The Teochew Story – Night out in Chaozhou Town 潮州府韻

In 1369, Chaozhou Fu 潮州府 was established by the Ming Dynasty.¹ Over the years, it was expanded to included the old Chaozhou City, which was referred to as “prefecture city” 府城 and “eight counties” 八邑².

“My hometown, the old Chaozhou Town, was equivalent to Kyoto – there’s a relic at every turn.”

“Prefectural City”, Chua Lam (1945-2025), Singaporean author, gourmet and media celebrity³, and a kakinang⁴

There used to be a wall surrounding the border of the entire prefecture city, but now only the East Wall along the River Han remains.⁶ The city walls were demolished and rebuilt (due to war and floods) over time, and only 4 of the original gates remained.⁷ Guangji is the main gate and used to be called East Gate (as it is on the East side of the Han River).

Guangji Gate and Tower 廣濟門城樓

Guangji Gate, also called East Gate, was one of the seven major entrances into the ancient town of Chaozhou. Built in 1370 using mainly wooden structure, this was rebuilt in 1931 by the Nationalist government using concrete and steel. In 2004, the whole gate was rebuilt with the current tower according to Qing dynasty construction plans.⁸

My dad used to commend that the city walls of Chaozhou were very tall when he was little, but when he visited in the early 1980s they seemed very short. I was standing next to it, and comparing it with city walls of other ancient cities like Xi’an and Beijing, it is remarkably shorter than the rest.

Every level of the tower were precious calligraphy left by the best calligraphers of the time. Especially on Level 2, the main plaque was written by one of the most prominent Chinese scholar of modern time hailing from Chaozhou, Mr Rao Zong Yi, whose calligraphy was also adorning the signboard of the Hong Kong Chiuchow Chamber of Commerce.⁹

The ancient city walls and gate towers are the most striking landmarks of the ancient city, bearing witness to its history: from peaceful and prosperous times to the turbulent years of war and chaos, and the tragic tales of generals fighting valiantly to defend the city. The ancient city walls are a living history book that records the culture of the ancient city.

Archway Street 牌坊街

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, many archways known as Paifangs 牌坊 were built in Chaozhou to commemorate the deeds of locals. Every archway is a story on its own – it tells the tale of a historical figure from different periods. When you put them together, you get the history of Chaozhou. Moreover these archways are works of poetic literature, beautiful architecture and excellent calligraphy.¹¹

Along Taiping Street there were 39 archways, but many of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Because of this reason, Taiping Street is nicknamed Archway Street 牌坊街. In 2004, 22 of these were rebuilt. ¹³

There’s arch that belongs to the only Imperial Top Scholar 状元, i.e. the top scholar in whole country, that hailed from Chaozhou. Lin Daqin 林大欽 was the top scholar in 1531¹⁴ during Emperor Jiajing reign from Ming Dynasty. Little was known about him personally except one very famous couplet that he wrote that we still use till this day for Chinese New Year to decorate our door frames.

By night the street transformed itself into a beautiful LED-lit street. This is all part of the massive conservation work done in 2012 for the neighbour that included the Guangji Gate, Guangji Bridge and Bijia Mountain. It was a quiet Autumn night, so most of the shops were closed. But beneath this stillness was the majestic beauty of this street.

In 2004, Chaozhou city launched a restoration project for Archway Street (Taiping Street), which involved the restoration of 23 ancient archways; a total of 21 of these archways were situated along Taiping Street, while the remaining 2 were located on Dongmen Street. The majority of the reconstructed archways were official-praising archways (19/23), while the remainder included 3 imperial examination archways and 1 auspicious sign archway. Twenty-two archways were restored at their original locations, whereas the Ten Prime Minister Archway was relocated from its original site in front of the Chaozhou Prefecture Office to the location closest to the South Gate on Taiping Street.¹⁶

Shopping in the Old Chaozhou City

Many shops retained their rustic charm, like this shop selling quilts and pillows – on its walls are posters from early 60s. Time stood still in these shops. Many shops sell their local homemade specialties like snacks and preserves. However entrepreneurial spirit of the Teochew are evident with modern cafes and bed and breakfast popping up to cater to the tourist trade.

