The Peranakans, also known as the Babas and Nyonyas, was a prominent community of acculturated Chinese unique to this part of the world, especially in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore) hence its other name, the Straits Chinese. Adopting selected ways of the local Malays and later, the colonial British, the Peranakans had created a unique lifestyle and customs which had not only left behind a rich legacy of antiques but its cultural influences like cuisine and language are still evident in Penang today | Pinang Peranakan Mansion
At the Pinang Peranakan Mansion, the typical home of a rich Baba of a century ago is recreated to offer a glimpse of their opulent lifestyle and of their many customs and traditions. With over 1,000 pieces of antiques and collectibles of the era on display, this Baba-Nyonya museum is also housed in one of Penang’s heritage mansion of eclectic design and architecture.
The mansion belongs to Chung Keng Quee (Kapitan) from China who made his fortunes over here. Although he was an immigrant from China, he was greatly influence by the Straits Chinese (called the “Peranakan”) culture. He commissioned his stately mansion to be built incorporating the strong Peranakan architectural design. It was lavishly furbished with elegant ceramic floor tiles from England, beautiful iron casted art work from Scotland for the balconies and railings and elegant carved-wood panels and screen for the doors and walls from China.
In the western style formal dining hall is the grand long dining table (called “tok panjang”) where lavish feast are held for their guests. It is complemented with European designed side tables, hubs and wooden casing mirrors running the parameter of the hall. All the wooden furniture here made of teak wood.Zatty carries on a conversation with our Penang guide sharing a marble table with a visitor who's perusing the Penang Traveller's Map for other hotspots.The game room where popular card game Cherki is played using decks of 60 cards.
For more information on the Cherki card game, visit Peranakan Life
Architectures that feature an open air atrium with large skylight is far and few these days but something noticeably common in the early days where presumably there was no electricity or air conditioning. Today everybody prefers to A/C up their homes, darken their windows in favour of modern comforts.A group of young visitors posing for a photo opportunity against the first floor railing. Smart use of natural light but I suspect the intensity may have exceeded the exposure control limits of their compact digital.Brunei Times journalist Zatty (in red) is taking things easy. I recall it was a very hot afternoon and we may have just finished a hotel inspection prior to this stop.
The upper floor showcase the family living hall, bedrooms, traditional bridal room with typical Nyonya matrimonial bed and sewing room. Here is where all the antiques are displayed including artistic brooches (“keronsang”), hair pins (“cuck sanggal”), metal belts, bracelets and other women accessories. Other interesting artefacts displayed are the huge vintage standing camera, an antique barber chair, Nyonya long blouses, embroideries and beaded shoes. | Penang State Tourism
The floors are connected by a grand and lovely stairs case with each step as wide as three feet in width. The balustrades guarding the stairs are decorative cast iron with the distinctive elegant European designed which came from the Macfarlanes foundry in Glasgow, Scotland.
I was brought to a secluded part of the Mansion and shown this intricate one-piece craftmanship.
Pinang Peranakan Mansion is truly built with a strong affluent of the Straits Chinese culture and symbolises the colourful legacy of the few rich Peranakan families in the past. It is now fully refurbished and restored to its former glory and is a showcase of the bygone days of this community lifestyle and their many customs and traditions. The beautiful mansion was one of the locations for the filming of the Little Nyonya, a 34 episode drama series by Singapore MediaCrop TV Channel 8. | Penang State Tourism
Legendary in the annals of the history of Penang is the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, Leith Street. Dubbed “La Maison Bleu”, this flamboyant masterpiece of 38 rooms, 5 courtyards, 7 staircases and 220 windows took a very special man to create. Arriving penniless from Guandong province, China, to this part of the world at the age of 16, Cheong Fatt Tze grew to become one of the most historic and colourful personalities of the era, “One of China’s last Mandarins and 1st Capitalists”, such was his aura and fame that Dutch and British authorities ordered that flags be flown at half mast throughout their colonies when he passed away in 1916.
As a 16 year-old Hakka in 1856, Cheong followed the route of many Chinese fortune seekers, heading to the Southeast Asian region known as Nanyang, or ‘Land of Opportunity’. Penniless, armed only with determination and a driving need to prove himself, Cheong struggled through sheer hard work and enterprise to epitomize the typical rags-to-riches story. Rising from being a ‘bearer of river water’ in his early years to a ‘one-man multinational conglomerate’, Cheong’s ascent was aided by a merchant father-in-law who perceived potential in the young man, whom he helped establish in the business world.
A bookmark measuring 7.5cm x 19.5cm a prized memento of my visit to the awe-inspiring, award winning Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion in Georgetown, Penang.
Of his vast empire, Cheong Fatt Tze chose Penang to build the most elaborate of his homes and to raise his sons. It is reputed to be only one of two such buildings of this size, outside China and certainly the most perfected. While the Mansion’s floor-plan is essentially Chinese, the overall effect is eclectic and typical of 19th Century Straits Settlements architecture. Gothic louvered windows, Chinese cut-&-paste porcelain work, Stoke-on-Trent floor tiles, Scottish cast iron works and Art Nouveau stained glass are among the features to be found in this inspired work of art.
The Cheong Fatt Tze “Blue” Mansion has been perfectly poised for over a century on firm foundations of architectural, cultural and historic superlatives.
Though the lavish doors to the venerable Blue Mansion were first thrown open in as early as the 19th Century, the tradition of architecture and craftsmanship applied to the building’s construction dates much further back – a precipitous 3000 years to the Su Chow dynasty, to be exact. Built in the Hakka – Teochew style on sturdy foundations of Southern Chinese building typologies and materials, the Blue Mansion commissioned by Cheong Fatt Tze in the face of a trend in the construction of modern Anglo-indian abodes – stands today as a model of the traditional paradigm Chinese courtyard house. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com
While the Mansion’s floor-plan is essentially Chinese, the overall effect is eclectic and typical of 19th Century Straits Settlements architecture.
