{"id":4119,"date":"2026-03-13T08:55:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/?p=4119"},"modified":"2026-03-13T09:26:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T09:26:05","slug":"when-east-met-west-in-the-1800s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/when-east-met-west-in-the-1800s\/","title":{"rendered":"When East Met West \u2013 in the 1800s!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 7 March 2026, Dr Marc Rerceretnam delivered a talk on Christianised Peranakan Weddings at the Peranakan Museum.
In this article, he generously shares his findings with us.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The study I\u2019m sharing is the first of its kind to explore detailed information about first generation Peranakan unions and marriages. Even though Peranakan communities have existed in the region for hundred years, little is known of first-generation couples, their identities and circumstances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My talk explored first-generation (Peranakan) intermarriages between people of different backgrounds within the Roman Catholic Church in Singapore. The story begins in 1832, when different cultures met and became united on an island, and for some, under a new faith. While most communities at this time were bound by some degree of clan, racial affiliation or language, the Roman Catholic community was different. From its early days, it was an amalgam of people from different backgrounds. It is possible that divisions did exist, but there were also more opportunities to overcome them than previously recognised. In effect, this community predates modern concepts of multicultural and multiracial Singapore by at least a century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What was the role of religion in colonial Singapore of the 1800s?
How does this compare to contemporary times?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MR: The role of the Christianity does not remain static in the 1800s. It played different roles for different people\/communities over different periods of time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, with the establishment of the Catholic French Mission churches on Bras Basah Road in 1832, for many newly arrived Teochew migrants, conversion to the Christian faith was an avenue away from their reliance and obligations to their traditional Teochew Clan, Kongsi and Secret Society organisations. While these Teochew organisations did provide much needed social welfare and arrange for employment for its members, there was also exploitative practices and corruption. A large number of its Teochew adherents felt disenfranchised. Moving to the Catholic church provided them with a degree of protection from exploitation by clan organisations. It also allowed new Teochew converts to connect themselves within a wider non-Teochew social landscape. They mixed with locally born Serani-Melaka Christians, Malays, some Peranakans and Indians. Many intermarried. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue of religiosity did play a key role for all peoples. However, for these early migrants (1830s-1860s), practical issues such as protection from Clan exploitation and establishing new social and familial networks were a strong drawcard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I believe today, religion doesn’t have the same ‘practical’ benefits as it did 200 years ago. Today the role of religiosity, spirituality and individuality plays a much larger role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Was it economically advantageous for the Straits Chinese \/ Peranakans to convert to Christianity? That is, how much was it a part of their business strategy?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MR: There was no key advantage to convert to Christianity during the early part of the 1800s. For a normal Teochew, Hakka, Hokkien or Cantonese migrant, business and employment was very much controlled by related Chinese Clan, Kongsi or Secret Society organisations. If you were not connected to them, you found yourself isolated from their large business network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n


However with the advancement of English-education, especially with the establishment of the large Catholic school system (from 1852) and the Methodists (1890s), opportunities for those locally-born and English educated became a reality especially within the government civil service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t think there was a specific strategy to convert to Christianity to improve business opportunities. Asian Christians were not prioritised by their Christian colonial masters over other non-Christian businesses. It all came down to dollar and cents. The colonial British wanted profits and working with bigger, non-Christian entities, often won out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, I believe by the latter half of the 1800s, with the growth of English-education in Singapore (and Malaysia), there was a surge in social prestige to be able to ‘identify’ with colonial elites and\/or Westernised lifestyles. I haven’t come across evidence for this in my research, but I believe some (not all) in this latter stage would have converted to Christianity for these reasons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How can we position this conversion to Christianity in tandem with literacy in English for the Straits Chinese \/ Peranakan community?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MR: The British colonial government was too cheap and therefore did not provide a proper educational system for Singapore and Malaysia. Hence, the provision of an English-education system was left to the Mission school system i.e. Catholics, Methodists and lesser degree, Anglicans. If a person wanted a ‘quality’ English-education, and was unable to get into Raffles Institution (which was too small), the Christian Mission school system was their main option. Many non-Christian students were acclimatised to Christianity through these schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do not have the numbers, but I believe many conversions, may be a result of early mission school contact and influence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dr Marc Rerceratnam <\/strong>is an independent researcher, a published author, and social historian whose work focuses on Christianised Peranakan communities. His book, \u2018A History of Immigrant Roman Catholics and Converts in Early Singapore 1832-1945\u2019, has received much acclaim.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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On 7 March 2026, Dr Marc Rerceretnam delivered a talk on Christianised Peranakan Weddings at the Peranakan Museum. In this article, he generously shares his findings with us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4169,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions\/4169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peranakan.org.sg\/theperanakanmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}