranakan'' men usually took brides from within the local ''Peranakan'' community. Peranakan families occasionally imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands.

Marriages within the community and of similar stature were the norm during that time. Wealthy men prefigured to marry a ''chin choay'': or matrilocal marriage where husband moved in with the wife's family.<ref name="google"/>

Proposals of marriage were made by a gift of a ''pinangan'', in a 2-tiered lacquered basket known as ''Bakul Siah'' in Malaysia or ''Tenong Keranjang'' in Indonesia, to the intended bride's parents brought by a go-between who speaks on behalf of the suitor. There are rare cases where wealthy Peranakans in the past used highly decorative glided pagoda trays (''Botekan Candi'' in Indonesian) instead of the ''Bakul Siah'' or ''Tenong Keranjang''. Most Peranakans have retained the [[Chinese ancestral worship|traditions of ancestor worship of the Chinese]], though some have converted to [[Christianity]] and [[Islam]].

The wedding ceremony of the Peranakan is largely based on Chinese tradition, and is one of the most colourful wedding ceremonies in Malaysia. At Malacca weddings, the ''Dondang Sayang'', a form of extempore rhyming song in Malay sung and danced by guests at the wedding party, was a highlight. Someone would begin a romantic theme which was carried on by others, each taking the floor in turn, dancing in slow gyrations as they sang. It required quick wit and repartee and often gave rise to laughter and applause when a particularly clever phrase was sung. The melodic accents of the Baba-Nonya and their particular turns of phrase lead to the charm of this performance.

The important wedding rites had to be commenced on auspicious days at specific times, according to the ''pek ji'', the eight Chinese characters annotating one's birth date and time. At these rites, ''pantangs'' (taboos) were carefully observed – the wedding rituals had to be legitimised and witnessed by elders, deities and ancestors. Marriages were typically match-made. Parents and elders made the final decision, but the potential bride and bridegroom were also consulted in the process. Wedding items commonly utilised the prosperous colours of red, pink, orange, yellow and gold and were embellished with special motifs to ensure a good marriage. Similar to the Chinese, Peranakans believed that good things always come in pairs, therefore many wedding items came in pairs.

===Museums===
[[File:Pinang Peranakan Mansion.JPG|thumb|left|[[Pinang Peranakan Mansion]], stately mansion built at the end of the 19th century, residence and office of Kapitan Cina [[Chung Keng Quee]].]]

Historical and cultural items from the Peranakan culture are displayed in [[Baba Nyonya Heritage Museum]], [[Straits Chinese Jewellery Museum]] and other cultural establishments on Heeren Street, [[Jonker Walk|Jonker Street]] and other streets in the same neighbourhood in Malacca; the [[Pinang Peranakan Mansion]] in Penang, Malaysia; and at the [[Peranakan Museum]], [[Baba House]] and the Intan Museum in [[Singapore]]. Furniture, food, and even traditional clothes of the Baba and Nyonya are exhibited. Free weekly street shows featuring Baba performances, and traditional and pop Chinese cultural performances are found in Jonker Street in Malacca. The shows are part of the night market scene, and are usually crowded with shoppers, both local and foreign.

On 11 November 2011, [[Benteng Heritage Museum]] in [[Tangerang]], near Jakarta is opened to display mainly about [[Benteng Chinese]] uses an old genuine traditional Chinese Peranakan house. And in August 2013, the ''[[Museum Peranakan Indonesia]]'' was officially opened by the ''[[Yayasan Budaya Tionghoa Indonesia]]''. The museum is located at the [[Cheng Ho Museum]], next to the Hakka Museum, at the pavilion of [[Taman Budaya Tionghoa Indonesia]], [[Taman Mini Indonesia Indah]] in Jakarta.

Other Peranakan cultural collections such as batik and bead works can also be found in museums outside of [[South East Asia]]. [[Honolulu Museum of Art]] and [[Australian Museum]] are known to exhibit such collections. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Apart from that, exhibition of Peranakan Chitty history, antiques and culture can be seen at the Chitty Museum in Kampung Chitty, Malacca, Malaysia. In 2013, there were controversies of development at the expense of demolishing part of Kampung Chitty, a historical and cultural village.<ref name="Peranakan Chitty">{{cite news |url=http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/now-development-threatens-historical-site-in-malacca |title=Now, development threatens historical site in Malacca |newspaper=The Malaysian Insider |access-date=14 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221113723/http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/now-development-threatens-historical-site-in-malacca |archive-date=21 February 2014 }}</ref> A proposal to construct a condominium, a hotel and a road cutting through the village are seen as a threat affecting the residents and a temple built in 1827.<ref name="Kampung Chitty">{{cite news |url=http://my.news.yahoo.com/39-road-kg-chitty-could-destroy-homes-39-043200736.html |title=Road through Kg Chitty could destroy homes |work=Yahoo! News |access-date=14 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302014551/http://my.news.yahoo.com/39-road-kg-chitty-could-destroy-homes-39-043200736.html |archive-date=2 March 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In Kelantan, the {{Lang|ms|Persatuan Peranakan Cina Kelantan}} or the Kelantan Chinese Peranakan Association (abbreviated as PPCK) have opened a gallery which provides visitors with various insights into the Kelantanese Chinese Peranakan culture.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Vijayan |first=Sheela |date=27 November 2023 |title=Learn all about the Peranakan Chinese in Kelantan |work=[[Free Malaysia Today]] |url=https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2023/11/27/learn-all-about-the-peranakan-chinese-in-kelantan/ |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

===Political affinity===
[[File:StraitsChinese Pottery Phoenix.JPG|thumb|Multichrome Modern Chinese-made replica enamel porcelain tea tray with a traditional Peranakan "fenghuang".]]

