Peng Tsu Ying: Singapore's Pioneering Deaf Educator

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/all-sections/podcast-peng-tsu-ying-singapore-pioneering-deaf-educator-nathaniel-chew/ Read the BiblioAsia article : https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/vol-21-issue-1-apr-jun-2025-deaf-education-singapore-sign-language/ Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore. This episode of BiblioAsia Podcast 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. The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.