25 Jan Baba Narratives

When the late Felix Chia published The Babas in 1980, it was the first popular book to document the rich and fascinating lifestyle of the Baba-Nyonya or Peranakan communities, especially those of Malacca, Penang and Singapore. It deservedly won critical acclaim. Landmark Books, Singapore has just brought out a new, lavishly illustrated edition that does full justice to a fascinating story. Revealing the rich admixture of Chinese and Malay culture – the embodiment of a new cosmopolitanism in the archipelago from the sixteenth century onwards – The Babas traces the history, social relations, rites of passage, festivals and lifeways of a unique hybrid culture.

Header image via x