There were no indications that these early Chinese traders had settled, it was only at a later date that there were men who stayed. Subsequently small communities were formed, predominantly in the coastal areas, such as South Sulawesi, the North coast of Java, Madura and Bali, where the spice trade had been most active.

After the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) had settled in the Archipelago, the Dutch authorities needed laborers for the building of towns, houses, godowns for the trade products, streets, canals etc. Also needed were craftsmen who could make shoes, clothing, decorations for buildings such as can be seen in the National Archives building on Jalan Gajah Mada 111 in Jakarta.

For this reason Chinese were “imported”. These Chinese brought their culture along but not their wives, who were found to be unsuitable for the rough journey. They thus formed families with the native women and raised their children according to their culture, whereas the mothers added elements of their culture as well.

This hybrid culture now called the Peranakan culture is one of the most interesting culture. Just look at the batik, to which the Chinese have added interesting motives and colors, initially from natural dyes, but later being replaced by chemical dyes. As a top of the sarong, made of batik material, the peranakan women wore colorful kabayas which for special occasions was trimmed with lace imported from Europe. Nowadays they usually wear European style dresses and sometimes Chinese style gown with the special knotted buttons.

The food has also been enriched nutritively with the introduction of soy products, such as tofu (bean curd) soysauce (kecap) etc. Many recipes have been added to the daily menu, bringing variety to the daily food. Just to mention a few more: noodles, stir-fry cooking, cooking with wine and soybean products.
However, the native mothers too have made the Chinese cooking more attractive and spicy by adding peanut sauce and chilies.

As the pinnacle of all the delicacies produced in the Peranakan kitchen can be mentioned the cakes, made colorful by leaves, flowers and other natural dyes.

In the 19th century we see the development of literacy and the emergence of classic Chinese stories as entertainment. Story tellers came to tell the stories as in the classic epics like “The three Kingdoms”, the “Journey to the West”, which tells of a pilgrim who went to India and was helped by a monkey, hence the alternative title of “Monkey King”. These stories were later made visual by transforming them into shadowplays. Much later the stories were printed as books and subsequently with the appearance of original novels, their literary expressions grew to more than 3000 volumes of which about 1100 were original novels.

These works were written in the vernacular Malay mixed with Chinese terms, now known as the Bahasa Melayu Tionghoa (Chinese-Malay language). A number of these stories have been republished recently, because they are interesting and give the readers an impression of the prewar Peranakan community.

Besides novels and poetry, the Peranakans also published newspapers and magazines, also in Bahasa Melayu Tionghoa. However, since some of the Peranakans have attended Dutch schools and others Chinese schools, newspapers and magazines in Dutch and Chinese can be found.

However, it is in business that the Peranakans excel and many have developed their businesses into international business corporations, such as Oei Tiong Ham (Kian Gwan) in the past and the Suryajaya brothers (Astra) and Mochtar Riady (Lippo bank and real estate) at present. The small and medium enterprises too have been dominated by the Peranakans, a visit to the shopping malls and traditional Markets will give a proof of this statement.