The Teochew Store Blog

Teochew Sentimental Song: "Dream of Cung Hiang" 潮州-情感歌曲: 《春香夢》

A delightful modern remake of the classic Teochew opera duet "Love Song" 《愛歌》 sang by the characters Mang Leng (夢龍) and Cung Hiang (春香)
Performer 演唱: 李緒傑
Lyrics 作詞:口袋易百
Music 作曲:李緒傑
(Click for full lyrics)
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Heart-warming Swatow in a Cold Winter 汕頭街頭寒冬送暖

China is experiencing a colder than usual winter this year. Watch what happens when a tired street cleaner goes round different shops in Swatow to ask for refill of hot water to keep himself warm...

Video produced by 汕頭生活 STLives
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Teochew Short Film 潮语微电影: Love in Teoswa 《缘来潮汕》

A story about a girl from Singapore who goes Swatow to learn to sing Teochew opera. Dialogues in Teochew and Mandarin language. A students' production by 汕頭職業技術學院 (Shantou Technical Vocational College).
Listen out also for a number of original Teochew songs!
 
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Teochew song (with lyrics) 潮語歌曲: Never Fail to Heed the Words of the Old 《老人呾話得要聽》

Another New Year has begun!  Time for resolutions (and re-solutions), but here's a timely reminder: the worth of the wisdom from our elders never diminishes.

 

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Conversational Teochew In A Month - Anki Flashcards (with Audio & Traditional Chinese text)

Two months ago, The Teochew Store made our popular "Conversational Teochew In A Month" (潮州話一月通) text-cum-audio self-learning course available to all to download for FREE.  To help learners revise and have a structured means for further practice, a friend and supporter of our website, as well as keen advocate for the revival of southern Chinese languages, S.L., has created and generously volunteered to share two decks of Anki flashcards that cover the vocabulary terms and phrases/sentences in "Conversational Teochew In A Month". These flashcards may be used on computers as well as Android/iOs mobile devices.

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Teochew Short Film 潮語微電影: A Short Summer Evening Dream (Teochew Puppetry) 蟬聲幾度

A warm summer evening, and the puppets came alive!

 

編劇: 李銳通
木偶導演: 陳培森

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Hong Kong Teochew Festival 2017

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Teochew Documentary: Seeing Teochew 看見潮州

A time-lapse video of the historical Teochew prefectural city, a city more than 1,600 years old.

 

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Colloquial Teochew 《潮州口语》- A Book for Learning Teochew Phrases

This week The Teochew Store reviews Colloquial Teochew, a book that is the result of four years of dedicated work by a Singaporean Teochew. It compiles more than 6,000 common Teochew sayings and proverbs, and even features 37 Teochew expressions for different ways to cook!

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The Teochew Store is turning THREE ... & we are giving away our hottest selling product

In a month's time The Teochew Store will turn three. We remain a humble set-up, but at the same time just as committed as in the beginning to our mission in Restoring Community to Our People, Bridging Teochew Culture to the World.

In line with our conviction that every Teochew  should be given fullest opportunity and encouragement to be connected with the language, values and culture of our forefathers, we have decided to make available for FREE our store's hottest selling product "Conversational Teochew In A Month", as well as its Chinese versions "潮州话一月通 (简体字版)" and "潮州話一月通 (繁體字版)".

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Teochew Dictionary on Your Mobile Phone Part 2: 潮州音字典

Two weeks ago we looked at 潮汕字典, a mobile app that allows us to check the Teochew pronunciations of written Chinese characters just about wherever we are. This time round we review 潮州音字典 ("Teochew-sound dictionary"), an app with similar function and a whole lot more.
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Teochew Dictionary on Your Mobile Phone Part 1: 潮汕字典

This week the Teochew Store reviews 潮汕字典 is a mobile app described by its creators as a "must-have tool" for every gagi-nang. The app primarily allows users to find out the Teochew pronunciations of written Chinese characters. 
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99 Teochew Expressions in Their Actual Chinese Characters - Difference Between Our Language & Mandarin

Teochew, like Cantonese and Hokkien, has a literary form that traces to at least the 10th century during the Tang dynasty, whereas Mandarin evolved in northern China only after the 13th century.

Here is a list of 99 Teochew expressions in their actual Chinese characters, as opposed to Mandarin ones that they are commonly confused with.

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Malay loanwords in Teochew language

Spoken Teochew is both ancient and at the same time evolving, just like any other "live" languages. The Teochews settled in the Malay-speaking world covering Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia have absorbed not a small number of native expressions into their daily vocabulary. Here we present a list of over 50 expressions.

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List of Teochew loanwords in Thai language

Thailand, also known in the past as Siam, was the first stop of the Teochew during a series of migratory waves from the 18th to 20th century. Bangkok today has by far the largest Teochew community anywhere outside China.

Here we have a list of 181 Teochew loanwords found in the Thai language.

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Teochew In English - A Collection of Teochew Language YouTube Videos with English Subtitles

Ever wished that you can watch videos with conversations spoken in fluent Teochew language and actually understand what it means? For many of us born and bred overseas this has been a long-held dream. Thanks to the enthusiasm of a fellow Teochew, this is now possible!
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How to Address Your Relatives in Teochew - Ten Basic Rules

The social life of a Teochew centres around his/her extended family. This is something many of us living in big modern cities can be unused to.

