There’s a sense of hope (especially for later generations) that exists for many of these immigrants. The thriving Peranakan community (the word Malay Chinese use to describe themselves) is due to the fact that many of them came to find jobs in mining in Northern Malaysia. Meanwhile, my own parents came to the U.S. because my father wanted a better life for me and my sister.
Nevertheless, these groups maintained their culture but also assimilated. Malaysian cuisine, for instance, includes many dishes that Chinese immigrants brought with them such as Char Keow Tew, a stir-fried noodle dish. When I first read Dragonwings I found it powerful to think about how hard many of these immigrants worked in the past and how their effort helped built a more colorful society in the present day.
