Teochew is a very interesting region - it is part of Guangdong province in China, but it's culturally very different from the dominant Cantonese culture - it's a bit similar to Hokkien, or what you often see in Taiwan; for example, people from Taiwan will have no difficulty understanding the Teochew language. Famous cities... Chaozhou (it's how Teochew is pronounced in Mandarin) and Shantou are two major cities in the region.
Also, I'm from northern China (Shandong province, to be precise), but I think the Chinese New Year traditions are not all that different from what Pai described here - red color, feast on NYE, firecrackers, red pocket on New Year's Day. I don't remember paying respect to the ancestors as a kid, strangely - it seems to be a more prevalent thing in southern China. As for the feast menu, pork is a must-have because it's the most common meat; we have chicken, duck, sometimes beef too; fish is also a must-have, as fish (鱼 yu2) sounds the same as surplus/extra (馀 yu2), and we like to say 年年有余 (wish you have some surplus every year). In northern China, dumplings (or boiled gyoza) are a must - they look like Sycee, meaning good money; the filling can vary, but classics are pork with garlic chives, pork with cabbage and garlic chives with egg.
This was a really interesting discussion. I wonder if you guys would consider Thailand as a melting pot, in the American sense? And would both think of yourselves as Thai - Canadian/Americans now?
I don't remember Chinese New Year being much visible when I lived in Chiang Mai back in 1974-75. Nor do I remember much in the way of decorations for Christmas, New Year's or Valentine's Day. I do remember Songkron because of all the floating candles in the river. So I guess the decoration bug has grown over the years since we were there. We made some of our own straw decorations that some of the Finnish missionaries showed us how to make, but my mom did buy some that I think she got at the cultural center. Very non traditional ornaments but pretty.
ผี Hong, I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that there seems to an issue with TH-cam bringing your channel to the appropriate viewers. I am a regular viewer of both you and Hot Thai Kitchen but this video did not show up in my feed until five days later
ซินเจียยู่อี่ ซินนี้ฮวดไช้ is 新政如意 新年发财 (pinyin: xin1zheng4ru2yi4 xin1nian2fa1cai2) means may your wishes come true and wish you luck and prosperity for new year. This is teochew version and common in Thailand. กงเหฟัดโฉ่ย is 恭喜发财 (gong1xi3fa1cai2/กงฉีฟาไฉ) means may you have prosperous new year. This is the one P'pailin mentions that they say in Hongkong. ซินเหนีนไคว่เล่อ is 新年快乐 (xin1nian2kuai4le4) means happy new year. This is common in Mandarin Chinese. Other teochew phrases that I recall are: เกี่ยงคัง/คิงเกี่ย means healthy, ตั่วถั่ง means large profit, เผ่งอัง means safety, ตั่งตั๊ง means happy. Lastly, อั่งเปาตั่วตั่วไก๊ means give me large red envelope; meaning the money inside envelope not the envelope itself. 😂
yay sabai talk is back!
I missed this so much huhuhu....
Teochew is a very interesting region - it is part of Guangdong province in China, but it's culturally very different from the dominant Cantonese culture - it's a bit similar to Hokkien, or what you often see in Taiwan; for example, people from Taiwan will have no difficulty understanding the Teochew language. Famous cities... Chaozhou (it's how Teochew is pronounced in Mandarin) and Shantou are two major cities in the region.
Also, I'm from northern China (Shandong province, to be precise), but I think the Chinese New Year traditions are not all that different from what Pai described here - red color, feast on NYE, firecrackers, red pocket on New Year's Day. I don't remember paying respect to the ancestors as a kid, strangely - it seems to be a more prevalent thing in southern China. As for the feast menu, pork is a must-have because it's the most common meat; we have chicken, duck, sometimes beef too; fish is also a must-have, as fish (鱼 yu2) sounds the same as surplus/extra (馀 yu2), and we like to say 年年有余 (wish you have some surplus every year). In northern China, dumplings (or boiled gyoza) are a must - they look like Sycee, meaning good money; the filling can vary, but classics are pork with garlic chives, pork with cabbage and garlic chives with egg.
@Hong Thaimee The Fa choy that Pai was talking about is also called chinese black moss, and yes, it looks like hair!
😅
This was a really interesting discussion.
I wonder if you guys would consider Thailand as a melting pot, in the American sense?
And would both think of yourselves as Thai - Canadian/Americans now?
I also did not know I was (half) Chinese until 10 or 11! I just thought my mom's side was a different flavor of Thai.
I don't remember Chinese New Year being much visible when I lived in Chiang Mai back in 1974-75. Nor do I remember much in the way of decorations for Christmas, New Year's or Valentine's Day. I do remember Songkron because of all the floating candles in the river. So I guess the decoration bug has grown over the years since we were there. We made some of our own straw decorations that some of the Finnish missionaries showed us how to make, but my mom did buy some that I think she got at the cultural center. Very non traditional ornaments but pretty.
Interestingly, in Chinese, we usually call it 農曆新年 or 春節, which means Luna New Year or Spring Festival. I don't think we put the word Chinese in it.
Totally makes sense, it's their own new year, no need to specify!
ผี Hong, I wanted to bring your attention to the fact that there seems to an issue with TH-cam bringing your channel to the appropriate viewers. I am a regular viewer of both you and Hot Thai Kitchen but this video did not show up in my feed until five days later
Hi @siddheshgandhi7668, thanks for letting me know! I’ll look into it and work on improving visibility. 😊
ซินเจียยู่อี่ ซินนี้ฮวดไช้ is 新政如意 新年发财 (pinyin: xin1zheng4ru2yi4 xin1nian2fa1cai2) means may your wishes come true and wish you luck and prosperity for new year. This is teochew version and common in Thailand.
กงเหฟัดโฉ่ย is 恭喜发财 (gong1xi3fa1cai2/กงฉีฟาไฉ) means may you have prosperous new year. This is the one P'pailin mentions that they say in Hongkong.
ซินเหนีนไคว่เล่อ is 新年快乐 (xin1nian2kuai4le4) means happy new year. This is common in Mandarin Chinese.
Other teochew phrases that I recall are: เกี่ยงคัง/คิงเกี่ย means healthy, ตั่วถั่ง means large profit, เผ่งอัง means safety, ตั่งตั๊ง means happy.
Lastly, อั่งเปาตั่วตั่วไก๊ means give me large red envelope; meaning the money inside envelope not the envelope itself. 😂