Journey to the West: A Comedy in Teochew!

We all know about Sai Iu Gi, aka, Journey to the West with the Monkey King, Sung Ngou Kong. But have you ever watched it in Teochew? I know what you're thinking: I like the story, but its bit boring. Fear not my friends, this version is a comedy! I just saw the first clip and it's hilarious. =) Enjoy, everyone!

Funky Teochew Song from Hong Kong

September - can't believe it's September already. This post is about another group of folks  who are preserving Teochew. This time, in Hianggàng (Hong Kong)! This Teochew language class put together a fun song about Teochew identity and culture. It may be out of tune, but hey, it's the content and spirit that counts right? They did it for New Years I believe, but this song is for any time of year!

Vietnamese learning Teochew

Yes, two blog posts in one day! Check out this set of videos from Youtube user caohydinh of Vietnamese people in Vietnam learning very basic Teochew. Sounds like this is an organized group of mostly young people who are excited about learning Teochew (and getting in touch with their roots if they are TC). Lots of videos of them meeting up, eating, learning Teochew, etc., check them out on caohydinh's youtube acccount!

Kowloon Walled City

I first heard about Kowloon Walled City from a friend who gave me an awesome photo book (City of Darkness) about it. Imagine a 6.5 acre urban jungle, with buildings for days, yet no streets, no cars, only lots of little lanes, footpaths, and alleyways. You could hardly see the sun on most days because this former fort was so jam packed.

The place was something like 70-80% Teochew! Apparently lots of new poor (illegal?) immigrants from Diosua: came to eke out a living in Hong Kong and spent their days in this super dense enclave. Eventually triads, drugs, and prostitution moved in in the 70s and 80s and HK had to demolish it. It must have been a sight to behold - and really dangerous.

Nowadays, it's a big city park - next time I'm in HK, I'd love to visit.

If anyone has any other info to share, I'd love to learn more about the "City of Darkness".

Province Towns in Sua:tao

The wonderful bloggers at "My Shantou" haven't been updating lately, but going through their archives I found an interesting article about how Chinese from different provinces create little neighborhoods or districts in Shantou where the people there are predominately from a particular city or province in China. For example, there is an Anhui town in Shantou. This is quite similar to the phenomenon of Chinatowns all over the world. Local Teosua: people have trouble communicating with these province town dwellers (perhaps because of strong Mandarin accents). Read more about it here: http://myshantou.org/province-town.html

"What Teochew Say?" A New App for the iPhone

Hi blog readers - by now, you know that I'm all about Teochew things so it probably doesn't come as a surprise that I've been working on a personal project to create the world's first Teochew phrasebook/dictionary for the iPhone. We call it "What Teochew Say?" (get the pun? ha ha). I've worked on this project with my friend Khiem, and we've created a Kickstarter campaign to raise some funds and get the word out. Please consider supporting us. This is history in the making!

Check it out here:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tylim/what-teochew-say

Also check our our facebook page for "What Teochew Say?"
https://www.facebook.com/WhatTeochewSay

Joisia for your support
感谢你个支持！

Teochew Letters Home (Kiao Poi)

Kiaopoi Bhungmuetguang Website

Found this link from fellow Gaginangers Vinh and Michelle. "Qiao Pi Teochew Letters" is a project, based out of Sua:tao, dedicated to bringing back to life the stories of Teochew people living abroad who wrote back to their family members in China. The project is actually part of an entire museum (Kiaopoi Bhungmuetguang) that covers all about this time period. Apparently there are those who are fanatics about preserving the original letters of overseas Teochew. Interesting stuff!

Check out their website here

Is Teochew Useful?

Fellow Gaginang staff member JC found this gem of young Diosua: people sharing their opinions on the following question: Is speaking Teochew useful? Most of them think it is *I'll add some translations soon*. I think its just great to see young people speaking it. A lot of you may not be familiar with the accent from China, but once you listen to it for a while it becomes quite understandable. Kudos to the video maker and Youtuber Baconwalk for posting it.

Visiting Sua:tao gai Laochiku

If you ever have a chance to visit Suatao I strongly encourage you to visit the old district (Laochiku) where you'll find interesting architecture and get a glimpse of a time past. If you don't get that chance, take a look at these two videos. In the video the host interviews three awesome women who have created a handdrawn map of the old district and are helping to bring back interest in preserving the Laochiku. It looks a little gloomy, but this must be winter. =)

Note: Link will open in another window.

Still Alive! and Mang Ue Neung Hai

Yes I know it's been months (almost five) since I've last posted, but I'm still here. Just letting the Teochew media pile up so I can impress you guys ... maybe. This post has a karaoke video that is possibly original but more likely a Mandarin or perhaps event English song originally - someone please let me know in the comments. The song is mostly in Teochew, with a line or four in Mandarin, and an a cool Teochew rap too. Karaoke is good for learning to sing... ain't it? Enjoy "Mang Ue Neung Hai" which means Manga girl.

Teochew Hip-Hop: Afinger and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year - I've been slow to post since 2012 started, BUT, wanted to share two things. First a video from a live performance of Afinger, a Teochew hip-hop group. It would be so interesting to attend a concert of TC music and filled with TC people.

Also, more importantly... it's almost New Year's Time! Happy Lunar New Year to everyone - jok daige sing ni kuailak! In the meantime I'll try to look for another awesome Teochew New Year's video. =D