The Teochew Store Blog / online community

In 1995, the Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) and Fujian TV of China co-produced the television drama series The Teochew Family 《潮州家族》. This critically acclaimed show is now available to watch in full for free on YouTube on this playlist. 

In case you have not already heard, a Teochew-language film has been making waves in China in recent weeks, reportedly surpassing the 100 million yuan mark at the local box office. Here, we take a brief look at Dear You — Chinese title 給阿嬤的情書 (literally, “A Love Letter to Ah Ma”) — while reflecting on those at the heart of it: mothers, the pillars of our families.

On this very day, we wish all our mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.

We launched this initiative with great optimism. Our submission period has now closed, and while we did not receive contest entries this time, we are deeply grateful for the encouragement, shares, conversations, and support from the community throughout this journey.

我们怀着满满的期待发起了这项比赛。如今投稿阶段已正式结束。虽然本次活动未收到参赛作品，但我们由衷感谢社群一路以来给予的鼓励、转发、真诚交流与支持。

Meaningful cultural projects often take time to grow. Our recent discovery of Ah Ma’s Birthday (阿嫲生日), a nursery rhyme now gaining popularity in kindergartens in Teochew, China, reminds us that our community is indeed actively searching for a birthday song to call our own.

文化的扎根，往往需要时间的滋养。正如我们近期留意到、正在潮汕地区幼儿园传唱的童谣《阿嫲生日》——它也提醒我们，潮州人始终在寻找一首属于自己的、能够代代传唱的生日歌。 

The Teochew Store will continue to support and share Teochew language and music. If you have ideas, songs, or inspirations, we would still love to hear from you. ❤️

潮舗将继续支持与推广潮州方言与音乐文化。若你有任何想法、歌曲或灵感，欢迎随时与我们分享，我们始终愿意倾听与推动。 ❤️

Only 3 days to go before submission for Our Teochew Birthday Song contest closes.
距离《我们的潮语生日歌》创作比赛投稿截止只剩三天！

Still in need of inspiration? Here's a Teochew nursery rhyme that is kids in Teochew, China are learning in pre-school:
灵感还在路上？🎵 这首潮汕幼儿园传唱的童谣，或许能带来灵光一闪。

Submit your entry now. 
立即提交您的作品吧！

冬節 ,食圓大一歲 Dang Zoih , Ziah I Dua Zeg Hue

Winter Solstice, “eat the dumpling balls, and you will be one year older.”

By Teochew tradition, we are all older by a year today. 

依潮州传统，今日我们皆添一岁。

How wonderful would it be to have our own Teochew birthday song to sing?

若有一首属于自己的潮州话生日歌同庆，该是何等美妙？

Stay tuned 敬请期待后续……😜

For half a century, Sin Ee Lye Heng Teochew Opera Troupe (Iron-Rod Puppet Troupe) has dedicated itself to preserving and evolving Teochew street opera. It is the last and only remaining Teochew iron rod puppet troupe in Singapore.

In an interview with The Teochew Store, Christine Ang, the third-generation successor of Sin Ee Lye Heng, shares how her family has carried on the troupe's legacy with love across three generations.

Xiangzi Bridge 湘子橋 (Teochew: Siang-zi kie), the grand old bridge of Teochew, was first built in 1170 during the Song dynasty. Ingeniously designed with a movable central section of boats to allow river traffic on the magnificent Han River 韩江, it’s the world’s oldest bascule bridge.

A masterful display of puppetry, live music and opera singing by Sin Ee Lye Heng Puppet Troupe 新加坡新怡梨興潮剧团（铁枝木偶剧团), which thoroughly entertained and mesmerised a healthy crowd of children and adults at the ACM (Asian Civilisations Museum).

The last remaining performers of the unique Teochew metal-rod puppetry in Singapore, Sin Ee Lye Heng keeps alive a performing art that has been part of the country’s heritage for at least a century. Hope our Teochew community will support them!

We don't mention this enough. The Teochew Store has our own YouTube channel (with 10,000 fans now!), with a number of curated playlists with videos for Teochew language lessons, trendy music, films, documentary, culture, opera and children too!

Youtube.com/@theteochewstore

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by 潮铺 (@theteochewstore)

We thanks Ethos Diary, an inspiring student-led project from Singapore, for this interview with our The Teochew Store co-founder, Jason, as he explains what are the three layers of the Teochew language.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ethos' Diary ☼ (@ethosdiary_)

We thanks Ethos Diary, an inspiring student-led project from Singapore, for this interview with our The Teochew Store co-founder, Jason.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ethos' Diary ☼ (@ethosdiary_)

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

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”.

Mr Terence Tan was a Teochew collector from Singapore and an accomplished researcher of Teochew modern history. The mere mention of his name draws praise from people with a keen interest in Teochew cultural history. He collected and organised extensive volumes of documents, music records, and old photographs related to Teochew. He also edited a book titled Memories of Old Swatow and enthusiastically supported other researchers in publishing their work, including articles, books, and magazines. His contributions to the research and dissemination of Teochew cultural history were immense. 

