Peranakans in Australia: How We Found Our Nyonya Identity As Immigrants Down Under

In their eagerness to fit in as immigrants in Australia, do newcomers lose their unique cultures? Can you honour one identity while embracing an adopted one?
These Straits Chinese migrants from Malaysia and Singapore felt culturally isolated and the pressure to assimilate. "It's hard to be Peranakan without someone else to be Peranakan with," one said.
This story is about how they found each other and formed a community in Melbourne; and a younger generation's wonder in re-discovering their nyonya and baba heritage. Can they preserve their traditions for the next generation of Australian-born "Peranakan possums"?
00:00 Intro
01:18 Who are the Peranakans?
02:36 Losing their culture as Australian immigrants
03:29 Forming the Peranakan Association Australia, Melbourne
05:25 Making authentic Peranakan food in Australia
07:00 What is 'Peranakan enough'?
08:45 Sharing Nyonya culture with Australians
10:18 Coming to Australia as a teenager
10:54 Raising her Australian-born son
12:01 Peranakan wedding ceremony
13:15 Conclusion: The "spirit of Peranakan" is...?
ALSO WATCH:
Mrs Gan's Nyonya Laksa • Mrs Gan's Nyonya Laksa...
Mary Teo's Nasi Lemak Nyonya Style • Mary Teo's Nasi Lemak ...
How To Dress Like A Peranakan • How To Dress Like A Pe...
Singapore's Peranakan Indians: A Vanishing Culture Revealed • Singapore's Peranakan ...
For more, SUBSCRIBE to CNA INSIDER!
cna.asia/insideryoutubesub
Follow CNA INSIDER on:
Instagram: / cnainsider
Facebook: / cnainsider
Website: cna.asia/cnainsider

[@lingyap79]

Very interesting documentary- as my grandma and mom are Nyonya. I grew up eating Nyonya cuisine all my life and when I migrated to Melbourne, I started missing so much of its culture, food and people. It is great to know there are people gathering and starting a Peranakan community in Melbourne.

[@bernardlokman5442]

Actually Peranakan food is hard to find in Australia, particularly nothern ones. My family is quintessentially Sin Khek, but our culture is heavily involved with peranakan cuisine. Up til now I cannot find real Medanese lontong, tauco and achar(more similar to achar awak from Penang). Hence I have to cook most of them from scratch.

[@cathx5487]

🎉🎉👍👍👍🎉🎉🎇🎇🌟✨🪅🪅

[@zhenmeiheng4917]

really miss nyonya food so much

[@TheMichaelCheung]

Im from Hong Kong. Watching this makes me want to take more pride of my culture and upbringing. One day traditions will dwindle further and I want remember them through such gatherings.

[@Johnny-kz9tb]

What a blessing to discover this Peranakan channel on youtube. Being a peranakan myself, I have often wonder if there is any kind of Peranakan association here in Melbourne . Having living here for the past 18 years, I still go back whenever I can to Melaka to taste some of our Nyonya delicious cuisines.

[@shahancheong9792]

short answer - yes, there is a Peranakan Association in Melbourne.

[@weizhenglin2778]

Lovely docu. Thanks CNA!

[@fansizhe9997]

Excellent video!!!👍👏🏻👏🏻😍😍😍Makes me missing home so much!!!🥺😢

[@gracetsensiewlynn5140]

Keeping our most unique and beautiful culture alive... this is the "Peranakan"! Punya sedap makan bak chang; Tumbuk cili hidup, giling cili kering; Punya chantek baju kebaya ditayang; Budaya Peranakan, hormat dan sayang.❤⚘️

[@shahancheong9792]

Great video, guys! Excellent stuff :)

[@Tan92lfc]

Peranakan were pressured to Relearn Chinese in post-colonial Malaya and Singapore, because Chinese mobilized themselves for their New role in nation building.

[@aave865]

Sad isn't it

[@bernardlokman5442]

A lot of the Peranakans, particularly those Sinkhek baba-s who took Peranakan wives were actually funding a lot of the Zhonghua pan-nationalist movement in early 1900. Many of the early schools named Chung Hwa etc, were sponsored by Baba-s. So, it is also partially the Peranakans' fault to as they also felt that Baba Malay and Baba Hokkien were too crude for them that they had to assimilate to English or Mandarin. Also blame their parents and grandparents who think that language for business is more important than language of the heart.

