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yeah i think so, in Jakarta when you go to a big Mall or to the environment rich people living you can find some Chinese Indonesia with physical appearance resembles Northeast Asian type. I think the topic is interesting but I have to off now.^^^^
Yes, I had an Indonesian friend (of Chinese ethnicity, a fact I didn't know until later. As a kid of course these things aren't really important/you don't know notice it much) who was pretty wealthy.
This article explains what the Straits Settlements were (I wasn't aware of 'Dinding' so I won't really talk about it much).
Many of the townhouses in George Town, Malacca, Singapore look similar too.
yeah all shophouses in colonial towns look pretty similar to me, whether its from Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Indonesia. Padang and Medan shophouses do look particularly similar to the one in the straits, but the Dutch shophouses doesn't look similar at all, especially the one in Java.
Yes, my grandmother was Peranakan from Penang. Unfortunately she died before I was born so I don't know much about that side of the family. Like many Straits Chinese families they were pretty wealthy.
Well we personally didn't celebrate it much although our parents did give us 'ang pao' or red packets...my mum told us of how Chinese New Year was such a big deal in Singapore when she was growing up.
Speaking of which, do you know much about the Hokkien community in Medan? Like how mixed they are (both culturally as well as genetically)? Are they pretty similar to the Penang Hokkiens?
Almost similar but i found the one in Penang more "stingy" when it comes to money.
Languagewise they speak Hokkien with Medan dialect, basically mixed Hokkien with Medan-Malay words. There's also a Chinese mansion which is pretty similar to the one in Penang, but the whole Chinatown lots has been transformed into commie ugly blocks like Glodok in Jakarta.
Interesting. In Malacca most spoke/speak Baba Malay, in Penang maybe more spoke Hokkien, I guess same with Medan. One could argue the Malaccan Baba are probably the most Malay culturally and maybe genetically too.
Does Medan have a lot of the same type of shophouses as George Town and Malacca? I wonder if it's the most Malaysian-feeling city in Indonesia.
This is Tjong A Fie Mansion , he is said to be related to Cheong Fatt Tze in Penang, the Dutch word "tj" in Dutch is actually "c" so his name is adopted that way in latin alphabet: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/72261516
There is still shophouses scattered but its being destroyed at alarming rate, the shophouses do somehow looked similar, but the offices is built by Dutch with Art deco styles.
^Medan used to be dominated by Chinese like Penang, that's why the architecture of the shophouses is heavily influenced by them, in other places the shophouses didn't necesarily looked like those. While Chinese is significant population in major commercial cities under Dutch east indies, they never truly dominates the cities in Java. I suppose it also have historical factor since Medan booms quiet late, and the shophouses just follows the more modern style. Under Dutch east Indies policies Chinese remain intermediates, Natives are low paid workers and the upper class are either Dutch (majority) or noble natives working for them.
Town with less Chinese and more Dutch/half Dutch would look like this instead:
^ Interesting, yes Javanese cities seem more akin to KL or something, and those shophouses are of course familiar. Ipoh also has some examples of heritage shophouses, even if it's less known, as well as Taiping.
What's the Chinese community in Pontianak like?
Yes the more modern one i think are more akinned architecturely since its really just following the trend, Javanese cities are the center of economics of the Dutch East Indies so there are more high quality Dutch buildings followed by Dutch population.
Mmm compared to Malacca and Penang, Ipoh is definitely not that interesting. Smaller towns in Indonesia kept its townhouses, but unlike in Malaysia they're not protected so they're likely to dissapear if the town receive economic boost.
Chinese in Pontianak is either Hakka/Teochew, they heavily influence the society and food, but as a town, its not particularly interesting.
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