Even until the last days of his life in 2021, Terence was busy organising the materials he had on his computer to share with friends in various countries. In the blink of an eye, we approach the third anniversary of Terence’s passing. The Teochew Store reached out to his family and close friends, collecting documentary materials to revisit his acquaintance and contributions to Teochew cultural history through different perspectives.

 陈传忠先生是新加坡潮籍收藏家、也是研究潮州近代史的资深学者。只要一提起他，许多关注潮州文史的人士就肃然起敬，赞不绝口。他收藏整理了大量与潮州相关的文献、唱片及老照片，编著出版了《汕头旧影》一书，并热心协助其他研究人士出版文章、书籍和杂志，对潮州文史的研究和传播做出了卓越的贡献。

2021年，在陈传忠生命中的最后几天，他将多年收藏并整理的电子版文史资料毫不保留地分享给各地的同行。转眼，陈传忠先生逝世即将满三周年。潮舗特别连线了他的家人及生前好友，并收集了一些文献资料，希望能从不同角度拼凑、还原他与潮州文史的渊源和贡献。

2024 is here. Here is a look back to the top 10 selling items and the top ten most downloaded free items on The Teochew Store in 2023:

2023年【潮舗10大畅销商品】和【潮舗10大最受欢迎免费电子书】出炉啦！

The Forest of Miss Tang (陳小姐的森林) is a 40-minute Teochew language animation film produced in France. It tells the story of a Teochew family over six generations in Swatow, China, asking the question, to leave or to stay? The Forest of Miss Tang is the first Teochew language film to be produced in the West. It was broadcast on ARTE channel in Europe on 10 June 2023 and it has since been screened in a number of film festivals around the world.

The Teochew Store managed to speak with the film's director Denis Do, a Paris-born Teochew, to find out more about his feelings towards the Teochew identity and the creation of his film.

《陳小姐的森林》是一部在法国制作的潮语动画电影，它讲述了从十九世纪至今，一个汕头家庭绵延六代人的故事。它抛出了一个问题：“在社会剧烈变迁的背景下，我们是离开还是继续留在自己的家乡？”这部时长40分钟的动画电影已于2023年6月10日在ARTE（德法公共电视台）首映，这是潮语电影首次登陆欧洲。也在全球多个电影节的银幕上亮相，在各国的潮州社群中收获了不少好评和讨论。

潮舗特别连线本片的导演杜来顺（Denis Do），一位法国巴黎出生并成长的潮州青年,聊聊他对潮州人身份认同的经过，并运用于电影创作的过程。

Teochew Gasig  (潮州教室) is an Instagram and Facebook platform that teaches and explains daily Teochew words and phrases in English, Indonesian and Mandarin. Since its inception in 2021, it has built a strong following among young Teochews from many countries.

The founder of Teochew Gasig is Vivian Lee, who lives on Batam Island. What made this member of Generation Z want to promote our ageless and charming Teochew language to other youngsters on social media? Recently The Teochew Store has had the privilege to chat with Vivian to find out about her journey in running Teochew GaSig.

潮州教室（Teochew GaSig ）是一个用英语、印尼语及华语来教授及解释日常潮州词语及短语的Instagram、Facebook账号。自2021年创办至今，深受各国年轻潮州人的欢迎。

居住在印尼巴淡岛的李佳纹小姐是潮州教室的创办人。究竟是什么原因让作为Z世代的她，开始在社交媒体向年轻人推广潮州话这门历史悠久、别具魅力的语言？近日，潮舖The Teochew Store特别连线佳纹，请她与我们分享创办“潮州教室”的心路历程。

Lim Ngian Tiong, Nigel, is a veteran Teochew language radio newscaster and teacher in Singapore. He has been actively spreading Teochew language and culture through the radio, opera stage and classroom for half a century.

Coincidently 2023 marks Lim Ngian Tiong’s 50th anniversary as a Teochew language radio newscaster and his 20th year as a language teacher. Lim Ngian Tiong has also served as language instructor and event host for the annual "Lai Bia Teochew Ue" (來拼潮州話) quiz competition for Teochew language enthusiasts in Singapore since 2020.

The Teochew Store had the pleasure of speaking with Lim Ngian Tiong recently to learn about his journey in promoting Teochew language and culture, and to pick up some tips for young people interested in learning to speak Teochew.

Wild Teochew, the first ever nature-documentary on wildlife in the Teochew region was officially released in the Teochew language recently. Deng Cueng (丁銓), who hails from Teochew, China, is the documentary’s director, as well as the editor of the photographic collection Historical Photos of Teochew. The Teochew Store had the pleasure of interviewing Deng Cueng to learn about his enthusiasm in promoting the nature and culture of his homeplace and the gains he has received from it.