The Teochew Store Blog 潮舖博文

The Fairy Serpent - a Teochew folklore given new life

Folklores have always been important in helping to preserve and transmit the identity and values of cultures.

The Fairy Serpent is a Teochew variant of “Beauty and the Beast”. It tells about the life of a girl whose virtues not only saved her father from evil but also transformed the serpent she was forced to marry into a kind-hearted man.

Originally collected in Adele Fielde’s Chinese Nights’ Entertainment (download for free here), this ageless story has been beautifully retold in a book by Huang Lei, a Teochew illustrator from Singapore.

You may read The Fairy Serpent in English from this link.

Or watch it in Teochew (with English or Chinese subtitles):

English subtitles

带有中文字幕

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Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations at the Singapore Teo Ann Huay Kuan 潮安會館

Mid-Autumn Festival Celebrations at the Singapore Teo Ann Huay Kuan 潮安會館. A night when families and traditions came alive for the young and the not-so-old ❤️❤️

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Memories of Old Swatow: Images from Catholic Mission (c.1910-1940s)

From the Terence Tan postcard collection.

More old postcards of early 20th century Teochew are available in Memories of Old Swatow 汕頭舊影.

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Homecoming 似水流年 – a Timeless Movie set in Teochew

Homecoming 似水流年 (“Years flowed by like water”) in Chinese, swept a total of six awards at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards in 1985, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Newcomer, Best Screenplay and Best Art Direction.

Stilll remembered as the best Hong Kong film produced in the 1980s, Homecoming was shot mainly in location in Tah-gang village of Gek-yor (揭陽塔崗乡) in Teochew.

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Tan Wanxuan:Documenting Images to showcase diverse Teochew cultures

In recent months, a series of short videos about overseas Teochews have gone viral on Douyin (TikTok), Facebook and other popular social media platforms, and captured the attention of Teochew communities in China and abroad. The videos originate from the official accounts of the Teochew cuisine documentary, “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” (四海潮味, unofficial English translation). Featuring humorous and touching live stories of Teochew people living in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and France, the clips take on a refreshing perspective to present the blending of the Teochew identity with a diversity of local cultures.

Tan Wanxuan (陳婉璇), who hails from Teo-ann (潮安) district in Teochew, China, is the external liaison and producer of this documentary, as well as the director and editor of these short videos. Using Teochew food as a medium, “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” describes the culture, customs and emotional longing for home of Teochew people from different corners of the world. How did Wanxuan become part of this documentary? What has she gained from her travels to these countries to interview and document about our Teochew cuisine and people? The Teochew Store was in touch with Wanxuan to learn about her story and “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas”.

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