My Nyonya Journey | Dr. Lee Su Kim 李赐金 | TEDxPetalingStreet

Dr Lee Su Kim, a sixth generation Nyonya, talks about her unique hybrid Peranakan Chinese heritage, how it has inspired her and how we all have our own unique stories and ideas we could use to enrich our world’s cultural legacy.
身为第六代娘惹后裔的李赐金博士，在保留自身文化传统的过程中，发现其实每个人都拥有自己独特的故事，能够丰富自己乃至这个世界的文化遗产。
#TEDx #TEDxPetalingStreet #TEDx茨廠街 #Ripples2017 #漣漪人2017 #Speakers2017 #LeeSuKim #李賜金 Dr. Lee Su Kim is a bestselling Malaysian author, educator, language consultant and cultural activist. She is a founding member and the first woman President of the Peranakan Baba Nyonya Association of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor. A sixth generation nyonya, she has published ten books of nonfiction and fiction. Her Doctorate in Education from the University of Houston explores the multiple identities and identity constructions of non-native English language speakers. Dr. Lee was an Associate Professor at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia where she lectured, researched and published widely on language, culture and identity. Meanwhile, as an invited speaker at the Ubud and Singapore Writers’ Festival, she has given many talks and presentations in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Asia.
马来西亚畅销作家、教育家、语言顾问兼推行文化运动的积极分子。雪隆峇峇娘惹后裔协会创始成员，也是该协会第一位女性主席的李赐金博士，乃第六代娘惹后裔，毕业自休斯顿大学教育系，今为马来西亚国立大学副教授，在语言与文化领域进行了广泛的研究和发表，出版了 10 部作品。此外，她是乌布和新加坡作家节里受邀请的演讲嘉宾，曾于美国、英国、澳洲和亚洲举行多场演讲。 This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@kimmyminihaha25]

Thank you all for your kind comments! I'm Lee Su Kim the speaker :)

[@worldcitizeng6507]

Keep preserving this special heritage and recipes!!! I love it, I must have Nyonya food whenever I visit Penang.

[@KimSelorio]

I’m Chinese Filipino and I have been very moved by your stories. Thank you for reminding us to not forget to look back at our roots. This is the only way that we can know who we truly are and move forward.

[@kimmyminihaha25]

@@worldcitizeng6507 Thank you.

[@kimmyminihaha25]

@@KimSelorio Delighted to hear this. The Chinese Filipino experience is surely most interesting, and not much is known nor written about it.

[@o1JunHo1o]

Dear Su Kim, you are a wonderful and really authentic speaker! My grandmother's mom was a Nyonya, but too bad I did not get to ask my grandmother about their life when I have got the chance. Actually, I came across your journal article on cultural identity while I am writing my doctoral thesis, those are some insightful findings and its very helpful!

[@mohdkhushairimohdrejab1616]

My great great grandmother was a nyonya from Phuket and intermarried with my late great great grandfather from pattani. This great intermarriage created uniqueness in my background and I'm proud of it.

[@petrusdjuliantad.1611]

Thank you DR. Lee Su Kim for bringing up this story of Babah and Nyonya rich culture.. kue kue, food, batik sarong, kebaya, jewelry.. Actually as we are embracing more and more western culture and I am afraid that our culture is dying slowly. We call our relative uncle and aunty.. no more Toa Ik, Jie Iek .., etc. Hopefully we can start revive our rich culture and enriching with local culture where we live...

[@ireneoon3493]

Dr Kim Iban also a peranakan my name is IreneO9n.

[@samyap8974]

My family from melaka. Yeah heritage need to be preserve

[@vanessafong1332]

Thank you Dr Lee for a wonderful presentation. 👏👏 My mum is a full Nyonya from Melaka. She is an excellent cook but sadly I didn’t inherit any of her culinary skills. 😔😔

[@michaelchin6990]

Thank you for your presentation..'Kam sia" Nyonya Lee Su Kim. I am an old man 82+ ...a Baba Hakka of Melaka. Although the country has progress but sad to say Baba & Nyonya society still cherished their old lifestyle...still continue to Pantun and main gasing but politically don' t bother....next time .....will just be forgotten community. But to you 'Kam siah' .....Baba Michael Chin

[@kimmyminihaha25]

Dear Michael Chin, Thanks so much for your kind message.

