MIA in 2013

Daige ho - Various things have kept me from updating this blog, but I suppose I felt a little nostalgic for Teochew things, so here is another assemblage of videos:

First two travel videos from Thailand. The first "Spirit of Asia" a 25 minute show (pretty high production value I might add!), brings us to Sua:tao where they visit a family with Teochew-Thai folks with relatives in Sua:tao. In Thai (ซัวเถา), the tao in Sua:tao seems to be pronounced with a rising tone. There are English subtitles starting around the 5 minute mark. The second is the narrator's introduction/reflection about the history of Teochews emigrating from Sua:tao to Thailand. His Thai is quite clear! (I'm learning Thai!)





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From Singapore is  the YouTube use "TeochewGaginang" who for a while now has been producing some decent videos about basic Teochew. She speaks in English and teaches the fundamentals from greetings to countings, and colors and what not. This particular video is about being sick.


And lastly a video from China. It's actually taken from a radio program about Teochew phrases. Pretty cool stuff, if not hard to understand because they speak in fast Teochew radio voices. Hope everyone enjoys all these new videos.

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

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.

Old Swatow

Suatāo gai Lạochịku

Interior that's seen better days...

Sue Ann Tay: Check out her Shanghai Street Stories

Just found a nice little photography article on old Swatow (of course nowadays is known as Shantou) or in pengim "Sua:tāo". Singaporean photographer Sue Ann Tay is known for her work on Shanghai, but also paid a visit to this "largest city" of the Diọsua: region. I've personally been to the old quarter of Sua:tāo and I thought it had a lot of character - the mix of East and West, and just a nice change of pace from typical modern architecture that you can find throughout China nowadays. The old quarter is officially know as the 汕頭老市區 (Sua:tāo Lạochị-ku) and it is unfortunately not being maintained. Tay also visits Teochew City. I can't recommend enough that overseas Teochew folks, especially young ones take a trip to China to see these places. It helps to speak good Teochew, but if you have relatives or friends who can translate you'll have a richer experience.

Article:
China Through My Lens: Exploring Shantou's vanishing treaty port architecture with Sue Anne Tay

2 Minutes in Sua:tao

Never been to Sua:tao? Or maybe you have, but only have two minutes to spare? Well, I have the thing just for you: A techno/game music-infused two minute tour of Sua:tao. Truly, the video doesn't do it justice at all - I wish someone would do a full HD video sharing all the awesomeness that is Diosua:, but I've yet to find any online. Maybe that's my next project? In any event, the video brings your from old town in Sua:tao to the waterfront, then to a small town (probably in nearby Pouleng or Dio-io:), then on a boat ride, puppet viewing, temple visit, grave visit, Teochew food all along the journey, and then back to the old city and waterfront. Also, I want to note that Diojiuchi (Teochew City) itself is in my opinion much awesomer than Sua:tao. With that said, enjoy!