A famous old shop specialising in Teochew snacks is called Hu Rong Quan 胡榮泉. Dough rolls on the brownish red kneeding board with rolling pins pattering. Out of frying pans and ovens come batches of pastries and cakes, all bearing the red seal of “Hurongquan”. Their specialty, however, is Yamunian 鴨拇捻, a snack that was brought over to Singapore as well. (In Singapore we called them ah bo ling.)

Guangji Bridge 廣濟橋

Guangji Bridge, also known as Xiangzi Bridge, is an ancient bridge that crosses the Han River. A key cultural relic under national protection, the bridge is renowned as one of China’s four famous ancient bridges, the other three being Zhaozhou Bridge, Lugou Bridge, and Luoyang Bridge.¹⁸

The bridge is illuminated at night and has nightly lights and sound show, although the sound part can only be heard near the Guangji Gate. Walk closer to Shangshui Gate 上水門, you can enjoy the full view of the bridge.

My Affiliation with Chaozhou

My dad was originally from Chaozhou, and more specifically in the Chaozhou Old Town (府城内). He passed away when I was 14 years old and we never had the chance to go see his birth place. I finally managed to do it with my daughter when she turned 14. And with the recent screening of a Teochew movie, “Dear Her”¹⁹, a tearjerker about the Teochew diaspora to South East Asia, it brought back all the memories of my dad and all the stories he used to tell me about his childhood in the old town of Chaozhou.

Visited Sep 2019

Footnotes. :

