In his third novel, NANYANG, Khoo spins an absorbing saga of Nanyang, literally meaning the Southern Ocean, a name given by the early Chinese migrants for the part of the world known today as It is an engaging tale linking the multi-racial peoples such as the orang asli (or original people as the aborigines were called), the people from various parts of Southeast Asia collectively known as the Malays, the Chinese (migrants and Straits-born Peranakan), the Indians, and of course, the Eurasians, descendants of inter-marriages of the natives and the Europeans, such as the early Portuguese who came to colonize the wealthy Malacca Sultanate, before being chased out by the Dutch, who in turn were outmaneuvered by the British, who thereafter systematically colonized the land to be known as British Malaya, and the Crown Colony of Singapore until they too were driven out by the Japanese.
Here is their fascinating stories as seen through the lives of four generations of a few families.
