The Teochew Store Blog / interview

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”.

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 Forest of Miss Tang (陳小姐的森林) is a 40-minute Teochew language animation film produced in France. It tells the story of a Teochew family over six generations in Swatow, China, asking the question, to leave or to stay? The Forest of Miss Tang is the first Teochew language film to be produced in the West. It was broadcast on ARTE channel in Europe on 10 June 2023 and it has since been screened in a number of film festivals around the world.

The Teochew Store managed to speak with the film's director Denis Do, a Paris-born Teochew, to find out more about his feelings towards the Teochew identity and the creation of his film.

《陳小姐的森林》是一部在法国制作的潮语动画电影，它讲述了从十九世纪至今，一个汕头家庭绵延六代人的故事。它抛出了一个问题：“在社会剧烈变迁的背景下，我们是离开还是继续留在自己的家乡？”这部时长40分钟的动画电影已于2023年6月10日在ARTE（德法公共电视台）首映，这是潮语电影首次登陆欧洲。也在全球多个电影节的银幕上亮相，在各国的潮州社群中收获了不少好评和讨论。

潮舗特别连线本片的导演杜来顺（Denis Do），一位法国巴黎出生并成长的潮州青年,聊聊他对潮州人身份认同的经过，并运用于电影创作的过程。

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.

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。

"... so I hope that young people today who have difficulty communicating with their elder relatives will recognise that they can actively do something about it..."

The Teochew Store caught up with Brandon Seah of Learn Teochew (learn-teochew.github.io), an extensive online guide for “heritage speakers”, who have “learned some of the language from their family but who have never studied it formally, and who want to improve their understanding of the language”.

A fellow Teochew in the UK is running a blog, Learn Diosua Ue with Juyee 和如意學潮汕話, since 2013 to help English speakers learn and appreciate our mother tongue. Her name, you guessed it, is Juyee 如意.

Juyee's blog is at learnteochewwithjuyee.blogspot.com

Juyee grew up speaking English and picked up Teochew, both speaking, reading, writing only as an adult. The Teochew Store recently spoke with her to find out more about her blog and her personal experiences in becoming fluent in our language, a formidable task for many of us!

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”):