Nona Tan Tjeng Nio was a Peranakan (Chinese Indonesian) Malay language poet active in the 1890s. She was one of the earliest known Chinese Indonesian women writers to be published in the Indies; her poems are considered to have surprisingly modern themes and ideas for their time.
Little is known about Tan Tjeng Nio's early life or educational background.
In the 1897 a book of her poetry, written in the Syair form, was printed by Albrecht & Co. in Batavia. [1] [2] It was titled Boekoe sair tiga sobat nona boedjang dieret oleh baba peranakan Tangerang, sahingga sampe djadi abis-abisan, di koempoelken oleh Intje Ismail (Poem about three women friends, one of whom was seduced by a Peranakan man from Tangerang until she was bankrupt, compiled by Intje Ismail). [3] [4] In the poems, the female protagonists (named A, B, and C) come to realize that it as better to have control of their own lives even if they lived in poverty, and that celibacy may be preferable to marriage. [5] [3] [4] [6] More broadly, it served as a warning to young Chinese women to think twice about marrying men who went through the motions of romantic love in order to trick naïve women out of their money; the contemporary advertisement by the publisher marketed it as such and praised its "good Malay". [7] [8] The poems also display many forms of physical intimacy between the three female protagonists, as well as a level of independence from their parents that is quite different from other Indonesian Chinese literature of the era. [6] [9]
Elizabeth Chandra speculates that Tan may either have had a European (or European-style) education, since she dealt with modern topics, or conversely she may have been illiterate since her poems were compiled by someone else. [6] The compiler, Intje Ismail, was a journalist who published in the Malay Chinese press at around that time; Claudine Salmon speculates based on his name that he may have been a Peranakan Chinese convert to Islam. [5] The book of poetry proved popular; it was reprinted at least seven times in Batavia, with the latest known edition coming out in 1925. [6] [4]
Kwee Tek Hoay was a Chinese Indonesian Malay-language writer of novels and drama, and a journalist.
Sair Tjerita Siti Akbari is an 1884 Malay-language syair (poem) by Lie Kim Hok. Adapted indirectly from the Sjair Abdoel Moeloek, it tells of a woman who passes as a man to free her husband from the Sultan of Hindustan, who had captured him in an assault on their kingdom.
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.
Boenga Roos dari Tjikembang is a 1927 vernacular Malay-language novel written by Kwee Tek Hoay. The seventeen-chapter book follows a plantation manager, Aij Tjeng, who must leave his beloved njai (concubine) Marsiti so that he can be married. Eighteen years later, after Aij Tjeng's daughter Lily dies, her fiancé Bian Koen discovers that Marsiti had a daughter with Aij Tjeng, Roosminah, who greatly resembles Lily. In the end Bian Koen and Roosminah are married.
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.
Allah jang Palsoe is a 1919 stage drama from the Dutch East Indies that was written by the ethnic Chinese author Kwee Tek Hoay based on E. Phillips Oppenheim's short story "The False Gods". Over six acts, the Malay-language play follows two brothers, one a devout son who holds firmly to his morals and personal honour, while the other worships money and prioritises personal gain. Over more than a decade, the two learn that money is not the path to happiness.
Tjhit Liap Seng, also known as Bintang Toedjoeh in Malay, is an 1886 novel by Lie Kim Hok. It is considered the first Chinese Malay novel.
Kan Hok Hoei Sia, generally known as Hok Hoei Kan or in short H. H. Kan, was a prominent public figure, statesman and patrician landowner of Peranakan Chinese descent in the Dutch East Indies.
The Cabang Atas — literally 'highest branch' in Indonesian — was the traditional Chinese establishment or gentry of colonial Indonesia. They were the families and descendants of the Chinese officers, high-ranking colonial civil bureaucrats with the ranks of Majoor, Kapitein and Luitenant der Chinezen. They were referred to as the baba bangsawan [‘Chinese gentry’] in Indonesian, and the ba-poco in Java Hokkien.
Han Oen Lee, Luitenant der Chinezen (1856—1893) was a Chinese-Indonesian magnate, who governed the Chinese community of Bekasi as its Luitenant der Chinezen, an important administrative post in the Dutch colonial bureaucracy. He was also the Landheer (landlord) of the particuliere land of Gaboes. Today, he is best known as the father of the late colonial statesman Hok Hoei Kan (1881—1951).
Betsy Thung Sin Nio was an Indonesian-Dutch women's rights activist, physician, economist and politician. Born into a wealthy and progressive Peranakan family of the 'Cabang Atas' gentry in Batavia, she was encouraged to obtain an education, which was unusual for Indonesian women at the time. After completing high school, she qualified as a bookkeeper, but – because social norms prevented women from doing office work – she became a teacher. After teaching briefly in an elementary school, in 1924 Thung enrolled at the Netherlands School of Business in Rotterdam to study economics. On graduating, she went on to earn a master's degree and a doctorate in economics. In 1932, she enrolled at the University of Amsterdam to pursue her medical studies.
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.
Njonja Tjoa Hin Hoei, who was born Kwee Yat Nio and was also known by the Buddhist name Visakha Gunadharma, was a Chinese Indonesian journalist, writer, Buddhist figure, and political activist during the late colonial and early independence periods. She was especially known for being publisher and editor of a women's magazine Maandblad Istri which ran from the 1930s to the early 1950s.
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.
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.
Penghidoepan 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.
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.