In case you have not already heard, a Teochew-language film has been making waves in China in recent weeks, reportedly even surpassing the 100 million yuan mark at the local box office.
Dear You — Chinese title 給阿嬤的情書 (literally, “A Love Letter to Ah Ma”) — is the third film directed by Teochew filmmaker Na Hongcung (藍鴻春), following Proud of Me (爸，我一定行的) and Back to Love (帶你去見我媽). While his first two works focused on contemporary father-son and mother-son relationships, Dear You ventures into deeper historical territory: the mass migration of the Teochew people to Southeast Asia during the upheavals of the Chinese Civil War in the mid-20th century.
Inspired by the Qiaopi (Khieu-phue 僑批) — the “Sojourners’ Letters” or Teochew Letters sent by overseas Chinese migrants together with remittances — the film centres on the correspondence between a man named Tay Bhagseng (鄭木生), who left home to seek a livelihood in Thailand in 1948, and his wife, Yap Sogjiu (葉淑柔), who remained behind in Teochew to raise their three children. The flow of letters and money continued until the 1980s. Unknown to Sogjiu, however, Bhagseng had in fact been killed by thugs in 1960.
That someone else had continued sending letters in Bhagseng’s name and supporting the family remained a secret until one of his grandsons travelled to Bangkok in search of him. The central mystery of the film, then, is this: who was the person who chose to shoulder the duties of husband and father in another man’s place, and why?
The film’s historical theme — touching on a defining chapter in Teochew history and one that affected virtually every Teochew family, both in China and overseas — demands considerable depth of research into history, language, and culture. While the low-budget and seemingly hastily produced film attempts this, it ultimately falls short. In many ways, it feels less like an authentic retelling of the past and more like a contemporary director’s imaginative reconstruction of it.
For example, in an attempt to inject a touch of romanticism into the story, the film depicts Bhagseng and Sogjiu eloping to escape parental objections to their marriage. Such a portrayal sits uneasily with the social realities of Teochew society in the 1940s, when poverty, instability, and deeply rooted familial structures shaped everyday life. To sever oneself from one’s family at that time was not merely rebellious; it was tantamount to self-destruction in a world where survival depended upon the collective strength of the family. For Bhagseng then to leave Sogjiu behind as a single mother raising three children, without ever reconnecting with his family, would have been regarded as an act of profound irresponsibility unheard of in that era.
Yet for precisely this reason, Dear You remains worth watching. It is a sincere attempt to honour a generation of Teochew people shaped by hardship, displacement, and sacrifice. It reminds us that we would not be here without the struggles endured by our parents and forebears, who clung to the enduring hope of giving the next generation a better future. This is especially true of our Ah Mas and mothers, who so often served as quiet pillars of strength — not only for their children, but also for the men they stood beside.
On this very day, we wish all our mothers a Happy Mother’s Day.
~o0o~
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