Cheung Chau Water Dialect 長洲水話 ~ Chantoneasy | Lism | Eco Cheung Chau

Did you know that the name ‘Hong Kong’ came from the Water Dialect 「水話 」, which used to be spoken by local fishermen, the “Tanka” or “on-water people” who lived along the coasts of Southern China for hundreds of years? Sarah Yip from Eco Cheung Chau / Floatudio is happy to share her collection of the fast disappearing Water Dialect vocabularies she has gathered through direct interviews with Tanka elders in Cheung Chau and other islands. You can learn to speak Water Dialect like a native, as well as the Cantonese equivalent, by simply following the Chantoneasy®️ method developed by Tiff Chan.

您知道「香港」英文名字的讀音是依據「水話」的嗎？「水話」是過去幾百年南中國沿海「蛋家」漁民，即「水上人」所說的話。Sarah Yip (Eco Cheung Chau / Floatudio ) 樂於和你分享她在過去幾年由親自訪問長洲及其他離島「蛋家」長輩搜集回來的僅存「水話」詞彙。憑Tiff Chan 陳曉蕾創立的Chantoneasy®️譯音系統，你定能輕易準確的講「水話」及同義的廣東話。

Recorded in 2017 by Tiff Chan and Sarah Yip, you hear Cheung Chau residents speaking Tanka phrases.

Through a few interviews and conversations with first, second and third generation fishermen families living in Cheung Chau, Chantoneasy® supports Sarah Yip from Floatudio and to gather first-hand information on the particular words that can still be remembered by fewer and fewer people. The Water Dialect is spoken by the Tankas or boat people -  水上人"the people who live on the water" (officially named ‘on-water people’). Their families were fishermen, distinctly different from city dwellers, who they still call 街上人"the people who live on streets". 

水話 "Water Dialect" consists of specific words that are distinctly different, yet spoken in the context of Cantonese, most often to make references to their boats when giving orders (ie for orientation). It is hard to guess the meanings of their terminology – some are related to what they are referring to in Cantonese, but most only translate by sound (‘homonyms’) and not by meaning. 

This project reveals the roots of why 'Hong Kong' was spelled this way, despite modern pronunciation 'hœng gong'. It is how "the people who live on the water" still pronounce it today. It is likely that they have been in Hong Kong far earlier than the Han Cantonese. Perhaps there was a time when they spoke a much purer version of Water Dialect without as many recognizable Cantonese words.

This information does not do justice to the legacy of ‘on-water people’ in Hong Kong’s history. Here’s your chance to keep the Water Dialect alive, by respecting their place in forming a part of Hong Kong as we know it today. Surprise the fishermen next time you’re taking a sampan ride or buying fresh produce from them! 

透過跟長洲漁民、第二代 及第三代家庭進行訪問及交談，我們採集了現在越來越少人記得及運用的水上話。「水上人」意指居住在水上的人；而「街上人」則意指離開漁船移居到陸地上生活的漁民。

水話是一種粵語方言，與粤語的標準口音廣東話基本相通。漁民在船上生活和作業，產生的水話中有些特定好字或詞是跟廣東話完全不一樣的。 

這個啟發性的活動亦令我們發現了原來香港的英文名稱 Hong Kong 正正就是水話(蜑家話)發音的音譯。 水上人一直以來用「糠港」 稱呼這塊土地，他們到現在亦不察覺讀音其實和香港人廣東話不一樣。 

 Going from being an office lady in Central to being a junk boat captain, Sarah Yip defines working at sea as one of the hardest and most dangerous jobs ever. Photo courtesy of Sarah Yip

 Mrs. Leung has been a sampan driver in Cheung Chau waters for the past 30 years. She has recently been raising a black kitten to help her chase rats away. Photo courtesy of Sarah Yip

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A chance encounter teaching Cantonese to a friend in 2015 set off a chain of eureka moments that sparked artist, natural linguist, educator, and expressive arts therapist Tiff Chan’s multidisciplinary creativity to give birth to Chantoneasy®, a highly intuitive method that revolutionizes how easily tonal languages can be spoken even before actually learning them, by visually and physically associating all words with musical notes.

Language teaching and transcribing, works symbiotically with her facilitation in Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy, as a way to build trust, connection and transcend perceptions of difference. Tiff’s alter ego “ArtyCatalyste” reflects her passion for enabling others to experience the therapeutic capacity of all art forms, whether wordplay/poetry/writing, visual arts, movement/dance, drama or music, for well-being, self understanding, healing, and strength-building in resiliency.

“While all the other subjects basically just required me to repeat what the predecessors had said, I was drawn to the arts from an early age, by the infinite possibilities they offer to allow me to think and share my feelings as a human being.”

