Heart and Soul: My Peranakan upbringing


A sketch of the house which the writer used to live in. — Linda Lim



Seven decades ago a school teacher and his wife decided to adopt a girl. They already had six sons. And so I became their daughter.

When I was five years old, they adopted another little girl. We were much loved by our parents. To this day, I can remember fondly that not a hair on our head was touched whereas the boys had their fair share of punishment when they ran into mischief.

Papa was a Peranakan, mama a Hokkien, but all of us never learnt any Chinese.

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Peranakan , family ties , adoptive family

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