The Ghost Bride

by Yangsze Choo

Women had little security other than jewelry, so even the poorest among us sported gold chains, earrings, and rings as their insurance.

The remnants of this is seen in today's culture around marriage too: diamonds in proposal rings, more diamond necklaces for Chinese proposals, gold bracelets/earrings for babies.

It seemed to me that in this confluence of cultures, we had acquired one another’s superstitions without necessarily any of their comforts.

Assimilating to Indonesian culture too, we inherited Javanese myths, Chinese myths, and every other tribal myths along the way.

In our community of Straits-born Chinese, marriage was a weighty proposition, a transaction that sought to balance filial duty and economic worth.

Overseas Chinese had strong ties to their ancestral clans and villages,