See Also: Peranakan(encyclopedia)

Peranakan (sh)




Any native-born Indonesian of mixed Indonesian and foreign ancestry.

The term often refers to the Peranakan Chinese, the largest and most important Peranakan group, who formed a stable community by the mid-19th century, partly adopting the indigenous way of life and generally speaking the native tongue. By contrast, in the early 20th century a large wave of Chinese immigration created a Totok (foreign-born) Chinese community. Unlike the Peranakans, the Totoks retained their own Chinese dialects and remained China-oriented.