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”.
External liaison and producer of “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas”: Tan Wanxuan
The Teochew Store (TTS): Can you let us in on how did you get involved with “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas”, as the external liaison and producer of this documentary?
Tan Wanxuan (TWX): I grew up in Gim-zieh (金石) town in Teo-ann. I am accustomed to the local culture, food and traditional activities. It wasn’t until I went to university in the Pearl River Delta that I realised living amongst high-rise buildings in big cities is not what I want in life. Looking back at my hometown Teo-ann, where the values, culture and customs of our forefathers are still preserved, I felt extremely proud and began to pay attention to information about the Teochew area. I majored in broadcast and television studies. While at university, I filmed a documentary about the custom of parading deities Teochew, titled “Lao-jiag” (勞熱, “festivity”). It garnered 120,000 views on the Internet, which strengthened my desire to spread the Teochew culture.
My involvement in this project happened purely by chance. About six years ago, Teh Kai-tiu (鄭凱濤), who is from Gekyor (揭陽), opened a Teochew Cultural Centre in Shenzhen to display exhibits that reflect different aspects of Teochew culture. I was thrilled to learn about it and left a message on his official WeChat account, expressing that I care about and love the Teochew culture, have filmed a documentary, and was pondering about the ways to propagate Teochew culture through existing communication channels. Teh Kai-tiu has a friend from Teoyor (潮陽), Na Hongcung (Lan Hongchun, 藍鴻春), who is the director of two recent popular Teochew-language movies, Proud of Me (爸，我一定行) and Back to Love (帶你去見我媽). He saw my message on WeChat and asked Teh Kai-tiu for my contact information. In 2019, Na Hongcung was about to shoot the documentary “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas”, of which he is the director. I received an invitation to join the project, and so I left my original job.
TTS: The short videos of “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” have received wide praise on social media. What caused you to make and share them?
TWX: Filming this documentary has been full of twists and turns. “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” was officially launched in March 2019. At the start, our team spent five months researching the countries in Southeast Asia where there are sizeable Teochew communities, including Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The filming locations and interview subjects were finalised at the end of 2019. I went to Vietnam to film in January 2020. Then, not long after returning from Vietnam, the COVID-19 pandemic situation broke out and the “pause” button was pressed.
Unable to travel abroad, we continued filming in China in the following months. Subsequently, the filming of Back to Love, which Director Na was directing, began in July 2020, and the “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” project was put on hold. At his suggestion, I started managing an official account for “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” on Douyin. Using the materials I had on hand, I edited and published some short videos introducing overseas Teochew people to publicise the project. Starting something is always difficult, and few people watched the videos initially. Nonetheless, I persevered and kept adding new videos. Finally, one video, “Have you ever seen an Indian speak Teochew?”, went viral. Thereafter, more and more people started following the account. Managing the account taught me that having content that is truthful and sincere will bring more and more subscribers. The followers of the “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” Douyin account has now surpassed 100,000.
Could you share the purpose and significance of this documentary for the Teochew people?
TWX: Making this documentary has two objectives. First, we hope to produce a documentary on food similar to A Bite of China (舌尖上的中國), using food as a medium to present the development and current situation of Teochew culinary around the world. Food evolves with the migration of people. Teochew cuisine has changed for the better in the hands of the countless thousands of Teochew migrants, as it absorbs unique local elements. Second, we hope to depict through the comfort of food, the Teochew people’s cultural customs and expressions of longing for home, so that the audience can learn about our daring and adventurous spirit through the colours, aroma and taste. These two points are the core cultural values of this documentary.
Even though there is now an explosion of short videos, the “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” short videos have achieved high viewerships on various social media platforms. Perhaps it is because we visited many places and created from our interview details and highlights a window for Teochews to observe other Teochews scattered around the world. Especially the younger generation, they are given the opportunity to watch their “gaginang” (“own people”) from different countries, cities or villages, speaking Teochew in different accents. This helps not only to broaden their horizon but also deepen their Teochew identity. I believe “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” is more than the flavours of Teochew food. It is also about the “flavours” of the lives of Teochew people. It deserves to be savoured by a wider audience.
TTS: Which countries have you visited so far for this documentary? Has any person, or any story, left an enduring impression on you?
TWX: This project restarted in February 2023. We have to redo and update our research all over again. Without deviating from our objectives, we made certain adjustments to content and themes. The documentary will be divided into six episodes, based on countries. They will record the stories of Teochew cuisine and people in Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, France and the US.
For research and film, I visited seven countries. In every country, I discovered people and stories that left me with deep impressions. However, the one that moved me most is Sister Hung (芬姐), who was born in Vĩnh Châu (珠洋) in Vietnam. Sister Hung’s ancestry is from Teoyor. She is over 70 years old, fluent in Mandarin and Teochew, and also hums Teochew opera. I got to know Sister Hung by chance at a Chinese school during my second visit to Vĩnh Châu and we exchanged telephone numbers. Even after the suspension of our filming because of the pandemic situation, I continued to receive Sister Hung’s long-distance calls from time to time. Each time, she would simply say, “How are you, Miss Tan? Please convey my greetings to your team… I wish you good health and peace.” They were heartwarming.
