Peranakan culture has gained popularity, but does more visibility also mean its continuity?

Chinese Peranakan Alvin Yapp heard this Hokkien taunt frequently as a child. It meant he was just shy of twelve o’clock – or “not quite Chinese enough”. 

“I grew up in a time where I felt being Peranakan was looked down on,” he said. “People said I was orang Cina bukan Cina, or Chinese but not Chinese.”

The embarrassment led to curiosity. Learning about his heritage then gave him the confidence to share about it with his classmates. 

Today, the 56-year-old champions his culture through The Intan, his private home in Joo Chiat that doubles as a living home museum. 

Peranakan culture in Singapore has come into the limelight, in particular in the last decade, noted Yapp.

The Peranakan community here includes a range of mixed heritage groups from South-east Asia, including Arab Peranakans, Chinese Peranakans, Indian Peranakans (or Chetti Melakans) and Jawi Peranakans. 

The growing interest in Peranakan culture is driven by popular entertainment, heritage initiatives and greater efforts to showcase its traditions.

Social historian Seng Guo-Quan, who researched the history of Chinese Peranakans in South-east Asia, said although they are a relatively small community in Singapore, core members are active on the museum, heritage, theatre and musical scenes. 

Some also have connections in the region, said the assistant professor at the National University of Singapore. This year, hundreds of members from different Peranakan associations will converge at the 37th Baba Nyonya International Convention in Penang, Malaysia, from Nov 20 to 22.

Television dramas have helped bring the culture to a wider audience. Mediacorp Channel 8’s Little Nyonya (2008-2009) and its spin-off Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story in 2025 were popular in Singapore as well as Malaysia and China. 

Recent recognition of several heritage icons such as the kebaya and the Katong-Joo Chiat precinct with its colourful Peranakan shophouses have also grown the culture’s salience among Singaporeans.

Those who offer services and experiences related to the culture have seen an uptick in interest. Some are wary that becoming more “mainstream” may risk cultural appropriation while others worry that gatekeeping the culture may also contribute to it being forgotten.

The Peranakan Association Singapore (TPAS) said membership has risen steadily, including among non-Peranakans and younger Singaporeans. It had 2,400 members as at June 2026.

The growth is partly due to it organising more activities such as demystifying Peranakan cooking, learning basic Baba Malay and the card game Cherki.

Yapp said visitors to The Intan increased by some 30 per cent in the last three to five years. He hosts about 200 guests monthly, including school teachers and students.

The quality of his recent partnerships also signals the culture’s growing recognition, he said, citing a 2023 merchandise collaboration with Starbucks and a feature in a Singapore Airlines’ in-flight safety video.

Russell Seah, the second-generation owner of the Peranakan Inn in East Coast, said there has been broader awareness and appreciation beyond the region, including among younger people.

This has changed the profile of his diners, although it has not translated to a significant increase in customers, he said.

Peranakan beadwork artist Angeline Kong has also noticed growing interest in her culture and craft workshops among people of different ages and cultural backgrounds.

The 58-year-old recently collaborated with artist Carolyn Law and a team of beaders on a hand-beaded helmet for McLaren F1 driver Oscar Piastri at the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix.

Veteran kebaya-maker Raymond Wong, who embroidered kebayas for Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story, has seen more interest at his Rumah Kim Choo shop in East Coast. 

Since the SG Culture Pass was introduced in 2025, he has had more participants in his kebaya styling sessions, beadwork workshops and heritage-sharing sessions. 

Greater visibility has come with questions about how Peranakan culture is represented, who gets to tell its stories and how they are told.

Several members of the community were upset when TikTok videos surfaced in August, showing dancers clad in sarong kebayas in Chinatown shouting and staging a martial-arts sequence, and spoke up online. Others felt this was unsurprising given the culture’s popularity.

Philanthropist Genevieve Peggy Jeffs, TPAS’ first female president in its over 120-year history, said her association received complaints which it conveyed to the National Heritage Board.

“When one wears a kebaya, you have to be demure. The performance misrepresents our culture and is inappropriate and insensitive,” she said.

Others are concerned that public understanding of Peranakan heritage is incomplete.

Arunaa Devan, 36, said she felt that public attention here does not focus on the full breadth of Peranakan heritage. The Chetti Melaka community for example, is hence unfamiliar to many within the broader Indian community. 

The fourth-generation Singaporean Tamil is not Peranakan. But a visit to Kampung Chetti in Malacca at age seven, where she first tasted their glutinous-rice dessert wajek and encountered the Chetti creole and customs, sparked a lasting fascination.

“A more balanced picture would present the Peranakan identity as the culturally diverse phenomenon it actually is.”

Beyond mainstream popularity

Despite their pride in the culture’s newfound mainstream popularity, some are concerned the interest is superficial. Some also see it as their responsibility to encourage deeper engagement.

Businessman Laurence Tan, 71, feels pride when elements of his heritage are celebrated worldwide. It creates entry points for people to engage with his culture, he said. 

But he worries that the culture could be reduced to mere aesthetics or passing trends. 

“When people visit Joo Chiat, especially the stretch of Koon Seng Road for Instagram photos against the backdrop of Peranakan houses, or order Peranakan dishes without understanding the labour, history, and family bonds behind them, the culture loses its depth.” 

Frederick Soh, artistic director and playwright of Gunong Sayang, agreed that interest has to spark somewhere.

But the community has a responsibility to welcome that curiosity and grow it into a deeper appreciation, he said.

