Penghidoepan (meaning "life" in Malay; Perfected Spelling Penghidupan) was a monthly Peranakan Chinese, Malay-language literary magazine published in the Dutch East Indies from 1925 to 1942. It was one of the most successful literary publications in the Indies, publishing more than 200 novels and short stories during its run. Among its authors were many of the notables of the Chinese Indonesian literary world including Njoo Cheong Seng, Tan Hong Boen, and Tan Boen Soan.
Penghidoepan was founded in Surabaya, East Java, Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) by Njoo Cheong Seng, Ong Ping Lok, and Liem Khing Hoo, the editorial team behind the bimonthly magazine Hoa Kiao and was printed by the Tan printing company (Dutch : Tan's Drukkerij). [1] [2] [3] Njoo Cheong Seng, who was already a major writer, playwright, and filmmaker, became its first editor. [3] The magazine was intended to be a new platform to publish original novels and short stories, as well as translations of Chinese and Western novels; Njoo Cheong Seng wrote many of the novels himself as the magazine was established; he and other editors wrote under pseudonyms, partly to hide how few people were involved in the production of the magazine. [1] [3] In the first year, each issue contained one short novel which was 50 to 80 pages long; after that the format became a bit longer and a short story or poem was often added after the novel. [3] The covers were illustrated with scenes from novels or daily life; many of these were done by Malang-based illustrator Tan Liep Poen. [3] [4]
The contents of the magazine also reflected shifting tastes among Chinese Indonesian readers; while publications of the 1910s had often consisted of historical martial arts or cloak-and-dagger stories set in China, Penghidoepan often printed stories written and set in the contemporary Dutch East Indies. [5] Although moralism, drama, and intrigue remained popular, realism and modernity became equally important, as reflected in the name of the magazine, "Life". [2] [4] For example, journalist and writer Tan Hong Boen often traveled around Java by bicycle, touring villages and coming up with ideas for stories he would print in Penghidoepan and other magazines. [6] The magazine also published original stories by women authors such as Nyonya The Tiang Ek and Chan Leang Nio, something which was unheard of in the Indies before the 1920s. [4] Together the materials printed in Penghidoepan and related magazines like Tjerita Roman are thought to make up the golden age of Peranakan Chinese literature. [7]
In 1928 or possibly 1929 the three men who had launched Penghidoepan started a new literary monthly called Tjerita Roman ; Soe Lie Piet (the father of activist Arief Budiman) became Penghidoepan's new editor; like his predecessor, he published a number of his novels in the magazine. [1] [3] [8]
In 1930 Chen Hue Ay became the third and final editor of the magazine; he held the post until 1942. [3]
Penghidoepan was closed in 1942 with the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies. [4]
Njoo Cheong Seng was a Chinese-Indonesian playwright and film director. Also known by the pen name Monsieur d'Amour, he wrote more than 200 short stories, novels, poems and stage plays during his career; he is also recorded as directing and/or writing eleven films. He married four times during his life and spent several years travelling throughout Southeast Asia and India with different theatre troupes. His stage plays are credited with revitalising theatre in the Indies.
Lie Kim Hok was a peranakan Chinese teacher, writer, and social worker active in the Dutch East Indies and styled the "father of Chinese Malay literature". Born in Buitenzorg, West Java, Lie received his formal education in missionary schools and by the 1870s was fluent in Sundanese, vernacular Malay, and Dutch, though he was unable to understand Chinese. In the mid-1870s he married and began working as the editor of two periodicals published by his teacher and mentor D. J. van der Linden. Lie left the position in 1880. His wife died the following year. Lie published his first books, including the critically acclaimed syair (poem) Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari and grammar book Malajoe Batawi, in 1884. When van der Linden died the following year, Lie purchased the printing press and opened his own company.
Tio Ie Soei was a peranakan Chinese writer and journalist active in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia. Born in the capital at Batavia, Tio entered journalism while still a teenager. By 1911 he had begun writing fiction, publishing Sie Po Giok – his first novel – that year. Over the next 50 years Tio wrote extensively in several newspapers and magazines, serving as an editor for some. He also wrote several novels and biographies, including ones on Tan Sie Tat and Lie Kim Hok.
Thio Tjin Boen was a Chinese-Indonesian writer of Malay-language fiction and a journalist.
Tjerita "Oeij-se": Jaitoe Satoe Tjerita jang Amat Endah dan Loetjoe, jang Betoel Soedah Kedjadian di Djawa Tengah is a 1903 Malay-language novel by the ethnic Chinese writer Thio Tjin Boen. It details the rise of a Chinese businessman who becomes rich after finding a kite made of paper money in a village, who then uses dishonesty to advance his personal wealth before disowning his daughter after she converts to Islam and marries a Javanese man.
Tan Boen Soan was an ethnic Chinese Malay-language writer and journalist from Sukabumi, Java. He was the author of works such as Koetoekannja Boenga Srigading (1933), Bergerak (1935), Digdaja (1935) and Tjoban (1936). He later wrote for the Sunday Courier of Jakarta.
