Nyonya Ware Not Known to Collectors

This Chinese New Year 2016 has brought some new knowledge and new experience to me. A visit to Pasar Seni (Central Market) with an Indian friend brought me to know about others knowledge. There was a heritage office, I then enquired about where my foreign friends can get Nyonya ware, the person there was confused. I then said Nyonya porcelain ware, he is still confused. I then said Peranakan porcelain ware, he understood what I wanted. He then replied to look for such items in Malacca and Penang, a friend of his came in to join the conversation. I told them if there are so many names to create confusion. I told them to look for this word “Peranakan “ and then check with Wikipedia to know this word better which only came into use in the 60’s.

 I then told my Indian friend that I learnt how to treat chili come to contact with human eyes from my Nyonya Grandmother(mother’s mother) and told him of an incident which happened to a boy who helps his mother running a food stall opposite Pearl Point at Old Klang Road. At that time I had ordered a bowl of noodles from this boy’s mother and this boy was then cutting chilies for his mother and came to sit beside me suffering with the chili burning eyes. I then laugh and this boy and the people at the coffee shop was thinking I was making fun and told him my Nyonya  grandmother taught her kitchen helpers to solve such problem and he took up the way to treat and he came back happy. I know that Baba Nyonya families have ways of doing many things like preparing kueh (cakes) and many ways cooking delicious food. I am happy to have a Nyonya grandmother and mother who are good at handicraft as well.

I don’t know what Peranakan families can offer and Peranakan is well known but not Nyonya that was why I was told that in the 60’s there was no Nyonya but Pua Nguar families claimed by one Mr. Goh openly in front of others which make me to understand that Nyonya ware are not important but Peranakan and Pua Nguar families are.

I have been flying the flag of NGTING KAU ANTIQUE SHOP alone and for a long time with the help from my sons and there was a Chinese man who is an antique dealer and was said to have studied about Chinese antique porcelain in Peoples’ Republic of China wants to buy this NG TING KAU ANTIQUE SHOP name when I told him I wanted to shift to another country. I also told him NG TING KAU ANTIQUE SHOP name will not be sold because it carry the name of my father who spent his lifetime study and taught me to know treasure. NG TING KAU was said to have been selling fakes or copies in Chinese antique porcelain items and those collectors must have been well known to have proofs that the items in their collections are genuine. These collectors whether under the nutshell or not, I don’t know but when I talk about scientific tests about carbon 14, carbon 12 tests and thermoluminescence test (TL ) they do not know what they are all about and these are the phony collectors.

I agree with the earlier mentioned website quote “there is a sucker born every minute” and this word “sucker” was changed to customer. This shows that customers are actually confirmed “suckers” by this writer. In any part of the world nobody can find good collector or customer when there are too many “suckers” around.