why don't we travel back in time?
*Art by Heidi Koh
Once a upon a time... It was the time when single male migrants married local women in Malacca (known to be the oldest Baba community) which later formed in Penang during the late 18th-19th century.
Who are these local hotties? In Malacca, the local women were assumed to be Malays and the local wives where called “huan” which merely means non-Chinese. However, these early wives were not necessarily Malay; they were more likely non-Muslim slaves women from the Dutch East Indies. (so they say)
While in Penang, the local wives were often Batak, Burmese or Siamese (closer to the northern region).
Then comes the name Straits Chinese or Straits-born Chinese for Chinese living in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore) in the 19th and early 20th century.
He says, She says... Penang Straits Chinese speaks in a common dialect known as Hokkien as the majority (but not all) of the Baba Nyonya were Hokkien (from Southern Fujian, China).
Did you know fact... Phuket was an important tin-mining frontier for the Penang Hokkiens since the early 19th century. It preceded the expansion of Penang Chinese tin enterprise and secret societies into the Malay states, a movement that was dominated by the Hakka and Cantonese in Perak. The Penang secret societies controlled the tin mines in Phuket, just as they did those in Larut. The Penang Riots of 1867 was in fact sparked by the tin wars in Phuket. The Phuket based tin-mining towkays of the Tan surname were principal donors and managing directors of the Tan Kongsi in Penang. Marriage alliances were forged between families of Penang and Siam. The Baba entrepreneurs established trading networks by creating relationships of trust cemented by marriages among their own relatives.
Marriages involving women from Baba Nyonya families helped strengthen links between Penang and Phuket. These helped to consolidate business interests in trading and tinmining. Life was not easy for the women who had to move from Penang to Phuket and vice versa. In their own way, they were also pioneers of the Penang-Phuket connection.
*mind blown*
Wanna know more? -Source from : http://penangmonthly.com/index.aspx