'The test of a true Baba is to eat chilli without flinching'.
The Peranakan or Straits Chinese are a people living chiefly in Penang, Melaka and Singapore, but also in Thailand's Phuket province and in Indonesia, especially in parts of Java. They are originally the descendents of Chinese migrants to the Malay World during the 15th and 16th centuries who intermarried with Malay women and embraced a fusion of Chinese and Malay culture. In time they developed as an influential entrepreneurial group, especially under British colonial rule, not least because of their ability to speak Chinese, Malay and English. The men are known as Baba, while the women are called Nyonya, hence another popular name for Peranakan is ‘Baba-Nyonya' - or 'Baba-Yaya' in Thailand. As a people, they have prospered socially and financially, though today they are struggling to preserve their unique cultural identity…