The storyline of the hit Teochew-language movie *Dear You* (《給阿嬷的情書》) centres on the marriage of Tay Bhagseng (鄭木生) and Yap Sogjiu (葉淑柔). The couple was separated when Bhagseng left for Southeast Asia in 1948 to escape forced conscription, eventually settling in Thailand.
Despite the distance, Bhagseng faithfully sent letters and remittances home. After his passing twelve years later, a young woman continued writing and sending money on his behalf, allowing his family to continue believing that he was still alive for many years.
The plot may sound unbelievable, but history holds stories that are equally, if not more, touching.
In 1949, a woman in Teochew received a letter and a remittance of 200,000 gold yuan from her husband’s elder brother in Siam. She wrote back, not to her brother-in-law, but to her husband — the man she had not heard from for many years.
In her letter, she wrote:
“Since you left for Siam, you have not sent a letter home for several years. Fortunately, your elder brother has been sending us money, otherwise we would have starved.
“We have been married for almost ten years. Although our family is poor, I have no complaints. My only wish is for you to earn enough to support the family. Yet all these years, you have lived freely overseas, without concern for your wife and son. You are indeed a man without conscience!”
We may never know the truth behind this family’s story. Was the husband truly heartless, or did he suffer a fate like Bhagseng — one that his elder brother knew, but could not bring himself to reveal?
The Teochew Letters (or Khieu-phue 僑批 — literally “the sojourner’s letter”) are correspondences exchanged between tens of thousands of Teochew emigrants in Southeast Asia and their families back home. These letters, often sent together with remittances, preserve countless real-life stories of devotion to elderly parents, longing between separated spouses, and worries for children left behind—revealing struggles that shaped the resilience of the Teochew people.
Discover some of these stories in The Teochew Store’s new feature page: Lives in the Letters 《侨批中的故事》.
~o0o~
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