One of China's biggest surprise movie hits recently is not a sci-fi blockbuster or an action film. Instead, it is a deeply emotional story told mostly in the Teochew dialect.
Dear You (给阿嬷的情书) has quickly become a cultural phenomenon in China, earning over 200 million yuan at the box office and winning audiences through word of mouth. Centered around Teochew families, migration, and "Qiaopi"—the letters and remittances sent by overseas Chinese to their families back home—the film has especially resonated with people from southern China and overseas Chinese communities across Southeast Asia.
So when I invited my Thai friend to watch the movie with me, I thought we were simply going to see a popular Chinese film. I didn't expect it to become such a personal experience for him.
My friend is a fourth-generation Teochew Chinese descendant from Thailand. Now he studies business Chinese in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Although he grew up in Thailand, much of his family still speaks the Teochew dialect, cooks Teochew food, and carries on memories passed down from earlier generations who migrated from Chaoshan to Southeast Asia.
As we sat in the cinema watching the film, I noticed him quietly wiping away tears. After the movie, he told me the scene that moved him most was the moment when a Qiaopi letter failed to reach its destination.
"To me, Qiaopi is not just a letter," he said. "It carries longing, concern, and feelings people could not say face-to-face." For many overseas Chinese families in Southeast Asia, those letters once connected separated families across oceans. They carried money, news, love, and hope between Chaoshan and countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
The movie also stirred deep childhood-awakened memories. Hearing the Teochew dialect reminded him of conversations with his grandparents back home in Thailand. Even small details in the film, like olive vegetables, a classic Teochew dish, felt deeply familiar, evoking a sense of nostalgia because his mother and grandmother still prepare it to this day.
What moved me most was his immediate desire to return home and ask his grandmother about their family history. "When I was little, I only knew they came to Thailand by boat," he said. "But after watching this movie, I really want to learn what their lives were like back then."
That may be why Dear You has touched so many viewers. Beneath its regional dialect and local culture is a universal story about family, migration, memory, and emotional ties between generations. For my Thai friend, this was not just a movie. It was a re-connection with his roots.
Reporter: Li Fangwang
Video & Poster: Li Fangwang