Tiff Chan 陳曉蕾/ ArtyCatalyste 從事藝術、語言研究、教學工作及創立 Chantoneasy。教授語言及語音記錄有助她利用多元表達藝術治療去助人建立信任和聯系,凌駕彼此直覺上的分歧。她最喜歡協助他人體驗各種藝術媒體的治療作用、 不論是字辭/詩詞/文章,視覺藝術、動作/舞蹈,話劇或音樂,均可令人愉悅,促進自我反省、康復及抗逆能力。她展開她的藝術生涯時是利用身體作基本媒體去做表演藝術、素描及錄像。

「藝術使我從少便著迷的地方是它能給我無限空間去思考和分享我作為一個人的感受，其他科目基本上祗需我重覆前人所説的。」

在 2015 年一個教朋友說廣東話的偶然機會,引發起Chantoneasy 「唱多易」的誕生。她把她在藝術,舞蹈和話劇的創意都放進這革命性的語音記錄系統,務求讓使用者甚至在未認識一種語言前都可把它不同的音調準確地記錄和覆述。

www.facebook.com/chantoneasy

Contact here if you are interested in taking Chantoneasy classes or want to know more about Eco Cheung Chau and we will help connect you.

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Evelyn ~ Knudsen / Jensen

In 2011 we were lucky to go aboard Evelyn, then the biggest container ship in the world. We were bedazzled, especially with her engine room of many floors and the deep hum that surrounds you. At the time of writing this she is sailing under the Danish flag in the West Mediterranean through the Strait of Sicily which divides the Tyrrhenian Sea and the western Mediterranean Sea, from the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Right now her exact coordinates are: 36.65253° Latitude / 13.30656° Longitude Emma was built by Maersk in 2006 and Evelyn is her younger sister by one year, both are 400 metres long, approximately 4 football fields in length. Their reign supreme ended in 2012 with the birth of CMA CGM Marco Polo who is in fact the same length but 5cm wider. However, where Evelyn could contain 15,550 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit), Marco Polo has capacity for 23,964 TEU. So its game over for now unless Maersk can put out a higher capacity vessel but nonetheless what we witnessed was still to enter a giant, with an elevator to pass between floors and ironically the smallest steering wheel we had ever seen! These photos and audio recordings were our way to remember the experience and we hoped that we might get to travel on a container ship as part of our research into mass production and globalisation - a project that morphed into what became ‘Exit Strategies’ by Happy Gorilla Dance Company.

2011年，我們很幸運地登上了當時世界上最大的集裝箱船伊夫林（Evelyn）。我們眼花azz亂，尤其是她的機艙擁有許多樓層，周圍環繞著深深的嗡嗡聲。 在撰寫本文時，她正在丹麥國旗下航行於西地中海，途經西西里島海峽，該海峽將第勒尼安海和西地中海與東地中海分開。 現在，她的確切坐標是：36.65253°緯度/ 13.30656°經度 艾瑪（Emma）由馬士基（Maersk）於2006年建造，伊芙琳（Evelyn）則是她的妹妹，一年都長400米，大約有四個足球場。 他們的最高統治權在2012年隨著CMA CGM Marco Polo的誕生而結束，實際上他的長度相同，但寬5厘米。 但是，在Evelyn可能包含15,550 TEU（二十英尺等效單元）的地方，Marco Polo的容量為23,964 TEU。 因此，除非馬士基能夠推出更高容量的船隻，否則它的比賽現在就結束了，儘管如此，我們所看到的仍然是進入一個巨大的世界，其中有一部電梯可以穿越樓層，具有諷刺意味的是，這是我們見過的最小的方向盤！ 這些照片和錄音是我們記住經歷的方式，我們希望我們可以在集裝箱船上旅行，這是我們對批量生產和全球化進行研究的一部分-這個項目演變成Happy Gorilla的“退出策略” 舞蹈團。

Photography by Jensen | Sound score by Knudsen

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Jensen met Knudsen in 2007 when Baktruppen were giving an experimental theatre workshop to Dartington students. They later went on to work together in Happy Gorilla Dance Company.

詹森（Jensen）於2007年遇見了克努森（Knudsen），當時巴克特魯彭（Bektruppen）為達頓頓（Dartington）的學生舉辦了一場戲劇性的戲劇工作坊。 後來他們不再繼續在快樂大猩猩舞蹈團工作。

Jensen has worked between dance, theatre, community & education work, photography and curation. She now works at Blue Lotus Gallery and is the driving force behind Cheung Chau Wave 浪長洲 and the curator for 渡 ( portal ) 2020.

Jensen從事過舞蹈，戲劇，社區和教育工作，攝影和策展工作。 她現在在藍蓮花畫廊（Blue Lotus Gallery）工作，是長洲波浪（Chung Chau Wave）和2020年跨年（策展人）策展人的推動力。

Jørgen Knudsen

From Bergen, the west coast of Norway. Educated as a chemical engineer. He started with musical activities in beginning of the 1980´s with the band Alle Tiders Duster, a band that experimented also with visuality in connection with music. From mid-80´s Knudsen mostly worked alone and composing music to different live art activities as theatre, dance, art performance, musical installations. In 1994 Knudsen formed Information together with Per Henrik Svalastog, and had its first release in 1994 on Beatservice records where they later on had several releases. Later they signed with Rune Gramofon and in 2002 released the album Biomekano. Further on Knudsen composed music to numerous theatre and dance performances, nationally and internationally, and is today most known as participant in the art collective Baktruppen. He now work as a consultant in the Norwegian Arts Council.