Many Peranakan were active in trade and considered supportive of continued European rule in Malaysia and Indonesia.<ref name="google"/> Peranakans often played the role of middleman of the British and the Chinese, or the Chinese and Malays, because they were mostly English educated and spoke Malay more fluently than newer Chinese immigrants. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

By the middle of the twentieth century, most Peranakan were English or Dutch-educated at Western-style institutions. Peranakans readily embraced [[Western culture]] and education as a means to advance economically thus administrative and civil service posts were often filled by prominent Straits Chinese. Many in the community chose to convert to Christianity due to its perceived prestige and proximity to the preferred company of British and Dutch officials.<ref name="google"/>

The Peranakan community thereby became very influential in Malacca and [[Singapore]] and were known also as the '''King's Chinese''' due to their loyalty to the British Crown. Because of their interaction with different cultures and languages, most Peranakans were (and still are) trilingual, being able to converse in Chinese, Malay, and English. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}} Common vocations were as merchants, traders, and general intermediaries between China, Malaya and the West; the latter were especially valued by the British and Dutch. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Things started to change in the first half of the 20th century, with some Peranakans starting to support Malaysian and Indonesian independence.
In Indonesia three Chinese communities started to merge and become active in the political scene. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

They were also among the pioneers of Indonesian newspapers. In their fledgling publishing companies, they published their own political ideas along with contributions from other Indonesian writers. In November 1928, the Chinese weekly Sin Po ({{lang-zh|links=no|t= 新報|p= xīn bào}}) was the first paper to openly publish the text of the national anthem ''Indonesia Raya''. On occasion, those involved in such activities ran a concrete risk of imprisonment or even of their lives, as the Dutch colonial authorities banned nationalistic publications and activities. {{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

Chinese were active in supporting the independence movement during the 1940s Japanese occupation, when the all but the so-called "Overseas Chinese Association", or residents of Chinese ancestry ({{lang-zh|links=no|t=華僑中會|p=Huáqiáo Zhōnghuì}}) were banned by the Japanese military authorities. Some notable pro-independence activists were [[Siauw Giok Tjhan]], [[Liem Koen Hian]], and [[Yap Tjwan Bing]], a member of ''[[Panitia Persiapan Kemerdekaan Indonesia]]'', who in the 1960s became a citizen of the United States.

=== Chinese cultural Influence on Southeast Asian Muslims ===
Muslim Southeast Asians adopted Chinese symbols like the colour yellow for royals, including Malays, Javanese and Moros.

One Dutch mentioned "yellow Chinese belts which only the Javanese will buy."<ref>{{cite book |last=Ma |first=Debin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x6xBDgAAQBAJ&dq=%22yellow+Chinese+belts+which+only+the+Javanese+will+buy.%22&pg=PA242 |title=Textiles in the Pacific, 1500–1900 |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-89561-3 |edition=reprint |series=The Pacific World: Lands, Peoples and History of the Pacific, 1500-1900 |location= |page=242}}</ref>

Malays and Dayaks in Borneo did not use milk or dairy probably due to Chinese influence.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Scott |first=Mrs. Samuel Bryan |year=1913 |title=Mohammedanism in Borneo: Notes for a Study of the Local Modifications of Islam and the Extent of its Influence on the native Tribes |url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.104346/2015.104346.Journal-Of-The-American-Oriental-Society-Vol33_djvu.txt |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |location=Philadelphia, Pa. |volume=33 |page=330 |doi=10.2307/592838 |jstor=592838}}</ref>

Malays adopted the [[Chinese zodiac#Asian|Chinese zodiac]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Farouk Yahya |title=Malay Magic and Divination in Illuminated Manuscripts |publisher=Brill |year=2015 |isbn=978-90-04-30172-6 |pages=296–306 |chapter=Glossary |chapter-url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004301726/B9789004301726-s011.xml}}</ref> The [[Dragon (zodiac)|Dragon]] (''Loong'') is normally equated with the [[nāga]] but it is sometimes called Big Snake (''ular besar'') while the [[Snake (zodiac)|Snake sign]] is called Second Snake (''ular sani''). This is also recorded in a 19th-century manuscript compiled by [[John Leyden]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leyden |first=John |url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=or_15936_fs001r |title=Notes and vocabularies in Malay, Thai, Burmese and other minor languages |publisher=[[The British Library]] |page=104 |chapter=Cycle of years used by the Malays |author-link=John Leyden |access-date=16 June 2022 |chapter-url=http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=or_15936_f103v |via=Digitised Manuscripts }}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>

==Current status==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2022}}
Peranakan culture has started to disappear in Malaysia and Singapore. Without support from the colonial government for their perceived ethnic independence, government policies in both countries following independence from colonial rule have resulted in the assimilation of Peranakans back into mainstream Chinese culture. Singapore classifies the Peranakans as ethnically Chinese, so they receive formal instruction in [[Standard Chinese|Mandarin Chinese]] as a second language (in accordance with the "Mother Tongue Policy") instead of Malay. In Malaysia, the standardisation of Malay as [[Bahasa Melayu]]—required for all ethnic groups—has led to a disappearance of the unique characteristics of Baba Malay.

