Nyonya is the term for the women and Baba for the men. It applies especially to the Han populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted Nusantara customs partially or in full to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities. Many were the elites of Singapore, more loyal to the British than to China. Most have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca. They were usually traders, the middleman of the British and the Chinese, or the Chinese and Malays, or vice versa because they were mostly English educated. Because of this, they almost always had the ability to speak two or more languages.
Publication Information
- Race : Straits Born Chinese
- Chinese :
- 峇峇娘惹
- 土生華人
- Known As :
- Baba Nyonya
- Chinese Peranakan
- Cina Benteng
- Tionghoa-Selat
- Kiau-Seng
- Total Population : 8,000,000 (Estimates)
- Regions with significant populations :
- Indonesia
- Malaysia
- Singapore
- Thailand
- Languages :
- Baba Malay and other Varieties of Malay
- Penang Hokkien & Other varieties of Chinese
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Javanese
- English
- Thai
- Religion :
- Mahayana Buddhism
- Christianity
- Confucianism
- Taoism
- Sunni Islam
- Related ethnic groups :
- Chinese people in Southeast Asia
- Chitty
- Kristang people
- Jawi Peranakan
- Benteng Chinese
- Malaysian Chinese
- Chinese Singaporean
- Chinese Indonesians
While the term Peranakan is most commonly used to refer to those of Chinese descent also known as:
- Straits Chinese (Named after the Straits Settlements
- Tionghoa-Selat or Tionghoa Peranakan : Indonesian
- Phuket Baba, Phuket Yaya or Baba Yaya among Thais in Phuket : Thailand
- Indian Hindu Peranakans : Chitty
- Arab/Indian Muslim Peranakans : Jawi Pekan
- Jawi being the Javanised Arabic script, Pekan a colloquial contraction of Peranakan
- Eurasian Peranakans (Kristang (Kristang = Christians of Portuguese and Asian ancestry)
- The group has parallels to the Cambodian Hokkien, who are descendants of Hoklo Chinese Pashu of Myanmar, a Burmese word for the Peranakan or Straits Chinese who have settled in Myanmar. They maintained their culture partially despite their native language gradually disappearing a few generations after settlement.
Many Peranakans are of Hoklo (Hokkien) ancestry, although a sizeable number are of Teochew or Hakka descent including a small minority of Cantonese. Baba Nyonya are a subgroup within Chinese communities. Peranakan families occasionally imported brides from China and sent their daughters to China to find husbands. In both Malay and Indonesian, the word Peranakan is derived from anak "child" and means "descendant", with no connotation of the ethnicity of descent unless followed by a subsequent qualifying noun, such as for example Peranakan Tionghoa/Cina, Jawi Peranakan, or Peranakan Belanda. Peranakan has the implied connotation of referring to the ancestry of great-grandparents or of more-distant ancestors
See more:
- Main Article : Historical Baba & Nyonya