[@kikichin]

Kam Sia lu cheh cheh .Please write more Peranakan books. Rekindle the interest to preserve this culture. I have a friend from Penang who is also a peranakan Siamese and a great cook. She must join your club.

[@francisyeoh3230]

A brilliant account Dr Lee Su Kim and we are indebted to you for enriching Peranakan heritage with your family history and assemblage of photographs etc. Thank you for sharing!

[@Zoey505]

I'm so thankful to watch this. My mother was 1/2 nyonya so it means a lot to me to know my culture

[@neeradhawan7215]

Amazing, Dr Su Kim. I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

[@doriscmlchen4970]

Thank you Dr Lee Su Kim for sharing the very rich heritage of Peranakan. ❤️🙏

[@ytbudochick]

Kam sia Dr Lee. Listening to your talk brought back a lot of beautiful memories for me.

[@ImpactofAsia]

Thank you so much for sharing Dr Lee. ❤️

[@liliansi460]

Well done, Kim! Proud of you!

[@amanrasid3302]

Nostalgic, wonderful kebaya, delocious foods and lovely pantun. That baba nyonya.

[@jancoveney1]

Excellent Su Kim. Very inspiring talk. Thank you for sharing your family history and stories.

[@kimmyminihaha25]

It was a pleasure. Great to hear from you here Jan!

[@speakerscoach]

Interesting - with an important message about heritage for all of us

[@ireneoon3493]

Very well presented. Dr

[@ChaiSuBin]

Cool!

[@SigmaSauras]

Nostalgia .... Wish l could turn back time.Your grandfather reminds of my late beloved father. Lol to all the Peranakans.

[@liongkienfai104]

laugh out loud to all the Peranakans?

[@SigmaSauras]

crazyfobazn tsu Lots of Love to all the Peranakans! 🙏

[@ihs51]

My grandfather had a big mansion house off River Valley Rd. My nonya mother wore sarong kebaya and still can recall their unique nonya baba dialogue during CNY visitations.

[@magickriver]

Well done, Su Kim!

[@amein73]

thanks for this video.. really informative

[@user-zz2ex4mn8z]

Lovely. Love it. 😘

[@eanong590]

Dr.Lee, I enjoyed your video very much.Tis so informative, interesting n entertaining.And you sure look elegantly enchanting in your nyonya kebaya outfit.

[@martinchan5953]

"Kam sia" Nonya Lee Su Kim from Baba Martin CHAN;

[@301250]

I beg to differ, but only slightly, with the gorgeous looking Dr.Lee (manis nya!) about the krill shrimp (or ‘grago’ in Kristang) paste which folks here in Malaysia know as Belachan and whose ambivalent acceptance is less due to its fabulous taste (fabulous, at least, to us locals weaned on it!) but to its stench! (Hence, fermented food stuff has never an unequivocal and universal acceptance!) A stench that, raw, un-toasted (heat, to an extent, can transform that perfidious smell to something quite pleasant) belachan repels many! And that’s why we Malacca Peranakans (and I am a proud Baba of Melaka provenance!) usually toast belachan on a dry wok before using it as a condiment. But then, contrary to what some folks say about certain forbidding, fermented foods, that they are an “acquired taste”, I subscribe to what the famed jazz pianist/musician, the late maestro, Duke Ellington, said about music....or, rather, to paraphrase him “if it ain’t (referring to a particular food item) got that stink, it don’t mean a thing!” So, anytime you get the chance to savor something new & different, for example, Surstromming, the Swedish smelly fermented fish that food connoisseurs appreciate for its great taste or the stinky fermented tofu (chou doufu) of Taiwan or the malodorous French blue vein cheese, Roquefort, or worse, the offensive smell of Epoisses de Bourgogne cheese, which is so foul that it is banned from public transportation throughout France (almost like our Durian fruit, it being a “no no” on air flights) or even my beloved Korean Kkadugi made with saue-jeot (quite similar to our cincalok, smelly to some but ambrosial for me) go for it! Besides, fermented foods like German sauerkraut, yogurt, kimchi, tempeh, miso etc. contain trillions of life-enhancing lactobacillus or other such probiotics! So, folks, instead of shutting off your olfactory nerves and shying away from these wonderful comestibles, just allow your gustatory cells to do their work! Bon appetit.