[[File:Cina Benteng wedding.jpg|thumb|left|Mass wedding ceremony of [[Benteng Chinese]], [[Jakarta]] 2012.]]

In Indonesia, the Peranakan culture appears to be losing popularity to modern Western culture, but to some degree the Peranakans are still trying to retain their language, cuisines and customs. Young Peranakans still speak their creole language, although many young women do not wear the ''kebaya''. Marriages normally follow the western culture because the traditional Peranakan customs are losing popularity. Only three communities of Peranakan still uphold the traditional Peranakan wedding customs, Tangerang (by the Cina Benteng people), Makassar and Padang. Of the three communities the Cina Benteng people are the most adherent to the Peranakan culture, but their numbers are dwindling.<ref name="Pernikahan Peranakan">{{cite web |url=http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2008/02/05/18160273/Imlek.Prosesi.Pernikahan.China.Peranakan.Hanya.Bertahan.di.Tiga.Kota |title=Imlek, Prosesi Pernikahan China Peranakan Hanya Bertahan di Tiga Kota |access-date=10 July 2012 |date=5 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723123123/http://nasional.kompas.com/read/2008/02/05/18160273/Imlek.Prosesi.Pernikahan.China.Peranakan.Hanya.Bertahan.di.Tiga.Kota |archive-date=23 July 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Cina Benteng people are normally poor people and many seek, or have sought, opportunities in other areas. Some organisations do try to ease their burden of living.<ref name="Cina Benteng Get Free Health Service">{{Cite news |date=15 May 2012 |title=Cina Benteng Get Free Health Service |language=en |work=The Jakarta Post |url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/15/cina-benteng-get-free-health-service.html |url-status=live |access-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725141945/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/15/cina-benteng-get-free-health-service.html |archive-date=25 July 2012}}</ref> As of May 2012, 108 Cina Benteng families are facing eviction from their traditional homes, the reason given by the Tangerang government being that the area they occupy is actually meant as a green space for the city. Most of these families are low income and have nowhere to move to, as the government is not providing enough money for them to relocate. Several traumatic eviction attempts at 2010 and 2011 ended in violence.<ref name="Cina Benteng Vows Fight Upcoming Eviction">{{Cite news |last=Multa Fidrus |date=19 May 2012 |title='Cina Benteng' Vows to Fight Upcoming Eviction |work=The Jakarta Post |url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/19/cina-benteng-vows-fight-upcoming-eviction.html |url-status=dead |access-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725125326/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/05/19/cina-benteng-vows-fight-upcoming-eviction.html |archive-date=25 July 2012 }}</ref>

The migration of some Peranakan families, particularly the well-to-do, has led to a small Peranakan diaspora to neighbouring countries, mainly from [[Vietnam]]<ref name="Vietnamese diaspora">{{cite web |url=http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/Asia/MalayChinese.htm |title=Chinese/Native intermarriage in Austronesian Asia |publisher=Color Q World |access-date=10 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120215154123/http://www.colorq.org/MeltingPot/Asia/MalayChinese.htm |archive-date=15 February 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> to [[Australia]].<ref name="Australian diaspora">{{cite web|url=http://www.theswanker.com/macammacam/2005/04/babas_and_nonya.html |title=babas_and_nonya.html |publisher=theswanker.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219091541/http://www.theswanker.com/macammacam/2005/04/babas_and_nonya.html |archive-date=19 February 2012}}</ref> The [[Indonesian riots of May 1998|1998 anti-Chinese riots]] in Indonesia during the [[Post-Suharto era#Fall of Suharto|fall of Suharto]] terrorised many Chinese Indonesians and Peranakans alike, causing Chinese Indonesian communities affected by the riots to leave the country. However, these communities are very small, and with the increasing use of the various languages in their respective countries, the use of Peranakan Malay or Baba Malay has been diluted, especially among the younger generation.

==Current associations==
{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2022}}
Associations of Chinese Peranakans include The Peranakan Association Singapore (TPAS), Aspertina (''Asosiasi Peranakan Tionghoa Indonesia'') and the Gunong Sayang Association (GSA),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1383_2010-05-24.html|title=Gunong Sayang Association {{!}} Infopedia|website=eresources.nlb.gov.sg|access-date=3 January 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103072429/https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1383_2010-05-24.html|archive-date=3 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> a performing arts group in Singapore. The Peranakan Association Singapore has over 2,000 members, and the Gunong Sayang Association has about 200 members. The Peranakan Association Singapore consists of a mix of young and old members, while the Gunung Sayang Association has primarily elderly or retired members. In Malacca, there is an Indian Peranakan Association known as the Chitty Melaka. This is a tightly knit community of Saivite Hindus.<ref>{{cite book|author=Shiv Shanker Tiwary & P.S. Choudhary|title=Encyclopaedia Of Southeast Asia And Its Tribes (Set Of 3 Vols.)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdEjAQAAIAAJ&q=Encyclopaedia+Of+Southeast+Asia+And+Its+Tribes+(Set+Of+3+Vols.)|year=2009|publisher=Anmol Publications|isbn=978-81-261-3837-1}}</ref> Chitty Peranakans display considerable similarity to Chinese Peranakans in terms of dressing, songs, folk dances and [[pantun]].

