The Teochew Store Blog / Singapore

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.

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

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

潮州剪纸是潮州传统民间艺术之一。它展示了花果、鸟兽、人物、风景和文字图案等，具有非常浓厚的潮州文化特色。今年中秋节期间，来自中国潮安的潮州剪纸传人黄朝阳先生出席了新加坡潮安会馆举行的“花好月圆 潮安共庆中秋”活动，为来宾们展示了其精湛的剪纸艺术。“速剪”、“盲剪”等娴熟的剪艺让现场观众叹为观止。此外，黄朝阳先生还在潮安会馆开设了剪纸体验班，将潮州剪纸的历史、文化和技术毫无保留地传授给海外的学员们。

黄朝阳先生是如何与潮州剪纸结缘？跟其他地方的剪纸相比，潮州剪纸有何特色？潮舗近期连线黄朝阳先生，请他讲讲他与潮州剪纸的故事。

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

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 ❤️❤️

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。

The Teochew Store was honoured to be invited to present our experience in revitalising the Teochew language to a class of secondary three students participating in the Talent Development Programme (TDP) at Crescent Girls’ School, an esteemed secondary school in Singapore.

11月12日， “来拼潮州话啦！” 2023年第四届潮语比赛大决赛在新加坡醉花林俱乐部圆满落幕。本届比赛由醉花林俱乐部和潮州文史学会主办，以活泼有趣的方式让参赛者从中认识和了解潮州文化和古汉字，从而提升潮语知识。新加坡广播电台资深潮语新闻播音员林仰忠先生担任现场主持，著名潮语学家林伦伦教授担任线上嘉宾裁判。经过激烈的角逐，三甲最终脱颖而出：状元郑然, 榜眼夏静华，探花李庆耀。

感谢主办方的邀请，潮舗在比赛现场设展位，向来宾们展示并推介学习潮语的相关书籍，包括《新编潮州口语集释》、《呾呾潮州话》、《学呾潮州话》以及《我是潮州囝——精选一百二十潮语词语》- 多媒体早教图卡。

On 7 October 2023, The Teochew Store had the wonderful privilege of conducting "Fun with Teochew" interactive introductory language class at Singapore's leading Chinese language bookstore Maha Yu Yi.

Minying, who is the Teochew language reader for our Wa Si Teochew Kia—My First 120 Teochew Expressions multimedia flashcards, led a group of children to learn  through games family address terms and emotion expressions in Teochew, as well as knowledge about Teochew and its culture. 

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.

Here is a recipe from Singapore for making Soon Kueh using winter bamboo shoots (dang soon 冬笋)

Courtesy of Mr Tan Peng Boon.

Follow The Teochew Store on Telegram/ 欢迎订阅潮舗的Telegram频道，获得最新资讯: https://t.me/theteochewstore

Here is a recipe from Singapore for making Ku Chai (chives) Kueh.

Courtesy of Mr Tan Peng Boon.

Follow The Teochew Store on Telegram/ 欢迎订阅潮铺的Telegram频道，获得最新资讯: https://t.me/theteochewstore

Here is a recipe from Singapore for making Ko-le (Cabbage) Kueh. 

Courtesy of Mr Tan Peng Boon.

Follow The Teochew Store on Telegram/ 欢迎订阅潮铺的Telegram频道，获得最新资讯: https://t.me/theteochewstore

Here is a recipe from Singapore for making a deluxe version of our Teochew Png Kueh. Compared to png kueh commonly sold in the market, it uses quality and a generous amount of ingredients. Commentary in the video is in English.

Courtesy of Mr Tan Peng Boon.

Follow The Teochew Store on Telegram/ 欢迎订阅潮铺的Telegram频道，获得最新资讯: https://t.me/theteochewstore

Finding the proper Teochew terms to help 3-year-olds pick up a basic vocabulary in the Teochew language is surely as easy as ABC.

This was what we told ourselves when we set out to create Wa Si Teochew Kia—My First 120 Teochew Expressions Multimedia Flashcards 精选一百二十潮语词语》- 多媒体早教图卡), a set of educational flashcards with animated videos developed specially for babies and toddlers to learn their mother tongue together with their parents. 

Then, we came to the word "mother"... Read more about some of the challenging decisions we faced in conceptalising and designing The Teochew Store’s first in-house product, which we realised through the generous funding of more than 100 backers from 14 different countries on Kickstarter last year. 

We are entering the final 50 hours of our Wa Si Teochew Kia – My First 120 Teochew Expressions Kickstarter campaign. As we make our final push, do continue to help us tell more people about our project. Thank you!

To learn about this project or contribute to our crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter,  please click here.

《我是潮州囝——精选一百二十潮语词语》的众筹活动已进入最后五十小时。我们还在努力做最后冲刺。请您继续支持我们，并帮忙转发我们的项目给您身边的亲戚朋友，谢谢！

请点击这里，了解这个项目并资助我们在Kickstarter发起的筹款活动。

Parents, do you still remember the excitement of watching your newborn open his/her fingers for the first time? Or executing the first rollovers? Sitting up, standing, and walking?

父母们，你是否还记得第一次看到您的宝宝打开小手时的喜悦？或是在看到他们第一次翻身、坐、站和走路的时候呢？

All these “firsts” are swiftly achieved one after another. These are glorious days when new parents are still in a state of wonder, but the baby seems to know exactly what to do next as if he/she is pre-programmed. How many times are we led to believe our precious baby can master just about anything, and will one day become everything he/she is destined for?

这些所有的“第一次”，伴随着宝宝的成长，一个又一个迅速地出现。我们父母还在感叹这些“里程碑”的时候，我们的宝宝好像被预设默认程序一样，似乎已经知道下一步该做什么。有多少次，我们被引导着相信，我们可爱的孩子们几乎可以做任何事情，有朝一日他们会实现他们命中注定的潜能。

Then the child learns to talk...

后来，我们的宝宝开始学说话。。。