[@Ragingwire1]

I don't think language alone explain the demise of Peranakan culture If anything it it is their role in society as a bridge between the colonial power and the larger Chinese masses that is no longer needed in the aftermath of post-colonial SEA. And after the depression of 30;s their commanding role as the merchant classes is also much diminished. Combined with the adoption of Christian beliefs proves a disaster. The last nail is the post-colonial language policy of grouping different races into different languages. But the community is small, to begin with and with no more distinction in social status and common languages there is heavy intermarriage between the babas and the sinkhek . In the old days there is no state boundary and people moved from one end of Nusantara to the other Many Indo baba moved to Spore and Malaysia since Indo baba are majority in Java. But with newly formed state this movement stopped. So the stock is not replenished

[@cynthiadcruz6729]

I love the peranakan food and culture too.❤❤❤

[@cocoaorange1]

I love learning about the diverse cultures " Down Under".

[@rolandchua2998]

I can see similarities of the wedding ceremony with the Vietnamese customs and traditions (and possibly other South East Asian nationalities). Maybe a collaboration with them may reveal more interesting findings and details (as I believe both are also hugely influenced by the traditional Chinese customs and traditions.)

[@aave865]

Peranakan Kerbaya our national costume would be great!

[@SW-lw6mt]

Nyonya food is the best! The best kind of fusion food.

[@realme_gong]

Good

[@KCECC-ActiveHealthyAgeing]

Met Alfred Chi, he came to our club activities in Rowville.

[@vister6757]

Oh yea, I always miss my perakanan food. I only start learning it after my mum passed on. I constantly try to explore my cooking to get the perakanan flavour that she's gave us when I was young. Regret I didn't learn it from her while she was alive.

[@mariannet534]

Same here

[@fieqahika6431]

alalaa comeynya tngok diorang pkai baju kebaya😆🤏🏻sihat2 selalu ye aunty n uncle skeluarga❤

[@zechariahbalasingam9106]

I was born in Malacca , Malaysia.

[@tonyquek6157]

I’m Proud being a Peranakan aka Embok Embok.

[@gemilang888]

Baba Nyonya, keep the identity, such as cooking, singing dondang sayang songs, baba nyonya cultural clothes should be worn in the ceremony. May the younger generation know the authenticity of the beautiful Baba Nyonya

[@kskhew3377]

The unfortunate reality is that any form of Peranakan culture, be it Baba-Nyonya, Chitty, Eurasian (including Dutch Indo) or American Creole will eventually die-off because they were established merely as an adaptive response to the situation at that historical time. For a culture to grow, become ingrained and remain mainstream or relevant, you actually need a State or at least a clear racial demographic....and this isn't going to happen because the members of such cultures are simply too few and get increasingly diluted. The culture will end up simply known mainly for its unique cuisine with most other aspects relegated to preservation either in specialised/dedicated places or museums. A simple test is whether a particular traditional wear is called "costume" or clothes. If it's the former, then we know the culture has been relegated to history and no longer living. "Eh, but kebaya is clothes, what?!". True, but it's regarded that way because another culture which is living, shares the same type of wear, and thus becomes alive.

[@kehflorence552]

Totally agree. It’s as good as gone. In post-colonial Singapore, the Peranakans lost their standing, as their uniqueness was not considered distinctive enough to hold its own. Naturally, over time, the only uniqueness left is our food. Even then, its authenticity is in doubt. The patois, the customs and the clothing are a thing of the past. Growing up, I was made to feel ashamed of my Peranakan heritage. The Chinese denigrated us as half-breeds, Chinese who forgot their ancestral language and instead embraced the culture of another. The fact that our late PM did not openly identify with his Peranakan roots till much later testifies to the general prejudice. We are now a museum piece, not a living, growing people or culture.

[@sharulshah1979]

But malaca always have peranakan baba nyonya never lost until now that because of my malaysia

[@clemtravlog]

My great grandma was peranakan too

[@ericloo6576]

I saw my school mates Deric Chi and Wendy Wong here.

[@jcka10]

i see a “sarawak laksa” label!!!

[@justint9005]

Peranakan Chinese were actually Chinese whose ancestors came much earlier than the later Chinese immigrants. The term has nothing to do with inter-marriages! That was what I discovered during my research studies. Sadly, there were so much mis-interpretations about the community these days!