Merlin Pillay, a member of the Peranakan Indian (Chitty Melaka) Association, keeps her traditions alive through workshops on making kopiah (traditional caps) and bunga rampai (aromatic potpourri).

“Peranakan cooking and crafts can take much time and effort,” said the 73-year-old retired school discipline assistant. “No pain, no gain.”

Without intentionality, parts of the culture will fade away, as it is difficult for them to withstand the broader shifts in society, those interviewed told The Straits Times. 

Some parts of the culture are already gone, noted Ida Chee and her sisters, Kelly and Jasmine, who are 11th generation Peranakans from Malacca but currently reside in Singapore. 

Some family members based in Singapore have done away with Peranakan practices, as the city-state shifted towards secularism over the years, said Ida Chee. 

Back in their Malacca home, smayang tikong – a prayer ritual honouring the Jade Emperor (Tien Kong) held on the seventh day of Chinese New Year (CNY) – was laborious and elaborate, often grander than CNY itself. 

“I remember my Kong Kong wearing a jacket and tie to pray on Tien Kong day,” said Kelly Chee. 

“We would all dress up for the evening and it’s a rare opportunity for the little kids to stay up past our bedtime till midnight when the prayer closes, and we burn joss paper and sugarcane stalks.”

If a family member dies, the practice is paused for three years. Many families then never resume, noted Kelly Chee. Time and space constraints in Singapore have also led to the inevitable decline of the ritual.

The trio in their 40s feel that despite greater mainstream exposure, Peranakan culture has become “diluted” as gender norms shifted.

Women in the past were central to passing down traditions at home, but women today are mostly working or may have married outside the Peranakan community, said Jasmine Chee.

“It was the women or mothers who were at home passing the culture to the children. The children spoke the language, enjoyed their mom’s cooking and wore the clothes. The matriarch held the fort.”

Associate Professor Lim Beng Soon, who heads the Malay Language and Literature programme at Singapore University of Social Sciences, is concerned that few young Peranakans today can speak Baba Malay or even wear a sarong neatly.

The fifth-generation Peranakan from Penang said cultural concepts conveyed through the language risk being lost, citing pantang larang, or taboos, as an example.

TPAS’ honorary treasurer Ronney Tan, 72, said the decreasing relevance of Baba Malay comes as English and Mandarin became the economic lingua franca.

Broader marriage trends in Singapore also show that more people are marrying across races and countries, which means fewer family units have Baba Malay as the predominant language.

Tan, who is also president of Keng Teck Whay – a mutual-aid society founded in 1831 by 36 wealthy Hokkien-Peranakan businessmen from Melaka – added that the growing inter-marriages has also made it difficult to estimate the size of the community. 

Evolving the culture

What some may see as dilution could be perceived by others as evolution of the culture.

Said Soh: “Our language, food, clothing, music and customs reflect a history of different influences coming together to form something distinctive.”

Being Peranakan today does not mean having to live exactly as one’s grandparents did, he added.

Fashion, as reflected in the different interpretations of the kebaya today, perhaps shows the clearest change.

Kebaya designer Wong said customers inspired him to explore different cuts and fabrics – he has used tweed for clients who said the traditional cotton voile was too light for colder climates.

He wants to fit the kebaya into contemporary life, while preserving its distinctive embroidery and craftsmanship, so more people will wear it. 

Young Matthias Teo,10, is part of the younger generation learning what it means to be Peranakan today.

His grandmother – TPAS president Jeffs – is training him to develop a Peranakan palate for eating chili by introducing him to dishes like ayam korma or chicken curry.

Teo, who is in Primary 4, joins her at the association’s events, and now loves kueh pie tee and what he calls “green ball” – ondeh ondeh.

Ryan Joshua Mahindapala, a 34-year-old entrepreneur in the education and publishing business, learnt Peranakan recipes like lauk ikan pindang – a fish dish – from his mother. 

The Indian Peranakan also read up on his Peranakan roots, and is trying to learn Chetti Malay from his family.

Businessman Tan, who speaks Baba Malay, said he ensures the younger members of his extended family follow Peranakan traditions.

They continue to wear the traditional attire, beaded slippers and Peranakan jewelry for Chinese New Year, family weddings and elders’ milestone birthdays.

Customs like kneeling down to pay obeisance while offering auspicious wishes for a long life, and acknowledging the presence of elders before eating, are still observed. 

Tan said he is working on his grandmother’s memoirs to document not just her life but her Peranakan traditions and customs.

The Chee sisters, who speak fluent Baba Malay, return to their ancestral house in Malacca several times annually to practise Peranakan rituals for occasions like CNY, Qing Ming Festival and the death anniversaries of ancestors.

Their Chee Swee Cheng Foundation also donates to The Peranakan Museum and TPAS.

Those active in representing the community in public-facing spheres said they feel a sense of duty in passing on traditions.

Soh hopes to pass on more than performances through Wayang Peranakan, Baba Malay, traditional songs, dance, pantuns and Dondang Sayang (love ballads).

“We can pass on the stories, values and ways of seeing the world that give our culture its distinctive character.”

Jeffs is organising an event at the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre on Dec 14 and 15, featuring members dressed in kebayas and a talk by kebaya-maker Wong.  

“Our duty is to keep introducing interesting programmes to attract younger generations,” said Jeffs, who has over 100 kebayas and wears them to events and Peranakan restaurants. 

“Or else we will have young Peranakans who will say ‘I am a Peranakan but I don’t practise it’.”