What is it?

Peranakan, also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人), is a common term used to refer to descendants of late 15th and 16th-century Chinese immigrants to the Indonesian archipelago during the Colonial era.

Although their origin is from China, they have embraced the local customs with some of the descendents having inter-racial marriages; thus their culture (food, clothing, traditions and values) has a strong blend of Chinese and Malaya traits.

Photos of items, clothings & traditional kuehs of the Peranakans

In the modern world where the pace of life is ever increasing, culture, history and traditions are becoming less of a priority in people’s lives, especially in the younger generation like us. If this were to continue, we would soon lose our identity because culture represents one’s personal identity, reminder of their ancestors, and reminder of their history; it also keeps tradition, family values, and language intact.



Photo of how the interior design of a Peranakan home is like

As majority of our ancestors in Singapore are these Chinese immigrants whom we referred to as peranakans, it is our responsibility as the younger generation to preserve the important history and culture. We want to encourage others to know more so that this important knowledge can be passed on to future generations.

Nowadays, as IT (Information Technology) becomes a part of our daily lives, Internet is no stranger to us and our peers. Hence, we feel that the best way to impart the knowledge is through an attractive and interactive website.

The use of GIS (Geographic Information System) in the form of map will provide the interactivity needed as well as having additional features and benefits like familiarizing the youngsters with geographic layout of Singapore and getting driving instructions etc.

Therefore, we aim to use OneMap as an interactive teaching tool to preserve and promote peranakan history and culture to the public.