[@vister6757]

Absolutely true! My friend didn't trust me when I told her my grandparents and mum are nyonya from Melaka. She refuted me and said perakanan are inter marriage but your family isn't.

[@justint9005]

​@@vister6757For ur info, I have done an indepth study on this subject and on many family lines n I have found that none of these lines are connected with inter-marriages. Their ancestors were purely Chinese but the descendants in Malacca n Singapore spoke Baba Malay because of assimilation locally over many generations!

[@themindsojourner]

I think distinctive inter-marriage happened in 18th century when large low labour migration or the coolies started to come. They don't have money to import Chinese wives and married locals instead.

[@justint9005]

@@themindsojourner For ur info, my research is strictly for overseas Chinese of Malaysia and Singapore only. I did not do any research on other overseas Chinese! Every country had a different story!

[@Ragingwire1]

@@justint9005 Intermarriage happened only in the first generation because there were no Chinese women in 18th or 19th Century SEA And most of the immigrants were all men. So they have to continue the line by marrying locals not necessarily Malay but Non-Muslim Indonesian tribes like Batak, and Balinese. There is a lively slave trade in those days But most Peranakan families didn't know who is this Malay great-grandma ma because it was lost in time. PAS(Peranakan Association of Singapore) in conjunction with the Gnome project of NUS did a DNA study and they confirmed on average Peranakans have 5% Malay DNA from the female side Mitochondrial But it is not important as Baba is still considered Chinese because they never convert to Islam and the value and belief system is basically Chinese with only the superficial thing like clothes or food and languages are Malay

[@areebachewa8318]

Unfortunately the Malay in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia have get rid of their beautiful Kebaya costume and to adopt the Arabic costume....Fortunately the Kebaya costume still preserve by the Peranakans ...

[@resikatikoalu7734]

That is not 100% true for Indonesia. Yes the number of people wearing clothes adopting Arabic is getting higher due to their religian. But we, Indonesian still wear Kebaya and modified kebaya during official ceremonial (Indonesia's official independence day celebration, graduation ceremony, wedding and many more), some people still wearing their traditioal clothes (Indonesia have more than 250 ethnics) incld kebaya on daily basis in some areas in Indonesia. So we are not getting rid of our kebaya 😊

[@areebachewa8318]

@@resikatikoalu7734 Well I am referring to muslim in south east Asia because of the arabic belief they have to get rid of their own costume unfortunately...

[@ericloo6576]

Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore has a Nyonya mother.

[@Ragingwire1]

And Baba father too as his father is half baba and his grandmother is Indo Nyonya

[@nizamaroth]

4:03 Nothing to see here, only the least controversial Malaysian PM of the 21st century

[@user-gp3im1gr2l]

good night

[@Autonomous4kpsf]

They need Chong Sham not nonya

[@andrewlim6759]

What’s the point

[@mdee8784]

Singapore can really learn many lesson from Australia regard multiracial place

[@ww3937]

Peranakan is not just straights born chinese, there are larger populations of peranakans from different parts of Indonesia. Kebaya, dadar gulung and congklak (the game she incorrectly stated as malay) all originated from Indonesia. Indonesian peranakans have assimlated and integrated far better than straights born who cant even speak the "local language" properly. Only able to speak broken malay with a heavy cringe chinese accent. It is hilarious how the most totok looking chinese malaysians are claiming they are peranakan. Indonesian peranakans dont have to play dress up in their ancestors clothes to prove they are peranakans, kita ngomong, makan dan hidup peranakan setiap hari its who we are. Call yourself "Malaysian Peranakans" as you dont represent the larger group of Indonesian peranakans. Its like calling your small group "Asians" there are different types of asians just as they are different type of Peranakans

[@user-ug3rz4cu4s]

All they have in common is their theft of Nusantaran culture to pass off as their own. As Confucius says, a day without stealing is a day wasted.

[@soonpohtay4794]

Thai Peranakans from Phuket...😂😂😂

[@knock-knockwhosthere9933]

Indonesia ones not famous 😂

[@muhdadib23]

siotlah konoha, ni pon kau nak claim

[@akane8615]

Banana republic strike their claim again!

[@louisebb4183]

That’s bs ! You have news every were Chinese New Year,Chinese New Year! You must have been living under the rock.

[@spartanwarrior1]

in the Philippines, we call that game "Sungka".