小娘惹 "The Little Nyonya"

[半峇峇娘惹]

你们好！我是峇峇。我最近加入了这里。

小娘惹 debuted on November 2008 in Singapore. It is a 34-episode drama series set in Malaysia that follows the lives of a family of "Nyonya" (15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants) as they endure both pre- and post-war conflict as per your usual Chinese drama. However, where 小娘惹 differs from most is that the series spans four generations, from the 1930s until modern day, and AFAIK it is the first ever production to be based on the life of the Nyonya, and to that, it is done remarkably well (ignoring lack of dialect and over-characterisation...)

The (Baba-)Nyonya (峇峇娘惹) culture isn't very well-known outside of Malaysia and Singapore, and it's "pure" numbers are dwindling. Being half-baba, half-3G Fujianese myself, I was delighted to find out about this show; my parents loved it. However, me being me, and hence, hopeless with my Mandarin, I have only caught the first few episodes, but so far, so good--and the spoken Chinese is fairly easy to follow. I recommend this to all those who are AV learners, as well as others who would like something a little bit different to your usual Mainland and Taiwanese dramas.

Let me start you off with episode 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GErrCpysark

If anyone manages to find alternate links and such, kindly post them up here, too. Cheerio!

[Guoke]

南洋色彩浓郁的一部连续剧.......让人不禁缅怀那已经不复存在的娘惹文化......

[Ah-Bin]

I got all excited when I first heard about this....but then I started to watch it and they were all speaking Mandarin! About the most un-nyonya-ish language in the world! It does look beautifully made, and I hope it can introduce the world of Babas and Nyonyas to people in China and Taiwan.

I just wish they spent a little money on making programmes in Baba Malay - the language spoken by Nyonyas at the time...it really needs more young people to learn it.

[半峇峇娘惹]

For mainstream appeal, I suppose. I've been acquainted with too many Asians to count and I've yet to meet another Nyonya who's not related to me; so yeah, a dying race sounds about right.