The Teochew Store Blog

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。

Xu Xuanguan and Yang Lianguan were the captain and vice-captain of a Chinese junk that sailed from Siam for Japan in June 1693. However, adverse winds at sea forced them to divert to Teochew prefecture, where they spent the winter. They finally reached Nagasaki port a year after their original departure and gave testimony to a secret that even the Emperor of China was kept hidden from.

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. 

2023年10月7日，潮舗有幸在新加坡知名中文书店友谊书斋开办《潮州话，好好玩》互动体验课活动。《我是潮州囝——精选一百二十潮语词语》多媒体早教图卡的潮语配音员玟瑛在现场通过互动游戏，教小朋友一些简单的潮州家庭称呼和情感词汇，在学习中了解潮州的知识和文化。

Have you ever noticed that our Teochew numbers 1 to 10 sound different, but yet somewhat similar, to the numbers in Cantonese? 

What's the story behind? Let's find out!

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。

A Teochew language short film about a Teochew who left for Siam, returning home after many years.

本作品围绕过番习俗，以艺术拍摄手法和原创动画制作形式表达潮州人在盛行出国谋生的“过番”年代，“番客”与家人之间的离别相思之情。

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.

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.

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

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.

History has a funny old way of repeating itself.

Chen Yaozuo (陳堯佐) was a prime minister and grand tutor of the crown prince of the Song dynasty (960–1279) in the 11th century. Coming from a family of officials, he was a rising star at the start of his career, until he bravely, or some might say foolishly, answered a call of Emperor Zhenzong for open criticisms by submitting a memorial that spelt out the ills of the times, including matters that no one else dared to speak about. As a result, Chen Yaozuo was banished and demoted to become an assistant prefect in the Teochew prefecture. This happened in 998, almost 180 years after Han Yu of the Tang dynasty suffered a similar fate.

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

Have you ever wondered how did our forefathers live 100 years ago, 200 years ago, or even 1,000 years ago?

Our ancestors were a lot of things. Merchants, traders, seafarers, fishermen, agriculturalists, tea connoisseurs, culinary experts, artisans, builders, artists, musicians, poets, etc. But somehow there was not a historian among them. They spent their lives and energies in pursuit of happiness in many ways that today endow us with a rich cultural heritage and identity. Yet, it did not occur to them to document themselves or the world they lived in.

Fortunately, the Teochew region had over the centuries its fair share of visitors, of whom a few were both keen observers and skilled writers.

We begin a new series of articles telling the history and people of Teochew through the eyes of these men and women, with Han Yu (韓愈), a literary genius from the Tang dynasty, who came to Teochew more than 1000 years ago and not only escaped death here, but also discovered here one of the life's greatest joys. 

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

Product and shipping prices on The Teochew Store (www.theteochewstore.org), currently denoted in US dollars (USD), will be changed to Singapore dollars (SGD) with effect from 1st February 2023.

Prices will be adjusted to reflect the change in store currency.

We thank you for your continued support.

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.