One version of the origin of the rickshaw is a European missionary to Japan named Jonathan Scobie invented rickshaws around 1869 to transport his invalid wife through the streets of Yokohama. The word “rickshaw” comes from the Japanese jinrikisha (人力車) which literally means “human-powered vehicle”.
I am not certain if these rickshaws at the front entrance are the real deal or very good replica.Authentic 18th century featured timber spokes and later replaced with steel spokes.
Decades in planning and six years in execution, the tedious restoration process was driven by the aims of preserving, conserving and restoring as much of the original fabric of the Mansion as possible. The principal approach was to retain the total integrity of the Mansion with the application of traditional methods, with very minor modern intervention, such as waterproofing. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com | Restoration
Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion received the 2000 UNESCO Asia-Pacific “Most Excellent Project” Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage ConservationThe start of our tour of the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion premise by a very entertaining guide who kept our stay interesting especially the bit where she identified me as Hakka — a spoken dialect I have in common with Cheong Fatt Tze. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities end 🙂Visitors proceed to the open air atrium for a second part of the guided tour. The stream of light is better appreciated in this B/W photo.When was the last time you saw one of these antique foot-pedalled sewing machine? We have a Singer at home that my mom uses till today but it’s one that has been rigged with a motor drive.One of the more adorable local residents at the Mansion. Judging from the comments left by Zatty and Hamidah, it would appear that this one didn’t fancy being handled.My female colleagues have a softspot for the furry residents. Here’s a shot of the puss illuminated by Georgina’s hand phone LED. In the absence of flash in a dimly lit venue, you gotta improvise.The Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata) sometimes called Mother-in-Law’s Tongue is considered a bad feng shui plant. However, this is not true, because the the Snake Plant can bring very helpful feng shui energy when needed in specific areas of a home or office; this plant has strong protective energies.
Details of the Mansion’s master-builder and his team of artisans (shipped in with tools in hand from Southern China) are sketchy – but their proudly standing work is testament to their collective architectural genius. As for the man who commissioned their work: the Mansion served to demonstrate both Cheong Fatt Tze’s fascination with Western artisanship and his rising stature as a Chinese official. The house is indeed cosmopolitan in design, bearing an eclectic architecture which exemplified the times at the end of the 19th Century, when the myths and magic of the Chinese Kingdom attempted to embrace the glory of the British Empire within the Malay world. — CheongFattTzeMansion.com
The open air atrium not only lets in light but also rain as seen here. I love the rain and I can only imagine the naturally therapeutic sound of water spashing against the concrete floor on days of heavy rainfall.
This artistic rendition of the spiral straircase at the Mansion photographed from the first floor is the same stairs I shot on the ground floor (pictured immediately below).A simple change of vantage point of a subject dramatically alters its perceived reality.
THERE are many ways to see Penang, and one of the more interesting manners would be on a trishaw. Also known locally as the beca or rickshaw, it is a quaint mode of transport that ferries passengers through the streets of Penang at a leisurely pace. In Malaysia, pedestrian-pulled rickshaws were gradually replaced by cycle rickshaws (beca in Malay). Cycle rickshaws were ubiquitous up to the 1970s in cities. Since then, rapid urbanization has increased demand for more efficient public transport, resulting in dwindling cycle rickshaw numbers. Today, cycle rickshaws are operated mostly as a tourist attraction, with small numbers operating in Malacca, Penang, Kelantan and Terengganu. I may or may not have been on one before as a kid being brought to many places around Asia on holidays but as an adult, this is my first.
The peddlers immaculately decorate their trishaws with individual flair in order to attract passengers.
Reputedly born in Japan as the “man-powered vehicle” or jinrikisha, the rickshaw later metamorphosed into the cycle-rickshaw and in parts of Asia is still the true developing-world taxicab (see Chasing Rickshaws below). Trishaws in Penang are currently mostly operated as a tourist attraction. Rapid urbanisation has increased the demand for more efficient public transport, resulting in dwindling trishaw numbers in the state. — iGT Penang
One of my favourite photos from this set is this portrait of a Penang beca rider.Zatty is once again seen taking a photo of me taking a photo of her. Since then, I often wonder what she has or hasn’t done with all images that never got published in her Brunei Times story. Here, the rider cautions Zatty to secure her camera during the ride.Asni (Media Permata) and Georgina of Tourism Malaysia sharing a pedicab while Michelle (far right) has a cab to herself where she’s seen here either texting or updating her Facebook Status.I swear the next time I bump into Michelle, I’m going to take her iPhone away 🙂A photo moment of Michelle not using her phone but pretty sure she got right back on it after this click!Rapid urbanisation has increased the demand for more efficient public transport, resulting in dwindling trishaw numbers in the state. When I boarded my ride, my rider had the hood drawn thinking I’d prefer a shade but I had other ideas. Not only did I get to carry on a conversation with him in Mandarin, I was also able to take these shots behind me.
When my friends at Tourism Malaysia Brunei office sent me their 2011 calendar, among the photographs that I liked is one of a holiday couple on a trishaw in Penang. I remember saying to myself that someday I would visit Penang and take pictures of the trishaws. There I was, having ridden the trishaw, months later when my wish unbelievably came true much thanks to Tourism Malaysia Brunei.
No sooner had we returned to where we had taken off earlier, across the road were these two friendly ladies’ turn to explore the Penang heritage trails on this beautiful sunny morning.
Trishaws or Pedicabs are widely used for transportation in many parts of Asia. I know they exist in Singapore... http://fb.me/QyWAcH8L
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