In Malaysia, there are Peranakan associations in Malacca, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kelantan, and Terengganu. The Peranakan association that is based in Kelantan is named the {{Lang|ms|Persatuan Peranakan Cina Kelantan}} (lit. the "Kelantan Chinese Peranakan Association", abbreviated as PPCK) while the one that is located in Terengganu is the {{Lang|ms|Persatuan Peranakan Cina Terengganu}} (lit. the "Terengganu Chinese Peranakan Association").<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-27 |title=Persatuan Peranakan Cina Kelantan |url=https://www.hati.my/persatuan-peranakan-cina-kelantan/ |access-date=2023-12-03 |website=Hati |language=ms}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Ali |first=Farah Shazwani |date=22 October 2019 |title=Keunikan peranakan Cina Terengganu |language=ms |work=[[Sinar Harian]] |url=https://www.sinarharian.com.my/article/53372/khas/kitalahmalaysia/keunikan-peranakan-cina-terengganu |access-date=4 December 2023}}</ref>

The Thai Peranakans live largely in the southern region of Thailand, especially the coastal areas beside the [[Andaman Sea]], including [[Krabi]], [[Phang Nga]], [[Phuket]], [[Ranong]], [[Satun]], and [[Trang province]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Koad |first=Phitsinee |last2=Dejpawuttikul |first2=Thanapas |date=2025-12-31 |title=The pursuit of history of Thai Peranakan Chinese and their translocal identity in the Malay-Thai peninsula |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2025.2582886 |journal=Cogent Arts & Humanities |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages= |doi=10.1080/23311983.2025.2582886}}</ref> and have an Association as well.

There are also Peranakan associations in Australia: Melbourne, Perth and New South Wales.

==Media==
[[File:Nyonyah1952.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Cover art for a [[Hong Kong]] film, Nyonyah (1952) featuring a [[Kebaya]] Nyonya.]]

Interest in the Peranakan culture had begun as early as the 1950s with films from [[Hong Kong]] such as the ''Niangre / Nyonyah'' (Yue Feng, 1952), ''Fengyu Niuche Shui / Rainstorm in Chinatown'' (Yan Jun 1956), ''Niangre Yu Baba / Nonya And Baba'' (Yan Jun 1956), and ''Niangre Zhi Lian / Love With A Malaysian Girl'' (Lui Kei, 1969).<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tan |first=E. K. |year=2010 |title=Hong Kong cinema and the portrayal of the Nanyang Chinese in the 1950s and 1960s |journal=Journal of Chinese Cinemas |language=en |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=155–168 |doi=10.1386/jcc.4.2.155_1 |s2cid=192179325}}</ref>

In Malaysia, a comedy drama series, ''Baba Nyonya'' was popular in the 1990s. The series is recognised by the Malaysian Book Of Records as the longest-running TV series in the country ever, lasting from the late 1980s until 2000, with 509 episodes in total.<ref name="Baba Nyonya Drama Series">{{cite news |url=http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2011%2f10%2f5%2fnation%2f9630673 |title=66-year-old Baba Nyonya actor Chee Hood Siong dies |newspaper=The Star Online |access-date=17 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227060411/http://www.thestar.com.my/story.aspx/?file=%2f2011%2f10%2f5%2fnation%2f9630673 |archive-date=27 February 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Along the passing of the [[Post-Suharto era|Reform Era]] in Indonesia and the removal of the ban on Chinese culture, in 1999, Indonesian writer [[Remy Sylado]] released a novel called ''Ca-Bau-Kan: Hanya Sebuah Dosa'' raised the Peranakan culture and history in Indonesia.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Ng |first=Scott |date=2022-12-12 |title=Indonesian arts icon Remy Sylado has died at 77 |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/indonesian-arts-icon-remy-sylado-has-died-at-77-3365105 |access-date=2025-11-20 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref> The novel was adapted into a film called ''[[Ca-bau-kan]]'' by [[Nia Dinata]] in 2002.<ref name=":0" /> [[Riri Riza]] directed a biographical film on an Indonesian student activist named [[Soe Hok Gie]] (played by [[Nicholas Saputra]]), entitled ''[[Gie]]'' in 2005. The film is based on a diary ''[[Catatan Seorang Demonstran]]'' written by [[Soe Hok Gie]], features a glimpse into the everyday life of an Indonesian Peranakan family in the 1960s. A novel that elevates the history and culture of the Benteng Chinese (''Cina Benteng'' is another term in Indonesian referring to Peranakan) titled ''Bonsai: Hikayat Satu Keluarga Cina Benteng'' written by Pralampita Lembahmata and published by Gramedia in 2011.

