“Peranakan” is an Indonesian-Malay word, from the root-word “Anak” (“Child” or “Descendant”, as in the volcano “Anak Krakatau” – “Child of Krakatoa”).

In everyday speech, “Peranakan” translates to “Locally-Born” or “Natively-Born”.

In Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, the term most commonly refers to the “Peranakan Cina” (“Peranakan Chee-nah”) – the “Locally-Born Chinese”. These are broadly categorised as the descendants of Chinese labourers, sailors, and traders, who travelled to Southeast Asia between the 1400s through to the 1700s, who married local Malay, Thai, or Indonesian women, and who fathered children with them. These children and all their subsequent descendants, were…and are…the “Peranakan Cina” – the “Locally-Born Chinese”.

While undoubtedly the largest and most well-known category of Peranakans (in most instances, “Peranakan”, and “Straits Chinese” are virtually synonymous), they are not the only ones, and there are, in fact, a number of other sub-groups or branches. Today, we’re going to see what they are, what are the characteristics of each group, and where they come from.

Let’s start with the best-known group.

1. The Peranakan Cina

A Peranakan Chinese Wedding, early 1900s.

The Peranakan Cina or Peranakan Chinese, also known by a profusion of other monikers (I won’t list them all there, there’s soooooo many of them…) is by far, the largest, and most well-known group of Peranakans. If you mention “Peranakan”, almost all the time, people will think of this, if they know nothing else about the Peranakan.

As mentioned, the Peranakan Cina are the descendants of 15th-18th century Chinese migrants who moved to Southeast Asia, who married local women, and had children. These children grew up holding Chinese surnames (from their fathers) while embracing the culture and customs of their motherlands, resulting in a rich and unique cultural fusion. Most of them will speak a mix of languages, including English, Cantonese, Hokkien, and Malay, and a creole variant known as ‘Baba Malay’, a mix of Malay and Hokkien. The vast majority of Peranakan Cina claim Southern Chinese heritage, from places like Fujian, Hong Kong, and Canton, explaining the language preferences for Hokkien and Cantonese, as these were the dialects spoken by their ancestors. If religious, most are Buddhist, or a variant of Christian.

2. The Peranakan Jawi

Indian Peranakans from the early 20th century.

The descendants of migrants from southern India, the Peranakan Jawi are typically Muslim, and Malay-speaking. Along with standard Malay (written in a right-to-left Jawi Arabic-style script), they also had their own creole language similar to the Baba-Malay of the Peranakan Cina, known as ‘Bahasa Tanjong’, which was developed in and around the area of George Town in Penang.

Jawi women adopted some clothing cues from the Peranakan Cina (such as wearing the Kebaya, or Baju Panjang), but typically paired the top or blouse with a traditional Indian saree, instead of the more typical sarong, found in Malaysia and Indonesia, keeping an element of their Indian ancestry alive.

3. The Peranakan Chitty

Also known as the Chitty Melaka, after the town of Malacca where most of them originally lived, the Chitty Peranakan also originated from southern India. Unlike the Jawi, however, they followed the religion of Hinduism, instead of Islam, and typically spoke the Tamil language at home, along with other local languages and dialects, as-necessary.

4. The Peranakan Kristang

The Kristang Peranakan in traditional Portuguese-inspired outfits.

A corruption of the Portuguese word “Cristao” (“Christian“), the Peranakan Kristang were the descendants of Eurasian marriages between Portuguese migrants to Southeast Asia (mostly Malaysia) and local Malay women in the 15-and-1600s. Like the Peranakan Cina, the Jawi, and the Chitty, they Kristang also had their own creole language, known as ‘Papia Kristang’, or ‘Christian Speech’, a mix of Portuguese and Malay. At one time, Papia Kristang, along with Baba-Malay, spoken by the Peranakan Chinese, were two of the most common creole languages heard in Malaysia and Singapore. Sadly, both patois are now almost completely extinct, being spoken by only a few thousand people in the region (if that. At the time of this writing, Baba-Malay is down to about 1,900 persons).

While there are efforts to try and salvage the languages, with dictionaries, language-guides, and even a few classes and courses being offered, they are both at risk of dying out. For the most part, this is simply due to sheer lack of use, when most people in Malaysia and Singapore today prefer to speak English, Malay, Cantonese, or Hokkien.

5. The Peranakan Yehudi

The last, smallest, and least-known group of Peranakans, the Peranakan Yehudi is the Peranakan Jewish community. Formed in the 1500s and 1600s from intermarriage between Jewish migrants (mostly from Portugal or other places in Europe), or from pre-existing Peranakan Chinese families, who converted to Judaism, the Yehudi Peranakan are, without a doubt, the most obscure branch of the Peranakan diaspora.

In modern times, the Yehudi community, as a physical entity, has virtually ceased to exist, having largely either died out, or been absorbed into the wider Peranakan community. Part of this was due to the community’s already pre-existing, small size, and partially due to the general decline in Peranakan culture on a whole, which took place after the Second World War.

The Peranakan People Today

In modern times, the term “Peranakan” refers almost exclusively to just the Peranakan Chinese, which is the largest, most well-known group, and most people who are descended from, are of, or who identify with Peranakan ancestry, are almost certainly of Chinese background. The other Peranakan groups such as the Indian Peranakans, and the Portuguese / Eurasian Peranakans are not nearly as well-known, although they are, by definition, Peranakan – which is that they are the result of the union between a foreign male who married a local female, and who grew up in their mother’s homeland, and raised in the local culture.

Due to the general decline of Peranakan culture and identity which happened after the Second World War, as a result of changing social, financial, and ethnic circumstances, a lot of people of Peranakan descent are totally unaware of their own ancestry. This has led not only to the general unawareness of what the Peranakan are, but also a further unawareness of the different types of Peranakan, beyond the most commonly-known branch (the Peranakan Cina).

In a lot of cases, the cultural practices or knowledge of identity of the other branches has completely died out, either because the community was so small to begin with (as with the Peranakan Yehudi), or because it was simply absorbed by another community because the identifiers which made them unique have been lost or forgotten about – for example, the gradual death of the various Peranakan languages, which in the past, would’ve identified the various branches.