The Teochew Store Blog / craft

Teochew Documentary: Dance of the Drums 鼓.舞

A mesmirising short film that uses dance to exhibit the craftsmanship behind the magnificent Teochew drums. 

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Teochew Documentary: Town, Country & Seaside Life Round about Swatow, Chaochowfu and Swabue (1935)

Watch this fascinating silent film Town, Country & Seaside Life Round about Swatow, Chaochowfu* and Swabue, and gaze into how people back in 1935 loaded salt on the beach, set up stage for a Teochew opera, built boats, made ropes, bring in their catch from the sea, chopped wood, sold prawns and fish, carry pigs, made bricks, plaster wall, forge metal, clean oyster and spin fishing net.
There are also rare glimpses into the old Teo-Swa railway, and not to forget images of how our grandparents were dressed back then! 
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This is Life in Shantou - A Remaining Wooden Barrel Craftsman

Some wooden barrels were piled up in the front, and the sound of wood-planing came out from an old shop on Zhen ping road. If passers-by looked inside it, carpenter Ye Hongjin would raise his head, but then bury it again to continue planing the wood on his hands.

59-year-old Ye is the owner of the shop and the only remaining carpenter in Shantou that could make nice wooden barrels by hand. He followed his father to learn how to make wooden furniture when he was 12.

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This is Life in Shantou - Create Art out of Rice

Fairy figurines, marinated geese, frolic goldfish were placed on a table in Huang Jinqi’s workshop. They were all made of rice. Huang, the only rice statue craftsman in Shantou, gave life to the statues and carried on a unique folk craft in China.  

The history of making rice statue dated back to more than a thousand years ago, the Song Dynasty, originated in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province. Huang’s grandfather learned the craft by himself a century ago and turned it into a prosperous business.

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