In 2008, a Singaporean drama series ''[[The Little Nyonya]]'' was aired in Singapore. The storyline circles around the biographical flashback of an extended Peranakan Chinese family in Malacca, Malaysia, is set in the 1930s and spans to over 70 years and several generations of three families. It gained popularity in Singapore<ref>{{cite web |last=Frois |first=Cheryl |date=31 December 2008 |title=MediaCorp Ch8's "The Little Nyonya" is highest rated series in 15 years |url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/399476/1/.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116120652/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/399476/1/.html |archive-date=16 January 2009 |access-date=13 January 2009 |publisher=Channel NewsAsia}}</ref><ref name="DVD release">{{cite web |date=7 January 2009 |title=Catch The Little Nyonya again on DVD |url=http://www.mediacorptv.sg/en/buzzdetail/EDC090107-0000007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116170056/http://mediacorptv.sg/en/buzzdetail/EDC090107-0000007 |archive-date=16 January 2009 |access-date=9 January 2009 |publisher=MediaCorp TV}}</ref> and later  in [[Asia]] especially within [[South East Asia]] region.<ref name="channelnewsasia Release">{{cite web |date=13 March 2009 |title=Over 5,000 sets of "The Little Nyonya" DVDs sold |url=http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/401882/1/.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302232425/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/401882/1/.html |archive-date=2 March 2009 |access-date=13 March 2009 |publisher=Channel New Asia}}</ref> The filming of the drama took place in Malacca, Penang and Ipoh, Malaysia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeanette Aw Slept For Only 2.5 Hours A Day For 4 Months When Filming The Little Nyonya In 2008 |url=https://www.8days.sg/entertainment/local/jeanette-aw-little-nyonya-slept-two-half-hours-four-months-caned-840916 |access-date=2025-11-20 |website=8days |language=en}}</ref>

In Yasmin Ahmad films ''Sepet'' and ''Gubra'' has featured Peranakan character as the lead actor's mother played by Peranakan actress Tan Mei Ling. Lead actors from the 1990s ''Baba Nyonya'' series were also featured in [[Wee Meng Chee|Namewee]]'s multi-language and multi-cultural film, ''[[Nasi Lemak 2.0]]'' in 2011, showcasing Peranakan culture.

