The Teochew Store Blog / travel

In 2024, Tan Wanxuan (陳婉璇), a video director and editor from Gim-zieh (金石) town in Teo-ann, shared the story of Sister Hung (芬姐) from Vĩnh Châu, Vietnam, during an exclusive interview with The Teochew Store. According to her, most of the Chinese in Vĩnh Châu are of Teochew descent, earning the town the nickname “Little Teochew”.

Sister Hung, who was born there and is now in her seventies, traces her ancestral roots to Koi Mui (溪美), Teo-yor (潮陽). It has been her lifelong wish to set foot on the soil of her ancestral hometown and see its scenery. However, for various reasons, this wish had never been fulfilled. Helping Sister Hung return to Teo-yor became one of Wanxuan's greatest wishes. This year, through the joint efforts of young Teochews in China and Vietnam, Sister Hung finally fulfilled her wish, setting foot on Teochew soil and returning to the place of her ancestral roots. The moment was truly moving and joyous.

2024年，来自潮州金石镇的视频编导与剪辑师陈婉璇，在接受潮舗 The Teochew Store 专访时，分享了越南珠洋(Vĩnh Châu)芬姐的故事。据介绍，珠洋的华人主要是潮裔，故有“小潮州”之称。在此出生的芬姐年逾七十，祖籍潮阳溪美。踏上家乡的土地、看看家乡的风光，是她毕生的心愿。然而由于种种原因，这个心愿一直未能实现。帮芬姐早日回潮阳，也成了婉璇最大的心愿之一。今年，在中国和越南两地潮州青年的共同努力下，芬姐终于如愿踏上潮州的土地，回到了自己的祖籍地。这一幕着实让人感动和欣喜。

Han Kang 韓江, the Han River, is the principal river of the Teochew region.

The river was originally called Ngag Koi 鱷溪, the Crocodile River. It was later renamed after the Tang dynasty imperial official, Han Yu (韓愈), who according to legends performed a ritual that expelled the reptilian beasts and paved the way for the development of agriculture on the river’s banks and the early prosperity of Teochew. 

From its source in Fujian’s Ting River, Han Kang flows through the districts of Tuapou 大埔 (Dapu), Teo-an 潮安 (Chao'an) and Thenghai 澄海 (Chenghai), before meeting the South China Sea. Its waters nourished not only the historical Teochew 潮州 (Chaozhou) Prefectural City, but also its ports that served as the Teochew people’s gateways to Southeast Asia from the 18th to 20th centuries, Ampou 庵埠 (Anbu), Changlim 樟林 (Zhanglin) and Swatow 汕頭.

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.

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.

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”.

Three words that strike fear in every Teochew child: pah ka-ceng 拍尻倉!

Did you know that this was once also a punishment meted out to adults in China? A Jesuit Father, Adriano de las Cortes, learned this shuddering fact, and more, when a shipwreck made him an accidental visitor to the Teochew region 400 years ago.

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.

近期，首部讲述潮州野生世界的自然纪录片《野性潮州》潮语版正式上映。来自中国潮州的丁铨是这部纪录片的导演，也是影集《旧影潮州》的编著者。潮舖特别连线丁铨先生，请他与我们分享他在推广家乡自然及人文文化中的热忱和收获。

A thousand years ago our ancestors in Teochew lived together with giants. Giants that weighed four tons, neared three metres in height, had two floppy ears, a trunk and a mammoth appetite.

An entry in the History of Song (宋史), dated 1171, reported that farmers in the Teochew prefecture had to set up pit traps in their fields after hundreds of wild elephants ate their crops. The cause of the conflict was quite imaginably the expansion of human settlements and agricultural activities into the animals’ habitats and stomping grounds. However, the elephants did not withdraw into the forests as a result. Instead, they organised themselves into herds and waited on the roads to ambush any passing cart or horse, which they encircled until the humans collected grain to feed them. To live with nature rather than conquer it was a wisdom our forefathers understood well.

Wild Teochew 《野性潮州》 is the first video produced on the wildlife in the Teochew region. It is a collection of footage produced by a group of local nature lovers over the course of 3 years.

This amazing documentary was nominated for the Best Production award (最佳作品) in the 3rd China Wildlife Image and Video Competition in 2022 (2022第三届野生生物影像年赛) hosted by Chinese National Geography and organized by DDFW and Chinese National Geography Book Company. 

Wild Teochew can now be watched in Teochew-language commentary provided by its director Deng Cueng 丁铨 (author of Historical Photos of Teochew 旧影潮州), accompanied by Chinese and English language subtitles.

The Teochew people are not the only ones who live in the Teochew region. Watch Wild Teochew 《野性潮州》, an extraordinary documentary on wildlife in Teochew's mountains, rivers, city, villages and sea that is directed by Deng Cueng 丁铨 (author of Historical Photos of Teochew 旧影潮州) and collects footages produced by a group of local nature lovers over the course of 3 years.

Thailand has the largest Teochew diaspora in the world, with the size of the community estimated at 5 million in the mid-1990s. This documentary from 1997 by Shantou Television gives a glimpse of the lives of the Teochews in Thailand. (Audio in Mandarin, with some interviews in Teochew).

海外潮州人在泰国居多。根据上世纪90年代的统计，泰国的潮州社群约有五百万人。想了解潮州人在泰国过去的生活情况，请观看汕头电视台1997年制作的纪录片《佛國潮踪》。

The following 11 maps of the Teochew region and its counties are taken from the covers from the Volume Four issues of Teochew Home News (《潮州鄉訊》) magazine that were published between February and August 1949.

Map of all counties in Teochew 潮州各縣圖

Meet Mr Tan Peng Boon, a 78-year-old grandfather in Singapore. He is a Teochew and nine years ago he created a website with the goal of enabling English-speakers to pick up the Teochew language. Remarkably, the retiree took upon himself to learn how to build a website in order to realise this.

The Teochew Store recently spoke with Mr Tan to find out the story behind his passion to keep alive his Teochew heritage and his “Teochew for English Speakers” website.

“Teochew for English Speakers” can be accessed from http://gateways.sg/~TeochewEnglish/index.asp.

Video of Mr. Tan's grandsons doing a lively recitation of Teochew nursery rhyme “A Pear Tree on the Hilltop”):

After its conquest by the Han dynasty in 111 BCE, the Teochew region was incorporated into the map of imperial China for the first time as a county named Gek Yor (variant: Kityang, Kityall) (揭陽, in Mandarin: Jieyang). The origin of today's Gek Yor area is traceable to a county of the same name created in 1140, which along with Hai Yor (now Teo Ann) and Teo Yor formed the “Three Yor" (三陽) of the Song dynasty that is the core of the Teochew homeland. 

Teo Yor (variant: Teoyeo, Tioyio, Teoyall) (潮陽, in Mandarin: Chaoyang), was one of historical Teochew prefecture's eight counties and its most populous. Originally formed in 413 as part of the Ngee Ann Commandery (義安郡), it is now represented by the Teo Yor and Teo Nam (潮南, Chao'nan) districts in the Swatow (汕頭, Shantou) prefectural-level city.  

A documentary retelling the 400-year history of the Teochew Opera - the finest representation of Teochew performing arts. This production is worthwhile watching not only because of its subject, but also because it is the fruit of the personal efforts of a young Teochew, Tan Tek Meng 陳迪鳴 to keep alive a tradition close to the heart of himself and his people.