[Culture] Teochew Cultural Exhibition in Singapore

I'm a Teochew. A Peranakan Teochew, and I converse more in Hokkien and Malay than my own original Chinese dialect. Still, that is no excuse for me to not find out more of my Teochew roots, and what better way than to visit this exhibition.

Teochews "make up 21 percent of the Chinese population". (1) It is said that the first Teochews who arrived in Singapore after 1819 were from the Riau islands in Indonesia and from Siam. (2) 

So what have I gained from my visit to this exhibition?


1. Nan Hai is a very big place

When I'd first met a local professor at Bukit Brown, I asked him about the words "Nan Hai" since it had appeared on my great grandfather's tombstone. The professor stretched out his hands to show me that the area was big, and it was not a name of a village or city. The name Nan Hai can be traced as far back as 3,000BC. (3) So if I had wanted to narrow things down to just two coordinates, it would be as good as finding a needle in the haystack.

2. Traversing the seas via the Ang Tow Zung

So how many days did it take for our Teochew ancestors to arrive from Guangzhou to Singapore? Well, the internet tells me that sail boats will travel at about five to seven knots. That works out to about 13km/h. So if we do a direct point A to B calculation (Going over land and sea, and going non-stop), it would have taken our ancestors 200 days to get to Singapore. The perils of the seas were plenty.

The sail boat ain't no catamaran and when faced with the storm, it's really a battle between you and mother nature.


3. Interesting artifacts and festivals

This is called "Gway Huan Sam Bo" or Teochew three treasures. In the past, food was stored in these baskets and were brought on long boat trips or to work.

 

The Teochews have quite a number of festivals - one of which is called "Chuk Hue Hng" or Coming out of the garden. This festival is a "coming-of-age ceremony" for males and females who were 15 years of age, according to the lunar calendar. 

There are much more that you can learn from this exhibition. There's also Teochew food that you can savour. The exhibition runs from September 25 to October 5 over at Ngee Ann City Civic Centre. There's an entry fee of S$5/pax.

Sept 25 to Oct 5 at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

Sept 25 to Oct 5 at the Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza.

Bibliography

1. Phua, G. (September 21, 2014). 5 interesting facts about Teochews in Singapore: The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/more-lifestyle-stories/story/5-interesting-facts-about-teochews-singapore-20140921

2. Conceicao, J. L. (2009). Teochew community:Singapore infopedia. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1499_2009-04-09.html

3.  Ring, T., Salkin, R. M., La Boda, S.(1996). International dictionary of historic places. Volume 5. Asia and Oceania. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. P. 302.