[@flikcof7910]

Will you be sharing all her recipes? Let us all enjoy her talents

[@josdavid08]

Gosh....you are so gorgeous and every engaging with the crowd,,well express. Dr,Lee

[@kimmyminihaha25]

Thanks Joshua

[@angelteo2701]

Well done. I am Nyonya too. My people are from malacca and we are in Singapore for 4 generations.

[@chrisfrankland9671]

Excellent Su Kim. The passion shines through.

[@kimmyminihaha25]

Thanks Chris

[@Aircraft_collection]

@@kimmyminihaha25 are you pure chinese ?

[@ihs51]

My grandmother is nonya from Penang and my mother was born in Singapore and her niece and nephew will call her Sar Ee

[@ekasuryaputralim9477]

Sar Ee=Third aunt in Hokkien

[@liongkienfai104]

Wish some Peranakans from Indonesia can push forward the culture too

[@angelasilvana1]

Barangkali Kokoh bisa cari tau soal Ardian Purwoseputro, beliau menulis buku-buku fotografi tenatang Potehi Jawa dan beberapa aspek kultural Tionghoa Indonesia lainnya ❤️

[@liongkienfai104]

@@angelasilvana1 Kamsia infonya ci. Sebenarnya emang banyak orang yg melestarikan budaya Tionghoa Babah di Indonesia. Tapi bukan itu masalahnya. Kita gak kekurangan peminat atau riset. Masalahnya adalah, pertama, infonya kebanyakan dalam format buku atau riset. Jujur aja, kebanyakan orang jaman sekarang gak akan baca buku. Lebih efektif kalo khas budayanya ditampil di iklan, produk, film, tempat wisata, dll. Banyak orang asing yg seharusnya tertarik dgn budaya kami jadi mengumpul ke SG / MY aja. Kedua, gak ada bantuan dari pemerintah ataupun perusahaan besar. Dimana di SG / MY, banyak rumah kapitan Cina, khas makanan Peranakan, kebaya dan batik Tionghoa di jadiin objek wisata atau, masuk iklan, dipromosikan sebagai pilar utama budaya negara. dll. Di Indonesia aja, khas makanan Tionghoa kayak pempek malah dipanggil khas Palembang. Gak salah sih, tapi jadi gak bangkit nama Tionghoa juga.

[@johnytakdeep4839]

too bad.. peranakans in Indonesia mostly assimilated to local. If they marry nias they become full nias... if they marry malay they become full malay.. if they marry javanese they become full javanese... They ditched all their peranakan culture and start to adopt full local custom and also talk bad about their original heritage second reason many of them refuse to call themself as peranakan is because of descrimination towards peranakan is high in Indonesia. They may look like Peranakan but they prefer to say they are Palembangnese, Manado, Sunda, Nias, Batak and any entnics that looks like chinese / peranakan basically fanatism is in the air.. Many my relative become like that. Maybe you still can find indonesian peranakan somewhere in Kalimantan ( Pontianak / Singkawang ) but here they are more like chinese rather than peranakan. Tangerang in Java Island also have peranakan, we call them ( Kiau Seng ) but nowadays they also fully assimiliated to local.. many of them converted to islam and adopt islamic culture instead.. unlike singapore / malaysia where the peranakan is very proud of their heritage, peranakan is dying in Indonesia for sure.

[@MrKkvoon]

She is HOKKIEN BABA .

[@SigmaSauras]

Kan Kwe Voon Hokkien Nonya like me. 👌👌👌👍👍👍

[@StephenJHall88]

Mixed- Penang and Malacca>she speaks Cantonese as well as Hokkien,Baba Malay and more

[@simonsimon2888]

Why 'sad sad' should be 'happy happy' kam sia!

[@DXBvik]

FIrst, im out of here now !!!