Baba Nyonya (Peranakan)

Peranakan and Baba-Nyonya (tradition Chinese: 峇峇娘惹; Hokkien: Bā-bā Niû-liá) are terms used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region during the Colonial era. It applies especially to the ethnic Chinese populations of the British Straits Settlements Malay and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted partially or in full Nusantara customs to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities.

While the term Peranakan is most commonly used among the ethnic Chinese for those of Chinese descent also known as Straits Chinese (土生華人; named after the Straits Settlement), there are also other, comparatively small so-called Peranakan communities, such as Indian Hindu Peranakans, Indian Muslim Peranakans (Jawi) (Jawi being the Javanised Arabic script., Pekan a colloquial contraction of Peranakan) and Eurasian Peranakans (Kirstang= Christians).

YANG Jin Fong D.Mus., an Assistant Professor of Nationala Cheng Kung University, who say, Bā-bā is the Taiwanese pronunciation of the father, and Niû-liá is a Taiwanese pronunciation of "Mom."