Djawa Tengah was a major Malay-language peranakan Chinese daily newspaper in Semarang, Dutch East Indies from 1909 to 1938. It is said to have been the first Chinese newspaper in Semarang.
Tjhoen Tjhioe was a Malay language Peranakan Chinese newspaper from Surabaya, Dutch East Indies catering mainly to the Chinese population. The full title of the paper was Tjhoen Tjhioe: Soerat kabar dagang bahasa Melajoe jang moeat roepa kabar penting bagi bangsa Tionghoa. Although the paper only existed for a short time, during that time it was recognized as one of the top Chinese newspapers in the Indies, alongside Sin Po and Perniagaan.
Perniagaan was a Malay language Peranakan Chinese newspaper in Batavia, Dutch East Indies from 1907 to 1930. The newspaper was the conservative rival of Sin Po and was closely associated with the Tiong Hoa Hwee Koan and the Chinese Officer system.
Keng Po was a Malay language Peranakan Chinese newspaper published in Batavia, Dutch East Indies from 1923 to 1958. During most of that time it was the second-most popular Malay-language Chinese newspaper in the Indies after Sin Po. It was also an important paper in the early period of Indonesian independence in the 1950s.
Yap Goan Ho was a Chinese Indonesian translator, businessman, bookseller, and publisher based in Batavia, Dutch East Indies. In the 1880s and 1890s, he was one of the first Chinese Indonesians to own a printing press and the first to publish Chinese language novels in Malay language translations.
Siem Piet Nio, who wrote under the pen name Hong Le Hoa, was an Indonesian language writer, magazine editor, journalist and women's rights advocate from the Dutch East Indies who was active during the 1920s and 1930s.
Nyonya The Tiang Ek, whose real name was Lie Djien Nio, was a Chinese Indonesian journalist, writer, and translator who was active in the late colonial period in the Dutch East Indies. She was part of a small cohort of Chinese Indonesian women novelists and short story writers publishing during that time which included Khoe Trima Nio, Tan Lam Nio, and Yang Lioe, and translators such as Lie Loan Lian Nio. She was known for translating detective and cloak-and-dagger stories and was interested in women's liberation and increased freedom for Chinese Indonesian women in particular. She was one of only a handful of documented Chinese Indonesian women translators in the Indies.
Khoe Trima Nio, who published under the pen names Aster and L. S. G., was a Peranakan Indonesian language writer and journalist active in the Dutch East Indies during the 1930s. She was part of a small cohort of Chinese Indonesian women novelists and short story writers publishing during that time which included Nyonya The Tiang Ek, Tan Lam Nio and Yang Lioe.
The Liep Nio was a Chinese Indonesian writer and playwright active in the 1930s in the Dutch East Indies. Little is known about her life aside from the fact that she was a Peranakan Chinese woman from Purbalingga in Central Java; she was probably born in the early twentieth century. She was part of the first generation of Indonesian women who to appear in print, which was almost unheard of before the 1930s; the first short writings by Native Indonesian and Indonesian Chinese women are thought to have appeared in newspapers in the 1910s and 1920s, but few were published in book form until the 1930s. The Liep Nio published poems, novels, plays, and short stories in literary magazines such as Tjerita Roman, Liberty, and Djawa Tengah Review.
Tan Hong Boen, commonly known by his pen name Im Yang Tjoe, was a Chinese Indonesian writer, journalist, and translator active in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia from the 1920s to the 1950s. He also published occasionally under the pen names Madame D'Eden Lovely for romantic novels, Kihadjar Dharmopralojo for historical novels, and Kihadjar Soekowijono for Wayang stories. In 1933 he published a biography of Sukarno, whom he had shared a jail cell with in 1932; it seems to be the earliest known biography of Sukarno.
Lie Sim Djwe, who also published under the name Lie Sien Djioe, was a Chinese Indonesian writer, journalist and translator active in the Dutch East Indies and Indonesia from the 1910s until the 1950s. His major contribution was the translation of Chinese-language novels into Malay.
Lie Loan Lian Nio was one of the earliest known woman translators of Chinese language novels into Malay in the Dutch East Indies. She was active in the 1920s and mostly translated for the magazine Tjerita Baroe.
Tjerita Roman was a monthly Peranakan Chinese, Malay-language literary magazine published in the Dutch East Indies from 1929 to 1942. It was one of the most successful literary publications in the Indies, publishing hundreds of novels, plays, and short stories during its run. Among its authors were many of the notables of the Chinese Indonesian literary world including Njoo Cheong Seng, Pouw Kioe An, Tan Boen Soan, and Liem Khing Hoo.
Hoo Eng Djie, known popularly as Baba Tjoi, was a Peranakan Chinese writer, singer, songwriter and recording artist from the Dutch East Indies. He was a multilingual artist; in addition to Malay, he could speak Makassarese and Buginese fluently. He composed thousands of songs from the 1920s to the 1950s, notably in the popular Kroncong style and local Makassar styles, and was given official recognition by President Sukarno in 1953.