• The Mandarin term “地牛” originated from the Hokkien term te gu.
• In 1950s Singapore, unlicensed hawkers were ubiquitous. In an effort to maintain public hygiene, sanitary inspectors were sent out to clamp down on unlicensed activities.
• All personnel with the authority to issue fines, such as those from the City Council, Primary Production Department, and the Singapore Improvement Trust, came to be referred to as te gu.
• Two explanations have been posited for the origin of the term. The first is that the term originates from a legend in Fujian and Chaozhou. The locals believed that there was a bull living under the ground and it carried the Earth on one of its shoulders. When it got tired, it would shift the Earth to the other shoulder, causing the ground to shake. The early Chinese migrants who moved to Southeast Asia brought this legend with them, and used the underground bull (te gu) as a metaphor to describe the chaotic, “earth-shaking” scenes of inspectors raiding illegal hawkers. Soon, the inspectors themselves came to be known as te gu.
• The second belief is related to a type of frog, Microhyla pulchra, known to the Teochews as te gu. This species of frog is brownish-yellow, with black stripes, and is commonly found in Southeast Asia. In the past, the inspectors in Singapore wore khaki uniforms, which were similar in colour to the te gu. During law enforcement operations, their shouts were compared to the sound of the frog’s croaking. As the illegal hawkers detested the inspectors, they referred to them as te gu.

Mr Li Yiguang said that starting from when he was 11 years old, he and his mother sold fried carrot cake, fried rice, and fried vermicelli around Taman Jurong. For almost two years, they were constantly on the run from “te gu” – the inspectors tasked with clearing out illegal hawkers. (Lianhe Zaobao, 14/5/2019)

稽查员(Mainland China, Taiwan)

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, the term te gu re-emerged in Singaporeans’ daily conversations, to describe the Safe Distancing Ambassadors who would similarly issue fines if people did not maintain a safe distance from one another.