Epoch Times
NOVEMBER 2015 SPECIAL EDITION
Home
An award winning Peranakan home museum—The Intan at 69 Joo Chiat Terrace.
all photos Courtesy of Alvin Yapp
Peranakan beaded kueh containers for the altar: The beaded three-tiered kueh containers indicate the wealth of their past owners.
Treasures of Singapore
The Intan—A Little Haven of Peranakan Culture By Li Yen & Cindy Liew | Epoch Times Staff
P
eranakan culture is a distinctive part of Singapore’s heritage. The term Peranakan generally refers to Straits Chinese. As early as the 15th century, Chinese traders sailed all the way from China to Malaya. They settled down here and married local Malay women. Peranakan or Straits Chinese are people of mixed Chinese and Malay heritage—the males are called the babas, and the females, nyonyas. During the British colonial period, many of the Peranakans were appointed community and civic leaders as they received English education and spoke fluent English. Many Peranakan families have retained their Chinese religions and practice ancestor worship; some, on the other hand, adopted Christianity or Catholicism. There is thus a fusion of Chinese, Malay and European elements in many Peranakan artefacts.
Continued on the next page House spittoons.
33