FaR below Precious wedding
photos of Sylvia’s family
dressed in her gown designsbelow Sylvia started the
trend of wearing summer
“straw hats” at weddingsfuture wife had to be literate (obviously he needed
someone to keep his books). She would subsequently
act as his interpreter, conducting negotiations on his
behalf to secure a dredge for his mine in Kanching.
Enter Chia Kim Siew, a Teochew Peranakan girl
and a teacher who lived in Singapore’s St Margaret’s
School, one of the few girls educated in English. The
headmistress thought Kim Siew was of marriageable
age and thus indulged in judicious matchmaking,
pairing her with Wong.
Women of the Chinese Peranakan community
(which developed out of early liaisons between
Hokkien traders and indigenous women of the
Malay archipelago since the late 14th century or
so) were generally excellent housekeepers running
their households with an iron hand (with or without
velvet glove). Thus Peranakan women were not
only skilled in needlework, but mistresses of their
kitchens, concocting masterpieces of their complex,
labour-intensive hybrid cuisine with a toss of spice or
sprinkle of herb.
feature: sylvia Kho