Sister Hung has a lifelong wish to visit her ancestral hometown to see the place. For this, she applied for a passport, even though she lived in a remote coastal location in Vietnam. Sister Hung’s income is meagre, and she has no children. After I shared Sister Hung’s story on social media, many enthusiastic people offered to pay for her air tickets and travel expenses. However, her applications for visa and other paperwork for travel have faced many delays because of requirements for guarantors, proof of wealth and other documents. Moreover, the younger relatives of Sister Hung are preoccupied with work and family and are unable to accompany her to China. Helping Sister Hung return to Teoyor as soon as possible has become one of my biggest wishes.
TTS: What were your impressions of overseas Teochew people before you joined this project? Do you see them differently now? If so, which of your views has changed?
TWX: My impressions of overseas Teochew people were very vague. I only knew their ancestors chose to move abroad to seek a better life. Since taking part in this project, I have collected a lot of information about overseas Teochew people, cuisine and culture, and interacted with Teochew people and communities around the world through Facebook and other social media. It is as if I discovered a whole new world.
“Why do they call themselves Teochew (Chaozhou 潮州) people?” “Why are some people so repulsive to the term Teoswa (Chaoshan 潮汕)?” Since gaining new understandings, I also found the answers to these two questions. In the past, I understood Chaozhou solely as a city. Historically, the Chaozhou Prefecture (潮州府) encompassed eight counties that form the Teochew region (Teo-ann, Gekyor, Thenghai 澄海, Teoyor, Pholeng 普寧, Huilai 惠來, Jaopeng 饒平 and Hongsun 豐順). Hence, the early migrants called themselves Teochew people, and this has been passed down from generation to generation. Even though the Teochew area is now called differently in China (as Teoswa) and abroad (Teochew), our similar spoken language and culture continue to bind us closely. Malaysia, for example, was once a faraway country to me. We spent 44 days travelling across the country and interacted with many local Teochews. Malaysia is now, to me, a familiar country.
During the Chinese New Year this year, I went to Paris, France, for interviews. I found the Teochew people there different from those in Southeast Asia. Most of them are immigrants and their descendants from Cambodia and Vietnam. Someone once referred to them as the most tragic migrant group. Their ancestors left Teochew, China because of food shortages, wars and other reasons, and went to Southeast Asia in search of a peaceful life. Little could they foresee, that Cambodia and Vietnam would also be engulfed by upheaval in the 1970s. The family fortunes they had worked so hard to build were ruined. Many stories of the destruction of families, and the separation of husbands, wives and children, unfolded on their escape journeys. The surviving Teochews depended on determination and, more importantly, luck. Finding themselves in a foreign land without knowledge of its language barriers and no one to rely on, the Teochews who ended up in the West had to start from the bottom of society and overcome many struggles to reach their present status today.
“Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” production crew visiting Amicale des Teochew en France (Teochew Association in France)
What surprised me was that the Teochews in France continue to speak fluent Teochew and preserve the Teochew diet and traditional customs, despite being thousands of miles away from their ancestral homeland. One of our interviewees was Denis Do, who directed the Teochew language animation film The Forest of Miss Tang. He is also the founder of the association Les Jeunes Teochew de France (Young Teochews of France). We got acquainted online, and I first interviewed him when he was in Swatow to visit his relatives at the end of 2023. He has a younger brother who is a chef, and his family provided us with plenty of valuable materials for our documentary in Paris. As a young French Teochew, he is passionate about the Teochew language and Teochew cultural traditions, and this touched me. I heard before going to France that it has refugees from many countries. Public security is lacking and thieves are rampant. However, the Teochews in France offered hospitality and company that reflected the warmth and energy of gaginang, and we felt safe and assured all the way.
While producing “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” over the past years, I conceived a dream to renovate an old house at home to welcome Teochew guests from the four corners of the world. With my family’s help, I realised this dream in January this year. Because the yard has a big longan tree, we named it, “House under the Longan Tree”. Since April this year, we have received Teochew friends from Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and the US in the house to taste tea and chat, as I interviewed them. I turned their stories into videos to share them online with more people. For me, this is very meaningful.
The beautifully renovated “House under the Longan Tree”
TTS: When is “Flavours of Teochew from the Four Seas” expected to be released?
TWX: Our filming was suspended for three years due to the pandemic situation. The initial investors withdrew part of the investments for the project. Our director had to raise funds from other avenues to support the project’s operation. In the interview process, we also needed to overcome multiple challenges such as visas, language, and personal safety overseas (many members of the team are women). We stumbled along but did not give up. The documentary is in its final stage, filming in the last country, the US, in July. It is likely to be released early next year.
TTS: Besides the documentary, what other projects does your team have in line?
TWX: Our company is currently laying the ground for our third Teochew language film, “A Love Letter to Grandma” (給阿嫲的情書, unofficial English translation). The movie will be filmed in Thailand, and the casting for actors has begun. Shooting is expected to begin in October this year. When I posted the news that the film was about to commence filming on my personal social media, I received many online responses. Many young people among them told me they hope to take part in the filming of this movie and look forward to its release. The social media era has given us the convenience of uniting Teochew people from different places, and it has also injected more vitality and hope into our future projects.
Follow Tan Wanxuan on Facebook and Instagram：
https://www.facebook.com/wanxuan.chen.980
https://www.instagram.com/asuang1994/
~o0o~
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