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Dear You - the Chinese migration film igniting a propaganda debate in ... In less than two months, the indie film Dear You has become an unlikely mass hit. Shot in the Teochew language from the Chaoshan region of southern China’s Guangdong province, the movie follows a man uncovering his family’s past by tracing remittance letters sent home from Thailand. As he pieces together his grandfather’s life story, the movie also explores Chinese migration to the region and the diaspora’s struggle to preserve its heritage. Advertisement In one scene, an elderly schoolmaster risks arrest in 1950s Bangkok to secretly teach diaspora children their ancestral Chinese tongue. The movie has pulled in huge audiences and over 1.6 billion yuan (US$236 million) in China since its release on April 30. Advertisement But it has also sparked a debate across Southeast Asia about China’s soft power and political influence with Chinese communities in other countries. The response has varied throughout the region – from Chinese-majority Singapore, to Chinese-minority Malaysia to Thailand and the Philippines, where Chinese communities are more integrated into wider society. South China Morning Post

"Dear You" Film Captivates Audiences Across the Chinese Mainland and ... A new cinematic wave is sweeping across Asia as the indie film Dear You transforms from a local success into a viral sensation. Originally gaining massive popularity in the Chinese mainland, the film is now capturing the imagination of audiences in Thailand, bridging cultural gaps through a poignant exploration of ancestral history. The film distinguishes itself with a "zero-celebrity" cast, focusing instead on raw, authentic storytelling. At its heart, Dear You chronicles the historic Teochew migration wave from the Chinese mainland to Southeast Asia. By weaving real historical events with a narrative centered on powerful female solidarity, the movie offers a gripping look at the resilience and strength of the women who navigated these transformative journeys. The resonance of the film has extended far beyond the borders of the Chinese mainland. In Thailand, clips of the movie have already begun circulating widely on social media, sparking intense interest among the Thai-Chinese community. For many, the film is more than just entertainment; it is a reflective piece based on the lived experiences of their own…

Is hit indie film Dear You propaganda? Don’t be disrespectful, Chinese media says Chinese state media and influencers have pushed back on criticism of hit indie movie Dear You, which has been described as a tool to expand Beijing’s influence over the Chinese diaspora. The Chinese media’s counterpunch this week came in the countdown to the movie’s release in Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets on Thursday. The film, which is in the Teochew dialect of Chinese, depicts a young man uncovering his family’s past by tracing remittance letters sent home from Thailand. It...

Dear You – the Chinese migration film igniting a propaganda debate in Southeast Asia In less than two months, the indie film Dear You has become an unlikely mass hit. Shot in the Teochew language from the Chaoshan region of southern China’s Guangdong province, the movie follows a man uncovering his family’s past by tracing remittance letters sent home from Thailand. As he pieces together his grandfather’s life story, the movie also explores Chinese migration to the region and the diaspora’s struggle to preserve its heritage. In one scene, an elderly schoolmaster risks arrest in...

Indie Film Causes Consternation Among Overseas Chinese Culture Indie Film Causes Consternation Among Overseas Chinese China and its diaspora increasingly disagree on “Overseas Chinese” definition Jun 12, 2026 7 4 Share By: Xiaochen Su In less than a month, an indie film with an unknown cast became China’s second-highest grossing film of 2026. Dear You , with a modest budget of CNY 14 million (US$2.06 million), earned CNY 1.5 billion (USD 221 million) at the box office by June 5 after being released nationwide on May 3 . Its success is surely causing some consternation in Beijing. As Xi Jinping calls on media professionals to share the uplifting messages of China’s modern development through what he dubs “ positive energy ,” Dear You centers on protagonists eking out a living amid the poverty and disorder of the 1940s. And as the government promotes the nationwide usage of Mandarin, the film is done entirely in Teochew, a regional Guangdong dialect that few elsewhere in the country understand. What explains its nationwide success? Viewers shed plenty of tears as they follow a series of remittance letters sent between the husband in Thailand and his wife awaiting his return at their…

Dear You: Beijing puts on movie night for diplomats to help them ‘better understand’ China Beijing has staged a special screening of a blockbuster film that sparked a debate about propaganda in Southeast Asia for 150 foreign diplomats and their families to help them “better understand China”. Diplomats from 74 embassies, including Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Peru, attended Monday’s screening of the film Dear You, which was organised by the Chinese foreign ministry. The movie was shot in the Teochew dialect spoken in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong province and...

Quiet drama finds powerful audience - Chinadaily.com.cn By Zheng Caixiong in Guangzhou | China Daily | Updated: 2026-05-18 06:37 A low-budget Shenzhen-produced movie centered onqiaopi(overseas Chinese remittance letters) has earned widespread acclaim and emerged as one of the biggest surprise hits of the May Day holiday box-office season. Dear Youfollows a series of letters tied to Ye Shurou, a grandmother who spent decades waiting for her husband, Zheng Musheng, while her grandson searches for the truth behind their family's past. The journey gradually uncovers the hidden story of Xie Nanzhi, a Thai woman of Chaoshan, or Teochew, descent who was Zheng's sworn sister and trusted confidante. After Zheng's death, Xie quietly cared for Ye Shurou from afar, secretly writing letters and sending money in his name for 18 years. Years later, Xie's adopted son, Xie Zehua, reads those letters aloud to Grandma Ye, revealing a long-buried story. The film received a rating of 9.0 out of 10 on Douban, a major review platform — the highest among all new releases during the holiday — underscoring its broad audience appeal. By Thursday, the movie had grossed about 227 mi…

How a small regional film turned a forgotten history into a box-office ... At first glance, Dear You has none of the traditional trappings of a Chinese blockbuster. It is not the product of an industry-wide mobilization, as the 2025 animated fantasy feature Ne Zha: Demon Child Conquers the Sea seemed to be; nor a sprawling epic in the manner of the 2023 mythology-inspired hit movie Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms; nor a sensory bombardment on the scale of the 2023 sci-fi phenomenon The Wandering Earth 2. In fact, it sits at the other end of the spectrum. Made on a shoestring budget of 14 million yuan ($1.94 million), it features a cast of non-actors and was filmed entirely in Teochew, a dialect native to the Chaoshan region in south China's Guangdong Province. Yet after a quiet theatrical debut on April 30, the film has become the summer's biggest phenomenon at the domestic box office, pulling in more than 1.19 billion yuan ($165.6 million) as of the time of writing, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. On Douban, China's leading film and television review platform, Dear You scored 9.1 out of 10, making it the highest-rated Chinese title of the past decade. …