==Notable Peranakans==

===Indonesia===
{{For|notable Indonesian people of Chinese descent|List of Chinese Indonesians}}
* [[Abdurrahman Wahid]]: The 4th President of Indonesia, and was the Chairman of Nadhlatul Ulama - the largest Muslim organization in the world.<ref name="Chinese1">{{cite book|last1=Lindsey|first1=Tim|last2=Pausacker|first2=Helen|title=Chinese Indonesians: Remembering, Distorting, Forgetting|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkaWBgAAQBAJ&q=Abdurrahman+Wahid+chinese+ancestry&pg=PA102|page=102|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9789812303035}}</ref><ref name="Chinese2">{{cite book|last1=Lim|first1=Hua Sing|title=Japan and China in East Asian Integration|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJv6eO2Izm8C&q=Abdurrahman+Wahid+chinese+ancestry&pg=PA290|page=290|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies |isbn=9789812307446}}</ref><ref name=handbook>{{cite book|last1=Esposito|first1=John|title=Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics|date=2013|publisher=OUP USA|page=570|isbn=9780195395891|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc7iAAAAQBAJ&q=nahdlatul+ulama+world%27s+largest&pg=PA570|access-date=17 November 2015|archive-date=9 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409003947/https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc7iAAAAQBAJ&q=nahdlatul+ulama+world%27s+largest&pg=PA570|url-status=live}}</ref>
* [[Abimana Aryasatya]]: Actor
* [[Agnes Monica]]: Artist, singer<ref name="TTP">{{cite web |url=http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.china.budaya-tionghua/48590 |title=tentang totok peranakan |author=Amaliya |publisher=Chinese Culture and its history in Indonesian |year=2012 |access-date=20 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120125754/http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.culture.region.china.budaya-tionghua/48590 |archive-date=20 January 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Amir Syamsuddin]]: [[Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Indonesia|Minister of Justice and Human Rights]] (2011–2014)
* [[Arief Budiman]]: Also known as Soe Hok Djin, the older brother of [[Soe Hok Gie]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Petrus Kanisius Ojong|Auwjong Peng koen]]: Indonesian journalist, founder of [[Kompas]], a national newspaper
* [[Basuki Tjahaja Purnama]]: Politician
* [[Marcel Chandrawinata]]: Actor 
* [[Chris John (boxer)|Chris John]]: Professional boxer
* [[Christian Hadinata]]: Badminton player<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Christian Sugiono]]: Actor
* [[Christianto Wibisono]]: Business analyst<ref name="PICBS">{{cite book|author=Leo Suryadinata|title=Prominent Indonesian Chinese: Biographical Sketches|year=1995|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-3055-03-2}}</ref>
* [[Chrisye]]: Singer
* [[Daniel Bambang Dwi Byantoro]]: Founder of [[Indonesian Orthodox Church]]
* [[Didik Nini Thowok]]: Dancer
* [[Erick Thohir]]: Businessman and Minister of State Owned Enterprises
* [[Fifi Young]]: Actress<ref name="TTP"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Labrousse, P. |title=Entretien avec Fifi Young |journal=Archipel |volume=5 |year=1973 |pages=175–177 |doi=10.3406/arch.1973.1049}}</ref>
* [[Han Bwee Kong|Han Bwee Kong, Kapitein der Chinezen]]: magnate, government official and landlord in East Java
* [[Hok Hoei Kan]]: colonial politician, landlord, patrician and a member of the Han family of Lasem
* [[Ian Antono]]: Lead guitarist of [[God Bless (band)|God Bless]]
* [[Kartini Muljadi]]: businesswoman and owner of Tempo Scan Pacific
* [[Kho Sin-Kie]]: Professional tennis player<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Khouw Kim An|Khouw Kim An, 5th ''Majoor der Chinezen'' of Batavia]]: bureaucrat, last Chinese head of colonial Jakarta, member of the [[Khouw family of Tamboen]]
* [[Oen Giok Khouw|O. G. Khouw]]: philanthropist, landlord and member of the [[Khouw family of Tamboen]]
* [[Khouw Tian Sek|Khouw Tian Sek, ''Luitenant-titulair der Chinezen'']]: landlord, magnate and patriarch of the [[Khouw family of Tamboen]]
* [[Kwee Tek Hoay]]: Journalist, novelist<ref name="TTP"/><ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Kwik Kian Gie]]: Economist, Coordinating Minister of Economics and Finance (1999–2000), and National Development Planning Minister (2001–2004) of Indonesia
* [[Lie Kim Hok]]: Teacher, writer and a social worker of the [[Dutch East Indies]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Liem Swie King]]: National [[shuttler]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Loa Sek Hie]]: colonial politician, community leader, landlord and founder of [[Pao An Tui]]
* [[Marga T|Margaretha Tjoa Liang Tjoe]]: Novelist<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Mari Pangestu]]: Economist, Trade Minister (2004–2011), and Tourism and Creative Economy Minister (2011) of Indonesia
* [[Mario Teguh]]: Motivational speaker
* [[Mira W|Mira Widjaja (Wong)]]: Author, daughter of [[Wong brothers|Othniel]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Oei Tiong Ham|Oei Tiong Ham, Majoor-titulair der Chinezen]]: Businessman and founder of the largest conglomerate in the [[Dutch East Indies]], Oei Tiong Ham Concern<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Oey Tamba Sia|Oey Tamba ''Sia'']]: playboy, tycoon's heir and criminal
* [[Phoa Keng Hek]]: Social worker and entrepreneur<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Phoa Liong Gie]]: colonial politician, jurist and newspaper owner, great-nephew of Phoa Keng Hek<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Rudy Hartono]]: National [[shuttler]]<ref name="TTP"/><ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Soe Hok Gie]]: Student activist<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Priyayi|Kyai Ronggo Ngabehi]] [[Soero Pernollo]]: Chinese-Javanese nobleman, bureaucrat and police chief
* [[Susi Susanti]]: National [[shuttler]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Tan Joe Hok]]: National [[shuttler]]<ref name="PICBS"/>
* [[Tan Liok Tiauw]]: Colonial landlord, plantation owner, industrialist<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lucas|first1=Anton|last2=Warren|first2=Carol|title=Land for the People: The State and Agrarian Conflict in Indonesia|year=2013|publisher=Ohio University Press|location=Ohio|isbn=9780896802872|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnYltof9Pr4C&q=%22tan+liok+tiauw%22|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Tio Ie Soei]]: Writer and journalist of the [[Dutch East Indies]]<ref name="PICBS"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Ayu Utami|title=Larung|year=2001|publisher=Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia|isbn=978-979-9023-63-6}}</ref>
* [[Titi DJ]]: Artist, singer
* [[Thung Sin Nio]] (1902–1996): physician, politician, suffragist

