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Peranakan museum

Sited in a modest corner off Armenian Street is Singapore's Peranakan Musuem, a musuem where you can find all thing Peranakan.
There has been a strong revival of the Peranakan culture in Singapore following the dazzling success of Mediacorp's local drama "The Little Nonya" starring Jeanette Aw and Qi Yu Wu who play the protagonists in the show.

I know little about the Peranakan culture thus it was an eye opener to me as my Dear and I partook in the history of the Peranakan on 27 Jan 09, the second day of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Being a public holiday that day, the musuem was open free to all.

I learnt that there were actually many different Peranakan, for example, Hokkien Peranakans, Teochew Peranakans, etc.. thus people I see everyday on the streets may be Peranakans though they look much like Chinese, it is hard to detect the subtle differences at one glance unless we know the Perankans personally.

My Dear and I left the musuem with a better appreciation of Peranakans. 'The Little Nonya' might have taught Singaporeans a thing or two about Peranakans already... that is the power of TV dramas! When a movie or drama is a real blockbuster, there will be an associated craze about things associated with the show. I could still remember how New Zealand benefitted from its increased tourist numbers after 'The Lord of the Ring' and its sequels were screened.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I heard they r descendents from mixed marriages between an asian n a dutch (!)or a portugese when Malacca was under their rule. Which is curious - can our kid be called nonya or is she just an eurasian ? Hm ... It's just a thought though, bringing up my lau baby is work enough !

Btw, u hv not viewed my e-card dd 20 january in ur email. Pls do b4 it expires - haha.
Fri Feb 06, 02:43:00 AM GMT+8
Singapore Short Stories said…
ya think she can be both Nonya and Eurasian: Eurasian Nonya.

Thanks for your card though I hav missed it.
Sat Feb 07, 12:43:00 AM GMT+8
Anonymous said…
Eurasian Nonya - not a bad one, come to think of it :-)

I hv just re-sent the e-card, would be a shame for u to miss out on the fun - ;-o. It's a 123 Greeting card.
Sat Feb 07, 02:54:00 AM GMT+8
Singapore Short Stories said…
Ya Thanks Dutchie!

I have received the card "Work hard like an Ox, but party even harder"

haha but as we have learnt from my blog an ox is a castrated bull :) i definitely do not want to be castrated.. :) just joking.

anyway Thanks for your e-card!
Sat Feb 07, 09:57:00 AM GMT+8
Anonymous said…
Glad it gave u a good laugh :-)
Mon Feb 09, 02:58:00 AM GMT+8
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