• Venue Hire
  • Contact Us
TPM Logo01 hires
Menu
TPM Logo01 hires
Plan Your Visit
What's On
Lectures
Exhibitions
Family Fun
Festivals
Programmes
Tours
Galleries
Research
About Us
Aa
A a
  • Home
  • Galleries
  • Language
Galleries Galleries

Galleries

The Peranakan Museum showcases the world's finest and most comprehensive collection displayed in 10 galleries. Step into them and immerse yourself in this unique Southeast Asian culture.
Permanent

General Admission

Free for Singaporeans & PRs. Ticketing charges for foreign residents and tourists apply.

More Info
Getting Here

We are a 10 minute walk from City Hall or Bras Basah MRT Station.

More Info
language-banner
Language in the Peranakan Community
The inter-generational transmission of culture, rituals and values has long been an oral tradition. Many books in these cases fall under the category of chrita dulu kala, Baba Malay for "tales from the ancient times". Peranakans who didn't know Chinese could read these fables through translation. Versions were published in Baba Malay as well as Bahasa Indonesia. The work of translators such as Chan Kim Boon, Pang Teck Joon, and Kwee Tek Hoay helped to transmit the morals and values of China — the ancestral land — to the Peranakans settled in this region. The staging of Peranakan-language plays (wayang Peranakan in Baba Malay) continues today, and is a reminder of the importance of language to Peranakan lifestyle and identity.
Chrita Dulu Kala
Chrita Dulu Kala

Straits Settlements, 1911
Paper, 16.3 x 10.4 cm
2012-00806, Gift of the Hall of Phoenix and Peony, Singapore

Loosely translated as "stories from ancient times", the tales serialised in this publication were popular reading at the turn of the 20th century through the 1950s. The stories came from Chinese folklore as well as legends and historical epics such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West, and Water Margin.

The author-translator of this publication, Chan Kim Boon (b. 1851), was one of the more prolific and well-known authors of chrita dulu kala. He wrote under the pseudonym Batu Gantong, a cryptic reference to a cemetery in Penang. Chan was educated in an English-medium school but still well-versed in Chinese literary traditions – a consequence of Chinese lessons at home.

 
BACK TO TOP
TPM

39 Armenian Street, Singapore 179941

+65 6332 7591

Contact Us ▸

Sign Up for our Mailing List ▸

SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER

Follow Us

SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER

Join our mailing list

  • Name Email is required
    Email Email is required Email is invalid
  • I would like to receive updates about:

A museum managed by

NHB Logo 

 

acm-logo 
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal
  • Terms of Use
  • FAQ
  • Rate This Site

Copyright © 2018 Peranakan Museum.

All Rights Reserved.