"Penang Island." a Penang Travel Page by A2002

I was born in Penang and enjoyed the food in Penang very much.

For more insight into the culture of Penang, I have found a good website: http://thepenangfile.mybravenet.com/nyonya%2021.htm

Nyonya and Babas (usually Hokkien descents) are the small minority in Penang today, but their culture is still rich and unique, and best of all their food still as delicious and widely available in Penang. I love Nyonya delicacies and kuihs (tea time bites). Examples of Nyonya delicacies are assam prawn, Acar, assam curry fish, char chap chye, Nyonya dumpling, etc. Examples of Nyonya kuihs are kuih lapis, kuih talam, kuih koci, pineapple tart, pulut tai tai, etc. Simply lovely...

Nyonya also have their own style of fashion, which is very expensive and beautiful. It is the modified Malay style with lots of lace and fine details. Nowadays, it is not easy to find a tailor who knows how to tailor Nyonya fashion. Tailoring Nyonya fashion is not easy too as it involves a lot of fine work - just like a piece of art.

Ok, so far for now about the culture. I will continue the description when I have the time. By the way, my grandmother is a nyonya and she wore typical nyonya clothes and had very strict rules on how things should be done.
Mean time, for more information, go to http://thepenangfile.mybravenet.com/nyonya%2021.htm. It is quite interesting, but some facts I have to double check.

The big statue in this picture is the Goddess of Mercy newly built at Kek Lok Si Temple (a buddhist temple) on Penang Island. It is the largest bronze Goddess of Mercy statue in the world. There are only 3 bronze Goddess of Mercy in the world.
In Mandarin, it is called Guan Yin or Guan Shi Yin. Similarly in Japanese it is known as Kannon.
Among the Bodhisattvas (someone on the path to Awakening), it is this goddess who has the largest number of forms and is perhaps the most venerated and most popular Buddhist deity. HIs sex, originally masculine, is sometimes considered feminine in China and Japan, although this discrimination is unsupported by any cononical text. It was often considered in China and Japan as the 'mother of the human race', hence worshipeed in the form of a woman.
Goddess of Mercy is known from very early development of the Mahayana doctrines and, until Buddhism disappeared from India, enjoyed great favour there. His cult passed from India to South East Asia and Java, where it met with great success, and also in Nepal, Tibet, and in China, from where he went on to Korea and Japan. All these countries imagined him in different forms according to their own temperaments and spirituality.