Peranakan Chinese

This article is about a term used to describe descendants of a country child and a foreigner. For Peranakans with Chinese ancestry, see Chinese Peranakan. For Peranakans with Indian ancestry, see Chitty. For Peranakans with Eurasian ancestry, see Kristang. For Peranakan Muslims of Indian, Malay and Arab descent, see Jawi Peranakan.

Peranakans

A photograph of Chinese Peranakan also known as Baba and Nyonya – 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
Regions with significant populations
Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Southern Thailand<
Languages
Baba Malay, Chetty Malay, Papia Kristang and other varieties of Malay, Hokkien, Tamil , Indonesian, Sundanese, Javanese, Betawi, Southern Thai, English, Dutch,Portuguese
Religion
Mahayana Buddhism and Chinese folk religion (Mainly Baba and Nyonya),Hinduism (Mainly Chitty) Sunni Islam (Mainly Jawi Peranakan) and Christianity (Mainly Kristang)
Related ethnic groups
Malay, Malaysian Chinese, Thai Chinese, Chinese Singaporeans, Chinese Indonesians, Malaysian Indians, Singapore Indians, Native Indonesians

The Peranakans (/pəˈrɑːnəˌkɑːn, -kən/) are an ethnic group used to refer to a person of mixed ancestry of native Southeast Asia and foreigners . The peranakans itself is a wide term and can consist of peranakan with Indian ancestry, (Chitty), Eurasian ancestry( Kristang) or Peranakan Muslims of Indian, Malay and Arab descent (Jawi Peranakan).

Varieties of Peranakan

Chitty

Chitty Village in Melaka.

Main article: Chitty

The Chitty, also known as the Chetty or Chetti Melaka, are a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly and originally in Melaka, Malaysia, and in Singapore where they migrated to in the 18th and 19th centuries from Melaka, who are also known as the "Indian Peranakans" and have adopted Malay (mostly) and Chinese cultural practices whilst also retaining their Hindu faith and heritage.

Jawi Peranakan

The Jawi Peranakan (Jawi: جاوي ڤرانقن‎) is an ethnic group found primarily within the Malaysian state of Penang and in Singapore, both regions were part of the historical Straits Settlements where their culture and history is centred around. The term "Jawi Peranakan" refers to locally born, Malay-speaking Muslims of mixed Indian and Malay ancestry. Over time, this has grown to include people with Arab ancestry as well. They were an elite group within the British Malayan community in mid-19th century Malaya. In addition to their substantial wealth and social standing, they are remembered for setting up the first Malay newspaper in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and China, the Jawi Peranakan and their influences on Malay culture.

Kristang people

A group of Kristang people performing a traditional dance in Malacca, Malaysia

The Kristang (otherwise known as "Portuguese-Eurasians" or "Malacca Portuguese") or Serani are a creole ethnic group of people of predominantly mixed Portuguese and Malaccan descent, with substantial Dutch, British, Jewish, Malay, Chinese and Indian heritage. They are based in Malaysia and to some extent in Singapore. People of this ethnicity have, besides Portuguese, a strong Dutch heritage due to intermarriages, which is common among the Kristang. In addition, due to persecution by the Portuguese Inquisition in the region, a lot of the Jews of Malacca assimilated into the Kristang community. The creole group arose in Malacca (part of present-day Malaysia) between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the city was a port and base of the Portuguese Empire. Some descendants speak a distinctive Kristang language or Malacca Portuguese, a creole based on Portuguese. Today the government classifies them as Portuguese Eurasians.

The Kristang language is formally called Malacca-Melayu Portuguese Creole, made up of elements of each.

Peranakan Chinese

Main article: Baba dan Nyonya

The Peranakan Chinese commonly refer to themselves as Baba-Nyonya. The term Baba is an honorific for Straits Chinese men. It originated as a Hindi (originally Persian) loan-word borrowed by 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), and sometimes written with the 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 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 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. In Penang Hokkien, it is pronounced nō͘-niâ (in Pe̍h-ōe-jī), and sometimes written with the phonetic loan characters 娘惹.