約爾根·克努森（JørgenKnudsen）：來自挪威西海岸的卑爾根。 受過化學工程師教育。 他從1980年代初開始從事音樂活動，當時他的樂隊是Alle Tiders Duster，該樂隊還嘗試了與音樂相關的視覺效果。 從80年代中期開始，克努森大部分時間都是獨自工作，將音樂創作到各種現場藝術活動中，例如戲劇，舞蹈，藝術表演，音樂裝置。 1994年，克努森（Knudsen）與Per Henrik Svalastog一起組建了Information公司，並於1994年在Beatservice唱片上首次發行，後來又發行了多個唱片。 後來他們與Rune Gramofon簽約，並於2002年發行了專輯Biomekano。 克努森（Knudsen）進一步在國內和國際上為許多戲劇和舞蹈表演創作音樂，如今已成為藝術團體Baktruppen的參與者。 他現在是挪威藝術委員會的顧問。

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Three Poems by Yuan Mei ~ Preston Hartwick

(best viewed on mobile, on a boat)

This piece was born from the fury of a typhoon. After the seas calmed, it rested, until the winds of political change started whipping the crests of waves white once more. In unpredictable times, we can look back to old masters for guidance on how to weather each new storm as it comes.

此作品攝於颱風蹂躪之後。大海平靜下來, 稍歇一會，隨即又被政治風暴翻起滔滔白頭巨浪。在前景不明的日子裡，我們可以向古聖先賢學習應對之法, 讓我們在風波中仍能站穩腳跟。

Yuan Mei 袁枚 (1716–1797) was a Chinese painter and poet of the Qing Dynasty. His work was well-known for confronting moral norms of his time and contained strong undertones of anti-establishment themes, resulting in the censorship of some of his most popular writing. Following the currents of the ocean, political tides come and go, and we once again face similar storms that threaten to drown out dissenting voices.

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Preston Hartwick grew up in Hong Kong and you can often find him wandering the streets with a film camera, scavenging for scenes to add to his patchwork quilt of fading Hong Kong designs and architectural elements.

Preston Hartwick 在香港長大, 經常帶著菲林相機穿梭大街小巷, 攝下日漸消逝的本地設計和建築特色, 製成一幅<<百家照>>。

instagram @hong_kong_aesthetic

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No holiday ~ Patrick S. Ford

In this performance, entitled ‘No holiday’, Ford continues his practice of deconstructing everyday life for paradigms that can be isolated and examined within a durational event that attempts to retrace an action or an activity observed in life, exploring and reconfiguring observed movements he calls ‘found actions’. For many working people the highlight of the year is the annual summer holiday. During this short, intense period people remove themselves from their habitual surroundings and immerse themselves enthusiastically into what is often unfamiliar geographical and/or cultural territory. ‘No holiday’ deals with the journey to and from this holiday adventure, reversing the usual paradigm by focusing on the journey rather than the destination and eliminating the relief felt upon arrival at the intended holiday location. Ford will take his suitcase, map and selfie-stick everywhere with him as he explores the choreography of the holiday experience in unfamiliar surroundings.

在這場名為“無休假”的表演中，福特繼續他的解構生活實踐，以一種範式為例，這些範式可以在持續性事件中被隔離和檢查，以期追溯生活中觀察到的動作或活動，探索並重新配置他所稱的觀察動作 “發現行動”。 對於許多勞動人民來說，今年的亮點是每年的暑假。 在這短暫而緊張的時期，人們將自己從習慣的環境中移開，並熱情地沉浸在通常不熟悉的地理和/或文化領域中。 “無假期”處理往返於此假期冒險的旅程，通過專注於旅程而不是目的地來扭轉通常的範式，並消除到達目標度假地點後的緩解。 福特將在他不熟悉的環境中探索假期體驗的編排時，隨身攜帶手提箱，地圖和自拍杆。

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Patrick S. Ford is currently living and working in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, teaching at RMIT University Saigon South Campus. His art education began at Leeds Arts University (UK) – receiving a ‘Merit’, at Northumbria University (UK) – receiving a BA (Hons) Fine Art degree, and at RMIT (Australia) – receiving an MFA degree. He has exhibited his work in solo and group shows in Europe and Asia beginning in 1982 and since then has participated in over 100 exhibitions and art projects. His work is held in several public collections in Europe and Asia and in numerous private collections.

帕特里克·福特（Patrick S. Ford）目前在越南胡志明市生活和工作，在皇家墨爾本理工大學西貢南校區任教。 他的藝術教育始於英國利茲藝術大學-獲得優等生；諾森比亞大學-英國-獲得文學學士（榮譽）學位；澳大利亞皇家墨爾本理工大學-獲得MFA學位。 從1982年開始，他就在歐洲和亞洲的個人展覽和團體展覽中展出了自己的作品，從那時起，他參加了100多個展覽和藝術項目。 他的作品在歐洲和亞洲的多個公共藏品以及許多私人藏品中舉行。

www.patricksford.com / https://33temple.blogspot.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCblXHEcuFvMw91ccpFybvcg/featured?view_as=subscriber

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