A Shout-out to the Gaginan
Residing in South China for about 1,700 years, the Teochew (Chaoshan in Mandarin) people are one of three ethnic groups who have lived in these lands for generations. Though they have long shared the region with the Cantonese and Hakka, they still maintain their own language and have inherited a unique culture.
According to modern Chinese geography, the Chaoshan region generally refers to the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou, Jieyang and Shanwei, located in the southeastern part of Guangdong province. People from this area refer to each other as gaginan (Teochew transliteration), or ‘my own people’ in English.
One of the foremost characteristics ascribed to the Teochew is an instinct for trade and business, no matter if it’s a neighborhood grocery store or a global corporation. Amongst a long list of well-known Teochew entrepreneurs, the most notable are Li Ka-shing, formerly the richest man in China, and Ma Huateng, founder of Tencent, the company that created the almighty WeChat and QQ.
Teochew, or the Yellow River?
Where do the Teochew people come from? The Teochew region in southern China is the obvious answer. Yet if one is to run a search on the Internet, he or she would find a string of references stating that our ancestors came hundreds of years ago from the Central Plains in the Yellow River reaches, thousands of miles away.
This theory concerning the Teochew people’s migratory origin has several variants. One that is circulating widely online is that our forebears were one of a few branches of Han Chinese, first displaced from northern China when the Jin dynasty lost control of its political heartland to invading "barbarians" in the 4th century. They managed to resettle in Putian district of Fujian province, but were uprooted again when the Mongol armies of Kublai Khan overran the Song dynasty in the 13th century. Eventually, they found sanctuary in the historical Teochew Prefecture, which was supposedly sparsely populated at the time. Due to long exposure and interaction with indigenous ethnic minorities whom they eventually displaced, Teochew people now have our own speech and cultural traits that are distinctive from other groups of Chinese.
Currently, the belief that Teochew people have their origins in the north is widely accepted and propagated in mainland China. However, its formation is fairly recent, and may be traced to the writings of its chief proponent, the late Professor Jao Tsung-I (饒宗頤), in the 1949 Chaozhou Gazetteer (潮州志)
Singaporean woman on how she found her way back to her Teochew roots
Her then-three-year-old daughter’s fixation on Teochew opera led Eileen Hair on a path to rediscovering her roots
For younger Chinese Singaporeans, joining a clan association is something not many would consider. Especially taking into account that many of us can barely hold a conversation in our dialect.
But for Eileen Hair, who is the section head of the event management course at ITE College Central, joining the Teochew clan association in 2018 was like fulfilling her calling. However, what prompted the 43-year-old’s quest for membership at Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan wasn’t because she was encouraged to do so by her grandparents, nor was it out of a need to network with other businessmen in the clan.
It was her then-three-year-old daughter’s unexpected interest in Teochew opera at the 2016 Teochew Festival that encouraged Hair to dig deeper into her roots.
Teochews in Singapore 25 years ago
The 20th century produced many successful overseas Teochew businessmen, who always devoted their energy and wealth towards the education and other fields of philanthropy. Watch the late Lien Ying Chow of Overseas Union Bank and other Teochews in Singapore share their stories and the philosophy behind their selfless contributions towards the larger society in this documentary produced by Shantou Television in 1997.
