Culinary culture can't be beaten

Effectiveness of culinary culture

Apart from the culinary culture, we would love to give you some insights into other means of promoting the Chiu Chow community and the dialect. What's more? We'd tell you why we think culinary culture is still the best way in reaching the local people.

During the seventh month of the lunar calendar, you may have noticed that there are outdoor Chiu Chownese opera performances in many of the districts where the stages are usually built with bamboo and the event would probably last for the entire week. Believe it or not, Chinese people believed that it is the month when the ghosts and restless spirit roam around the city. It is called the Yu Lan Festival, also known as the Hungry Ghost Festival which was originated from the Chiu Chow community and the festival has been held for more than 100 years; it is now listed as part of China’s intangible heritage.

The performers are dressed in traditional costumes and the performance is in Chiu Chownese which may be a bit difficult to understand if you don't really know the dialect yet it is still a joy to watch! If you want to know more about this festival you may refer to the following website http://www.hkmemory.org/hkfestival-en/hgf/index.html

If you wish to learn Chiu Chownese, you may consider taking one of the languages courses held by the Hong Kong Chiu Chow Chamber of Commerce in which they are dedicated to promoting the Chiu Chow community in Hong Kong. For more information, you can visit http://www.chiuchow.org.hk/

Overall speaking, given the fact that the local people tend to prefer learning something new in a lively manner. In terms of reaching the general public, especially the younger generations, we are quite convinced that it would be wise to start with the culinary culture in terms of the food and eating habits and engaging in culinary discourse; in raising their awareness of the Chiu Chow community and the dialect.