===Malaysia===
{{For|notable Malaysian people of Chinese descent|List of Malaysian Chinese}}
* [[Mohd Azizan Baba|Azizan Baba]]: Former professional footballer
* [[Chong Hon Nyan]]: Former cabinet minister
* [[Chua Boon Huat]]: Former hockey player
* [[Chuah Guat Eng]]: Novelist<ref name="archive">{{cite book|author=Jane Eldridge Miller|title=Who's who in Contemporary Women's Writing|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoincontemp0000unse/page/64 64]|isbn=978-0-415-15981-4|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoincontemp0000unse/page/64}}</ref>
* [[Chung Thye Phin]]: Last [[Kapitan China]] of the state of [[Perak]] and [[British Malaya]]<ref>{{cite book|author=Ronald Knapp|title=Chinese Houses of Southeast Asia: The Eclectic Architecture of Sojourners and Settlers|year=2013|publisher=Tuttle Publishing|isbn=978-1-4629-0587-4}}</ref>
* [[Damian Yeo Shen Li]]: Politician and lawyer
* [[Desmond Ho]]: Landscape designer<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ho, Desmond Lai Seng 1961–|title=Desmond Ho's guide to beautiful home gardens |year=2013|isbn=978-967-415-164-5|location=Petaling Jaya, Selangor|oclc=957334446}}</ref>
* [[Emily Lim]]: Actress, model, host and nutritionist
* [[Gan Eng Seng]]: Malaccan born businessman and philanthropist in Singapore and [[British Malaya|Malaya]]<ref name="PMVG">{{cite book|author=Peranakan Museum|title=Peranakan Museum Visitor Guide – Enter the world of the Peranakans|year=2008|publisher=National Heritage Board}}</ref>
* [[Janet Khoo]]: Actress
* [[Khoo Kay Kim]]: Historian
* [[Mavin Khoo]]: Dancer, son of [[Khoo Kay Kim]]
* [[Nathaniel Tan]]: Politician and writer
* [[Ong Kim Swee]]: Football manager and former professional footballer
* [[Robert Choe]]: Former professional footballer
* [[Tan Chay Yan]]: Rubber plantation merchant and philanthropist, grandson of [[Tan Tock Seng]]<ref name="SAPCD">{{cite book|author=Leo Suryadinata|title=Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume I & II|year=2012|publisher=Institute of Southeast Asian Studies|isbn=978-981-4345-21-7}}</ref>
* [[Tan Cheng Lock]]: Founder and first President of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA)<ref>{{cite book|author=Agnes Tan Kim Lwi|title=Tun Dato Sir Cheng Lock Tan: A Son of Malacca|year=1985|publisher=[Singapore : s.n.]|oclc=225950691}}</ref>
* [[Tan Siew Sin]]: Third President of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) and first Finance Minister of Malaysia (1959–1974), son of [[Tan Cheng Lock]]<ref name="Singapore">{{cite book|author=Lily Zubaidah Rahim|title=Singapore in the Malay World: Building and Breaching Regional Bridges|year=2010|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-01397-5}}</ref>
* [[Tan Tock Seng]]: Malaccan born merchant and philanthropist in Singapore<ref name="SAPCD"/>
* [[Tan Twan Eng]]: [[Penang]]-born novelist known for being the first Malaysian recipient of the [[Man Asian Literary Prize]].<ref name="idar">{{cite web|url=https://www.asymptotejournal.com/interview/an-interview-with-tan-twan-eng/|title=An interview with Tan Twan Eng|access-date=4 July 2019|author=Nicole Idar|publisher=Asymptote Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704135559/https://www.asymptotejournal.com/interview/an-interview-with-tan-twan-eng/|archive-date=4 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Singapore===
* [[Chee Soon Juan]]: Secretary-General of the [[Singapore Democratic Party]]
* [[David Lim Kim San]]: Head of Music Department in the Ministry of Education (1969)
* [[Desmond Lee (Singaporean politician)|Desmond Lee]]: Cabinet Minister and Chairman of the [[People's Action Party]]
* [[Dick Lee]]: Celebrity pop singer, composer and playwright
* [[Gan Eng Seng]]: Malaccan born businessman and philanthropist in [[Straits Settlement]] of Singapore and [[British Malaya|Malaya]]<ref name="PMVG"/>
* [[Goh Keng Swee]]: Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
* [[Ivan Heng]]: Actor
* [[Lee Hsien Loong]]: Third Prime Minister of Singapore
* [[Lee Kuan Yew]]: First Prime Minister of modern Singapore
* [[Lim Boon Keng]]: Penang born physician and social activist in Singapore
* [[Violet Oon]]: Chef, restaurateur, and food writer specializing in Peranakan cuisine
* [[Lim Kim San]]: Former Cabinet Minister<ref name="PMVG"/>
* [[Lim Nee Soon]]: Merchant and entrepreneur of the [[Straits Settlement]] of Singapore
* [[Pierre Png]]: Mediacorp artiste
* [[Piya Tan]]: Buddhist writer and teacher
* [[Seow Poh Leng]]: Banker, philanthropist and a committee member of the [[Straits Settlement]] (Settlement of Singapore)
* [[Song Hoot Kiam]]: Teacher, cashier and a community leader
* [[Song Ong Siang|Sir Song Ong Siang]]: Lawyer and active citizen of the [[Straits Settlement]] of Singapore, son of [[Song Hoot Kiam]]
* [[Tan Chin Tuan]]: Chairman of [[OCBC Bank|OCBC]]
* [[Tan Kim Ching]]: Politician and businessman, the eldest son of [[Tan Tock Seng]], major donor of [[Tan Si Chong Su]]
* [[Tan Kim Seng]]: Malaccan born philanthropist and merchant<ref name="PMVG"/>
* [[Tan Tock Seng]]: Malaccan born merchant and philanthropist of the [[Straits Settlement]] of Singapore, leader of Hokkien clan and major donor of [[Thian Hock Keng]]<ref name="SAPCD"/>
* [[Toh Chin Chye]]: Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore
* [[Tony Tan]]: Seventh President of Singapore
* [[Walter Woon]]: Lawyer, academic, diplomat, politician and 7th Attorney-General of Singapore
* [[Wee Kim Wee]]: Fourth President of Singapore

==See also==
* [[Cabang Atas]]
* [[Minh Hương]]
* [[Overseas Chinese]]
* [[Sangley]]

