On the origin of Penang Chinese people

Let I begin by saying that this article on the origin of the Penang Chinese people is a hypothesis. In other words, it is my interpretation of the history of the Penang Chinese people based on presently available evidence. If in the future, new evidence should emerge, it may force a modification of the story.

Up till now, not much research has been done on the identity of the Penang Chinese. As a result, a lot of misconceptions has cropped up that become generally accepted views. The purpose of this article is to provide a convincing explanation and to trim away the fallacies.

One such fallacy is is widely held belief that the Penang Chinese descended from seafarers from long ago. However, not much is said about how long ago, from where, and why. It has been accepted that severe hardship caused the forefathers of present-day Penang Chinese to leave their homeland, but was it drought or warfare - this article attempts to provide the explanation.

Growing up speaking Hokkien, I have also wondered, why do we speak Penang Hokkien, (which we call Pi3nang3 Su1 Hok1kien1 Wa3). I have been able to determine that Penang Hokkien bears the closest resemblance to the Hokkien spoken in Zhangzhou, a city in Fujian Province in southern China. But why? And why do Chinese people in different parts of Malaysia speak different dialects? I believe every Chinese community in every city in Malaysia has its own story; this one is the story of the Penang Chinese.

My story of the origin of the Penang Chinese people

To part the shroud on the origin of the Penang Chinese, we have to go back in time, far back, before the first Sinkheh arrive in Malaya, before the local Chinese became known as Baba Nyonya, before wide-scale tin mining, before Francis Light established the British trading port on Prince of Wales Island, ... our story starts not in Malaya, but in China itself.

And not in Fujian Province. Our story starts in the year 1644 in Beijing. So far, the explanation I have been given was foggy and often misleading. As a result, Let me start this article on the origin of Penang Hokkien by saying that it is a hypothesis. In other words, this is my argument based on information I have thus far accumulated. My research is solely on the origin of the Penang Hokkien people, it does not include the Hokkien people living elsewhere in the country, in Malacca, Terengganu, Sarawak, or in Singapore. Each, I believe, has its own story, if someone care to look into it.

I am writing this because I find that we are living in an age where we have largely forgotten our past. In the past few decades, we have become homogenously Chinese. We have been indoctrinated that we are Chinese first, Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka second. By accepting this reasoning, we have allowed our mother tongue heritage to fade away, until such time that we realise how much we have lost.

In our attempt to salvage our past, we often draw faulty conclusions. In the past ten years, I have studied and examined Penang in an attempt to systematically explain everything and anything about it, information that I compile into what is known as the Penang Travel Tips.

In my quest to understand Penang, I have often questioned my own identity. I was born in Penang and my mother tongue is Penang Hokkien. But who am I, where do I come from, and where does this Penang Hokkien come from? Previously, when I come across terms such as Baba Nyonya, Peranakan, Straits Chinese, Sinkheh, I simply learned them and I moved on them without spending much time to actually find out what they mean. And it is a challenge to find out what they mean, considering the definition offered to me is often misleading.

Here are some of the things I've heard before: For centuries past, Chinese seafarers have visited this part of the world. Those who chose to stay on intermarry with the locals to create the Baba Nyonya. Peranakan is another word to describe the Baba Nyonya, though it is a generic term used for the offsprings of early settlers. Sinkheh are newcomers. Straits Chinese live in the Straits Settlements.

The above so-called explanation provided me more questions than answers. Let us examine some of the widely held assumptions and misconceptions.

That the Penang Hokkien, in particular the Baba Nyonya, trace their roots to early seafarers who arrived in the peninsula for centuries past
If they were descended from various seafarers over the course of a few centuries, how do we explain why the Baba Nyonya speak a language based on Hokkien? If you arrive in small numbers and you assimilate into the local population, you will fully acculturate into the native population. However, the Baba Nyonya retained their language, they continue their Taoist faith, and they continue to eat pork.

Rather than descending from seafarers over a course of centuries, I believe the Baba Nyonyas in fact descended from a large influx of refugees that settled in substantial numbers on the coast of Kedah, and later on, their descendants such as Koh Lay Huan relocated to Penang when it was established by Francis Light.

I say this because Penang Hokkien bears the closest resemblance to the Hokkien spoken in Zhangzhou. I therefore conclude that an incident taking place in Zhangzhou caused an influx of refugees that arrived here. And I believe I have determined the incident.

In 1651-52, there was a massacre of the locals. This is believed to have been carried out of Koxinga and his followers. This was the incident that caused the Hokkien people to hide from the "Japanese pirates" in the sugarcane plantations.

For example, if a Chinese and a Malay marry today, do their children automatically become Baba Nyonya? I believe not. I was born in Penang, does that make me a Straits Chinese? If Baba Nyonya and Straits Chinese are the same thing, do the children of Sinkheh become a Straits Chinese? Again, no.

One thing I observe, as I examine this subject, is that the Baba Nyonya exhibits specific characteristics that make them who they are. How they dress, the language they speak, the food they prepare, the gods they worship, even the school they send their children, often differentiate the Baba Nyonya from the non Baba Nyonya Chinese.

Bibliography

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