When Peng Tsu Ying came to Singapore from Shanghai in the late 1940s, he could not find a deaf person like him. Determined to improve the situation for the deaf community, he founded Singapore's first school for the deaf in 1954. Librarian Nathaniel Chew tells us about Peng's advocacy, his own journey learning the Singapore Sign Language and the different ways it has evolved. 

Nathaniel Chew is a librarian with the National Library Singapore. He works with the Singapore and Southeast Asia Collection, and his research interests lie at the intersection of language and society.

What Nathaniel Talked About

• 02:13 –  Who Peng Tsu Ying was
• 04:07 – What Singapore was like for the deaf community before WWII
• 05:34 – How Peng started the first school for the deaf
• 07:42 – Peng’s foray into car racing
• 10:12 – Joining forces with the Red Cross
• 11:13 – What the Singapore Sign Language is
• 19:00 – How Nathaniel got interested in sign language
• 19:40 –  Peng’s influence on Singapore’s deaf community
• 22:17 – Nathaniel’s research interest in linguistics
• 23:56 – Nathaniel’s take on Singlish
• 25:28 – BiblioAsia is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/peng-tsu-ying-singapore-pioneering-deaf-educator-nathaniel-chew/transcript
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-1/apr-jun-2025/deaf-education-singapore-sign-language/

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This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Nathaniel for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.