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{Cite book|last=Tong |first=Lillian |year=2014 |title=Straits Chinese Gold Jewellery |publisher=Penang Peranakan Mansion |location=Malaysia}}
* {{Cite book|last=Santosa |first=Iwan |year=2012 |title=Peranakan Tionghoa Di Nusantara |publisher=ASPERTINA & Kompas Penerbit Buku |location=Indonesia |isbn=978-979-709-641-0}}
* {{Cite book|last1=Kee |first1=Ming-Yuet |author2=Low Hock Seng |year=2009 |title=Peranakan Chinese Porcelain: Vibrant Festive Ware Of The Straits Chinese |publisher=Tuttle |location=Singapore |isbn=978-0-8048-4007-1}}
* {{Cite book|last=Somers |first=Mary F. |year=2009 |title=Peranakan Chinese Politics In Indonesia |publisher=Equinox Publishing |location=Singapore |isbn=978-602-8397-35-3}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ho |first=Wing Meng |year=2008 |title=Straits Chinese Furniture: A Collector's Guide |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |location=Singapore |isbn=978-981-261-665-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Mahmood |first=Datin Seri Endon |year=2004 |title=The Nyonya Kebaya: A Century of Straits Chinese Costume
|publisher=Periplus Editions |location=Malaysia |isbn=978-0-7946-0273-4}}
* {{Cite book|last=Teo |first=Kok Seong |year=2003 |title=Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan: A Study of the Culture, Language & Communication of an Assimilated Group in Malaysia |publisher=Coronet Books Inc. |location=Malaysia |isbn=978-1-901919-21-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Rudolph |first=Jürgen |year=1998 |title=Reconstructing Identities: A Social History of the Babas in Singapore |publisher=Ashgate |location=Singapore}}
* {{Cite book|last=Khoo |first=Joo Ee |year=1998 |title=The Straits Chinese: A Cultural History |publisher=The Pepin Press |location=Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |isbn=978-90-5496-008-9}}
* {{Cite book|last=Chang |first=Queeny |year=1981 |title=Memories of a Nonya |publisher=Eastern Universities Press Sdn Bhd |location=Singapore and Selangor, Malaysia |isbn=978-9971-71-145-0}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Chin Koon |author-link=Lee Chin Koon |year=1974 |title=Mrs. Lee's Cookbook: Nonya Recipes And Other Favourite Recipes |publisher=s.n. |location=Malaysia |asin=B0006CNVR6}}

==External links==
{{Library resources box
 |onlinebooks=no
 |by=no
}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110930144804/http://www.wayang.net/?page_id=151 "Benteng Chinese: Barely Indonesian" in "Invisible People: Poverty and Empowerment in Indonesia]
* Forbes, Andrew, and Henley, David, ''[http://www.cpamedia.com/article.php?pg=archive&acid=120510162540&aiid=120524153854 Phuket's Historic Peranakan Community]''
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150924102016/http://www.singaporevr.com/vrs/PeranakanMuseum/Museum.html Interactive 360 X 360 degree VR preview of The Peranakan Museum]
*[https://www.gsa.org.sg/ Gunong Sayang Association]
*[http://www.peranakan.org.sg/ The Peranakan Association of Singapore]
*[https://babahouse.nus.edu.sg/ NUS Baba House]
* [http://www.aspertina.org/ Asosiasi Peranakan Tionghoa Indonesia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520190250/http://www.aspertina.org/ |date=20 May 2015 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140125150907/http://peranakan.org.au/ Peranakan Association Australia Incorporated]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061127234307/http://www.moe.gov.sg/esp/eduinfo/mt.htm Singapore's Mother Tongue Policy]
* [http://peranakantown.site90.com/ Petition for a Peranakan Town in Singapore] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100810033411/http://peranakantown.site90.com/ |date=10 August 2010 }}
* [http://www.pinangperanakanmansion.com.my/ Pinang Peranakan Mansion]
* [http://babanyonyamuseum.com/ Baba & Nyonya House Museum, Melaka]
* [http://the-intan.com/ The Intan Museum, Singapore]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090527130646/http://www.photo-outing.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4%3Arumah-peranakan&catid=1%3Apenang&Itemid=3&lang=en Review over one of the peranakan in Penang] from [https://web.archive.org/web/20090618055610/http://www.photo-outing.com/ photo-outing.com]
* [http://www.wiratama.net/ Some Articles On Peranakan Communities in Java] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708081254/http://www.wiratama.net/ |date=8 July 2013 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080720194735/http://acm.org.sg/pressrelease_docs/19_doc3_ANNEX_II_Star_Pieces_FINAL.pdf Peranakan collections from the Peranakan Museum, Singapore]
* [http://peranakan.hostoi.com/Page1.htm The Peranakan Story] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035637/http://peranakan.hostoi.com/Page1.htm |date=4 March 2016 }}
* [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/ref/SI/NEI/#chinese Islands And Peoples Of The Indies]

{{commons category|Peranakan}}
{{Han subgroups}}
{{Overseas Chinese2}}
{{Ethnic Groups of Indonesia}}
{{Ethnic groups in Malaysia}}
{{Ethnic groups in Singapore}}
{{Ethnic groups in Thailand}}

[[Category:Chinese diaspora in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Chinese diaspora in Singapore]]
[[Category:Chinese diaspora]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Malaysia]]
[[Category:Chinese diaspora in Indonesia]]
[[Category:Peranakan people in Singapore|*]]
[[Category:Peranakan people in Malaysia|*]]
[[Category:Chinese Indonesian culture]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Indonesia]]
[[Category:Immigration to Malaysia]]
[[Category:Subgroups of the Han Chinese]]