Introduction – Origin of Baba Nyonya
We often heard about the word “Peranakan” when we talk about the Baba and Nyonya culture. The Babas and Nyonyas are often termed as Peranakan or the Straits-born Chinese. The term Peranakan simply means “those born here” or "local born". In fact, peranakan includes all localized foreigners or their descendants, such as Chinese peranakan (Baba & Nyonya), Indian peranakan (Chitty or Mamak - Indian Muslim), Portuguese peranakan, European peranakan (Eurasian or Serani). In this assignment, Chinese peranakan or the Baba Nyonya, will be our focus of discussions. The word “peranakan” appeared in this assignment will be referred as the Chinese Peranakan or the Baba Nyonya.
Chinese peranakan are the descendants of Chinese who migrated from mostly southern China province like Fujian to Malay Archipelago during 15th to 17th
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There is actually a slight difference between these two terms. Straits Chinese refers to the Chinese born in the former Straits Settlements, including Penang, Malacca and Singapore. A Straits Chinese is not necessarily a Baba. To be defined as a Chinese Peranakan – Baba and Nyonya, he or she would have to adopt the exterior markers of a Baba or Nyonya, in terms of language, customs, kinship, clothing, cuisines and even occupation.
Babas exhibit their ethnicity through their costume, culture, language and cuisine. Despite having assimilated Malay cultural traits, they retain Chinese customs. The Babas are a separate community from the Chinese in Malaysia. Although they are Chinese, however, their characteristics are akin to Malays. Their identity has evolved through acculturation. Characteristics of the Babas are most easily discern by those outside their community are the significant traces of acculturation which reinforced the stereotyped generalization pertaining to
As an Arab(Muslim) living in the US, I perfectly recognize what it is to be a member of a minority group. However, I am quite intrigued by the idea of studying the Chinese Christian subculture within the United States. This project will involve studying existing literature on the given subculture – which is Chinese Christian community within the US. In most cases, subcultures are closed knit and members like associating with members of their communities; understandably because of the need to belong and find closeness with one another. Nonetheless, Christianity amongst Chinese immigrants in the United States brings forth the idea of present-day assimilation, religious conversion, and so forth. In order to ensure this project is completed successfully, there will be different methods of collecting information other than studying existing literature – by experts in the field. Most notably, there will be interviews with members of the subculture being studied to get first-hand information on the experiences of the group in the US.
During the interval of time between the years 1000 A.D. and 1400 A.D., a multitude of events referring to cultural exchange transpired. In the given documents, In the sense that the Silk Road was brought under the rule of the Mongols, people felt that is was now safe to travel through the Asian continent. Most people would sometimes come all the way from Europe. A multitude of these people were merchants, missionaries, or travelers. They carried along with them goods, news, or cultures from the corners of the then ‘known’ world. These are people who contemplated a multitude of sights on their journeys, which usually ended in China or Cathay. These given documents state the many dissimilarities in politics, social status, religion, and economics which all affected the cultural exchange.
。Li Xiaobing, Sun Yi, Li Xiaoxiao, Chinese in America: from History to Present, Sichuan People's Press, Sichuan, 2003
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The terms Asian American, Asian Pacific American, and Asian Pacific Islander are all used to describe residents of the United States, who themselves are from or their ancestors were from the Asian Pacific region of the world. “Although the term Asian American may bring to mind someone of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Filipino, or Asian Indian descent, the U.S. Census Bureau actually includes 31 different groups within the Asian Pacific designation (Sigler, 1998).” For example, someone from Guatemala, Cambodia, Samoa, Thailand, Laos, Hawaii, or Tonga would also fall into this category of being Asian American, even though ...
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Hern, F. Yip Sang and the First Chinese Canadians. Canada: Heritage House Publishing Company Ltd., 2011.
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