One of our greatest fears is to be "ambushed" by a group of uncles or aunts whom we have not seen for a while, and being caught tongue-tied not remembering how to address them. But fret not. Getting the correct address for almost any relative can be real simple (yes!!!), if we keep by these ten basic rules....

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Teochew song 潮語歌曲: The Cares of a Loving Mother 慈母個牽掛

An original Teochew song dedicated to all Mothers.
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The Teochew Woman - Her Beauty & Strengths

By anecdotal accounts Teochew women are highly desired in China as ideal marriage partners. They are reputed for being gentle in character, imbued with strong family values and capable in managing the household. This is statistically supported by divorce rate of around 2 percent in Swatow in recent years, which is lower than most parts of the country and certainly a mere fraction of figures in Western societies. But what shapes the fine Teochew woman? Insights into letters written over a half a century ago by the Teochew husbands working abroad to home are instructive.

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Teochew Music: “Song for the Drunk" 潮語歌曲: 《醉歌》

A song to go with your beers!

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Teochew Documentary: War-time Japanese Military Film on Invasion of Swatow 日本隨軍記者拍攝的汕頭淪陷視頻

A film shot by the Japanese military to document their invasion of Swatow in June 1939. The capture of Swatow, at that time the third busiest port in China after Shanghai and Guangzhou, was deemed strategically important by the Japanese to isolate the rest of Guangdong province and to sever trade between China and Southeast Asia.
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A Brief Introduction to Tradition Teochew Music

Music expresses the soul of a people. Since the Song dynasty (960-1279), the Teochew people have had our own music tradition that is distinct from other  Chinese regional music. Shaped by Teochew folk sensibilities, it is characterised by an intense concern with melodic variation. There are seven main genres of traditional Teochew music...

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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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Learn Teochew - A YouTube Channel Created for English and Vietnamese Speakers

The Teochew Store gets behind the scenes to find out about the production of Learn Teochew, a YouTube channel for English and Vietnamese speakers to pick up basic conversational Teochew.
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Watch TV or listen to radio from Teochew on your smartphone? - Now You Can (Part 2)

Continuing from our earlier introduction of the 汕头橄榄台 app by Shantou Radio and Television Station (STRTV), we review this week the 红桃粿 app byChaozhou Broadcast Television (CZBTV, 潮州广播电视台).
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Watch TV or listen to radio from Teochew on your smartphone? - Now You Can (Part 1)

汕头橄榄台  is an app produced by the Shantou Radio and Television Station (STRTV, 汕头市广播电视台). It serves as a platform to access local news on official announcements, current affairs, food and other activities. Both iOS and Android versions of this app can be downloaded for free from its official site

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Teochew Short Film 潮语微电影: Trivia concerns in a Southern City《南城小事》

A young man recently graduated from a photography course struggles between a desire to remain with his parents in a small village in Teochew or to pursue a career in Beijing. He tries to find an answer through his family and friends. This film discusses a dilemma faced by numerous young Teochews today.

时逢冬至,毕业寻工作未果的阿浩回到家乡,父亲仍对阿浩高考报读摄影专业心存芥蒂,想要在家乡开照相馆的想法遭到父亲的反对。朋友相聚也显生分。母亲的碎语唠叨,父亲的隐忍关爱,阿浩在归家与离家间惆怅迷惘。短短数日,阿浩游走故乡,每个人都在用自己的方式诠释着生活的滋味,阿浩终在浓浓的山水人情中体会到了父亲多年来默默无闻的甘苦。离家那日,父亲送阿浩去车站,阿浩望着父亲渐渐远去的背影,思绪再次萦绕心头…

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Full list of Towns & Villages in Hui Lai county (circa 1958) 惠來縣都村列表

Hui Lai (variant: Huilai, Hweilai, Hwelie) (惠來, in Mandarin: Huilai) was one of historical Teochew prefecture's eight counties. It was formed as a county in 1524 after being partitioned from Teo Yor (潮陽). Hui Lai is now administered as a county under Gek Yor (揭陽) prefectural city.

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Full list of Towns & Villages in Jao Peng county (circa 1958) 饒平縣都村列表

Jao Peng (variant: Jaopeng, Jaopheng, Joepen) (饒平, in Mandarin: Raoping) is the easternmost of the Teochew region's eight historical counties. Partitioned from Hai Yor county in 1476, Jao Peng was an important pottery manufacturing base in the Ming dynasty and had a prosperous port at Tsia Lim (柘林). It is now a district under Chaozhou (潮州) prefectural city.

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Full list of Towns & Villages in Hong Sung county (circa 1958) 豐順縣都村列表

Hong Sung (variant: Hongsun) (豐順, in Mandarin: Fengshun), was one of historical Teochew prefecture's eight counties. It was formed during the Qing dynasty in 1738 and  is connected to the Teochew prefectural city by an upper branch of the Hang-kang (韓江) river. Hong Sung remained part of the Teochew region, until it was carved out and placed under Meizhou in 1965.  Today close to one-fifth of the population in Hong Sung continue to speak Teochew.

 

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