1. 潮州府，明朝时设置的府，存在至清朝。府城东有广济桥。明洪武二年（1369年），改潮州路为潮州府，辖海阳、揭阳、潮阳、程乡4县。后又陆续分设新县。民国元年（1912年），全国废府州厅改县，故废，各县归省政府直辖，共开府543年。 ↩︎
2. “八邑”通常指潮州府下辖的八个县（潮安/海阳、揭阳、澄海、潮阳、普宁、惠来、饶平、南澳）。 ↩︎
3. 「老家府城，舊時相等於日本的京都，到處是古蹟。」
   — 蔡瀾 (1945-2025)《府城》 ↩︎
4. 胶己人, which is Teochew dialect for 自己人 or “our own people”. ↩︎
5. Xie, Jin, Guangxiao Yao, and Ci Zheng, eds. 1408. 永乐大典 [Yongle Encyclopedia]. Vol. 5343. ↩︎
6. 潮州古城，位於潮州市老城區，北起金山，南至韓江大橋，西接潮州西湖，東臨韓江，隔江與筆架山相望。潮州古城在宋代形成規模，經歷代多次修築而不斷完善，到明代已頗為壯觀。隨著城市的發展建設，現僅存東面臨韓江的古城牆。 ↩︎
7. 據史料記載，潮州古城牆先後歷經十幾次修建，保存上水門、竹木門、廣濟門、下水門城門四座，並建城樓，其中最為壯觀的當屬廣濟門城樓。廣濟樓舊稱東門樓，幾百年來都是人們進出老城區及韓江航道的重要驛站。 ↩︎
8. 廣濟門城樓，俗稱東門樓，正對廣濟橋，是潮州古城七城門樓之首。明洪武三年（1370年），俞良輔重修潮州城牆建立廣濟門城樓。清咸豐年間，被改為吳公祠。民國20年（1931年）二月大修過，部分木構架被改用鋼筋混凝土結構。1949年後，當局撥出專款對廣濟門城樓進行維修加固。最近一次大修是在2004年，依據清代《潮州古城圖》按明朝的結構形式進行整修。 ↩︎
9. 廣濟門城樓一到三樓都有匾額柱聯。其中一樓有劉炳森題寫的匾額「嶺東首邑」以及陳景舒書寫的柱聯「城抱江如帶，天垂嶂列屏」；二樓有國學大師饒宗頤書寫的匾額「東為萬春」及柱聯「萬峰當戶立，一水接天來」；三樓有肖嫻題寫的匾額「廣濟樓」與盧瑞華書寫的柱聯「得山水清氣，極古橋秀風」。 ↩︎
10. 以前的竹木門並無城樓，樸實無華的老城牆外是一個繁華的竹木料集散地。所謂竹木門就是以前這裡在賣杉木、竹木的地方，韓江這裡有個碼頭，從上游運了杉木、木炭來這裡上碼頭來賣，城門兩側就是兩排鋪面，專門賣木炭、杉木條，這地方在當時的貿易還是非常繁榮的。 ↩︎
11. 太平路的每一座牌坊都有一个或数个坊主。刻在坊上的文字，就是一篇历史人物小传。这批英杰，他们在不同历史时期的事迹组合起来，就是一部简明的潮州文化史。牌坊的坊文包含了丰富的文化内涵，了解牌坊文字对提高文史方面素养，将有极大的帮助。牌坊集建筑美、文学美、书法美于一身，也让人们可以欣赏到它精湛的艺术。 ↩︎
12. 唐伯元（1541年—1598年），字仁卿，号曙台，广东潮州府澄海县人，明朝政治人物。
    生平
    嘉靖四十年（1561年）辛酉科广东乡试第三十一名举人，万历二年（1574年）中式甲戌科会试第一百八十四名，三甲第一百零三名进士。历任万年县、泰和县知县，八年（1580年）调任南京户部主事，升员外郎、郎中。崇奉程朱理学，反对王守仁的新理学即所谓“心学”。因反对王守仁从祀文庙，上《争从祀疏》被贬为海州判官。后得到明神宗的信任，升尚宝司丞，因与吏部尚书杨巍学术观点相同，得其赞赏，被推荐为吏部员外郎，后升考功司、文选司郎中。任满，本可升太常寺少卿，但上疏请求罢官回乡。因其治政和治学不错，《明史》称赞其为岭海士大夫仪表。 ↩︎
13. 明清二代，潮州城建立了眾多牌坊，據史料記載，僅太平路就有39座，如今被稱為牌坊街。上世紀五十年初，這批珍貴的牌坊因歷史原因被拆除，2006年修復了其中的22座牌坊。 ↩︎
14. 明 • 嘉靖 • 壬辰科狀元 (1531) ↩︎
15. Political Consultative Conference Chaozhou Cultural and Historical Collection and Compilation Committee, ed. 1991. 潮州文史资料 第10辑 [Chaozhou Historical and Cultural Materials Volume 10]. ↩︎
16. Ying, Y., Liu, W. The spatial distribution of archways in Chaozhou: tracing the transition from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. Built Heritage 9, 9 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43238-025-00180-5 ↩︎
17. 位於東門街的東門大井，也是古城區主要的公用水井之一。據《韓江記》記載，鳳城（潮州城）開闢之時已有東門大井，東門大井歷史悠久，歷代均有重修。古井井欄呈內圓外八角，相傳井水直通城外的韓江，因而泉涌終年不斷，附近的居民和鋪戶至今常常來此取水。除了供水，這口井在舊時還被當成是一口自帶「防火預警」功能的水井。每到了冬季，天乾物燥，韓江水位低，這時凡是東門大井淤泥上翻，井水變黑，人們就稱「不出三日定有火災」。有後人解釋，水色變黑是因天氣乾旱時居民用水頻繁翻起井中污泥，而天乾物燥也正是火災易發多發之時。 ↩︎
18. 廣濟橋，俗稱湘子橋，位於廣東省潮州市東門外，為古代閩粵交通要道。與趙縣趙州橋、惠安縣洛陽橋及北京蘆溝橋並稱「中國四大古橋」，集拱橋、樑橋及浮橋於一體，為中國第一座啓閉式浮橋。 ↩︎
19. “给阿嬷的情书” ↩︎