When I was in Penang for the holidays in December, I visited the Pinang Peranakan Museum.
The Peranakans - or the Babas and Nyonyas - are a community of acculturated Chinese. They are also known as the Straits Chinese, having settled along the British Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore.
The Peranakans adopted local Malay ways and the British colonial lifestyle. These influenced its rich culture, customs, cuisine, language and lifestyle that are still evident in Penang today.
It may looked very familiar to some of you, as this mansion was featured in various TV shows including the more popular Singaporean drama series The Little Nyonya (TLN).
Some pictures of the casts and crew.
That's Qi Yi Wu (or Chen Xi in TLN) in white shirt, standing. Gosh he's so handsome!
The Pinang Peranakan Mansion, typical of the home of an affluent Baba a century ago is re-created to allow visitors a glimpse of the opulent lifestyle, customs and traditions in those days.
The Traditional Main Hall has a fine set of formal mother-of-pearl furniture framed by exquisite carved wooden screens gilded in gold.
The wives of rich businessmen usually while away their time by playing mahjong at this mahjong table in the next room.
We became one of them.
Two of these mirros are placed directly opposite each other in the mahjong room. They're brought back from Italy (I think) and are called The Infinity Mirror because, well - you see infinity reflections when you look into it. Which is super cool if you ask me.
The mansion was built at the end of the 19th century by local history's famous personality, the Kapitan Cina Chung Keng Kwee.
Though not a Baba himself, his Chinese courtyard mansion is reminiscence of a typical wealthy Baba house in eclectic style incorporating Chinese carved wooden panels, English floor tiles and Scottish ironworks.
They even had a grand piano!
Exquisite carvings in gold.
Having survived many decades of neglect, the mansion has now been fully restored to its former grandeur of a stately home.
Beautiful lantern :)
This green backyard brought back memories from TLN lol. :') I wanna watch that show again lah!
Over a thousand pieces of antiques and collectibles of this era are on display in this heritage mansion with its eclectic architecture.
The central courtyard with an open airwell leads to the Dining Hall with a "tok panjang" hosting festive occasions.
The entrance to the central courtyard.
To those of you who's a fan of TLN, I bet you can remember this place clearly XD
We proceeded up to the first floor.
This huuuuge and heavy chair is where people used to lie down and inhale opium during happy hour. Notice the "tool" for inhaling opium inside the box.
Some of you may remember this room where the "chor chor" (in TLN) was lying here sick :p On the bed, the dress of the bride and bridesmaid are displayed, complete with flowers.
Super old TV (not working anymore) :p
I think it's a radio. Those are golf sticks next to it.
Wah, old-fashioned potty.
Omg these are so cute! Bottles of perfumes and lotion and whatnot in all kinds of shapes and sizes. FYI, these are all brought back from different countries around the world.
Which is amazing! I mean, I don't think people do that now lol.
Suitcase/briefcase/luggage bags XD
Humongous grandfather's clock.
I'm delivering food to mummy. It's so heavy!
Those days, the women carried small purses (made of gold @.@) like these around. Definitely very opposite from the modern woman where she carries a huge handbag with wallet, phone, lipstick, tissue etc in it XD
To be continued in Part 2! :)
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