Lan Hongchun, “Dear You” (2026)
Made on a budget equivalent to US$2.06 million or nearly $3 million in Australian currency, with little marketing and promotion, and featuring a cast made up entirely of non-professional actors, this family soap opera drama has become a global sleeper hit through word-of-mouth and social media. It draws on past family histories and the migration experiences of Overseas Chinese communities for its plot and themes. What is also very significant is the film’s use of Teochew as its main language, as its plot is set in Thailand where the Overseas Chinese community there was dominated by Teochew speakers from Chaoshan region in eastern Guangdong in southern China.
Ye Shurou (Wu Shaoqing) lives a quiet life in Shantou with her three children and various grandchildren, one of whom, Xiaowei (Zheng Runqi), has a huge debt to pay off. Having heard from relatives that his long-lost grandfather, Zheng Musheng, may be a billionaire living in Thailand with a second wife and family, and funded many schools in that country, Xiaowei travels to Bangkok to find him. In a tortuous journey through that metropolis, Zheng uncovers unexpected information: his grandfather died in 1960, and a woman unknown to his family, Xie Nanzhi, had paid for his funeral and ancestral tablet. Zheng tracks down the woman through her son Xie Zhehua, and discovers the truth behind the grandfather’s convoluted past, his disappearance, and a photograph of him with another woman and several children sent to Ye Shurou in 1978 that caused her considerable heartbreak.
In 1945, to avoid being press-ganged into the Guomindang’s army during its war against Chinese Communists, Zheng Musheng (Wang Yantong) fled to Southeast Asia to find work, leaving behind young wife Shurou (Wang Xiaohui) and their three small children in Shantou. Initially working as a labourer in Malaya, Zheng was deported from that British colony after participating in a labour dispute and went to Bangkok to find work and lodgings. He finds a place to stay at a hostel operated by the independently minded Xie Nanzhi (Li Sitong) and her father, both local Thai-born Chinese. Zheng brings Di Gong (Chen Qinqin) along as a flatmate to help pay the rent for his room: Di Gong writes letters for Zheng and other Chinese labourers unable to read and write to send back to loved ones in China along with money to support them. When Thai authorities enact a ban on Chinese-language education, Zheng and Di Gong start up night classes for the children of local Chinese families. Nanzhi, initially opposed to the classes, also joins the classes to learn to read and write.
A fire set by local Indian businessmen burns down the hostel and Zheng is imprisoned for two years for beating up the arsonists. During his imprisonment, Nanzhi helps Zheng send letters and money to Shurou. After working various jobs, Nanzhi and her father set up a small shop selling buns; in her spare time, Nanzhi starts writing letters for other Chinese residents and establishes a small school in her home to teach local children reading and writing. When Zheng is released from prison, he buys a riverboat to transport cargo and bids farewell to Nanzhi – but a burglary incident leads to Zheng’s murder and Nanzhi decides to send Shurou an obituary. However, a letter from Shurou dissuades her otherwise, and for nearly 20 years Nanzhi sends money and gifts to the Zheng family, pretending that all is well with Zheng and nurturing Shurou’s hopes that Zheng will soon return.
In 1978, Nanzhi receives a letter from Shurou who plans to come to Bangkok to see Zheng. Nanzhi resolves to tell Shurou the truth, writing a lengthy letter and enclosing an old photo of herself, Zheng and various children who had attended Di Gong’s night classes. The letter and photo arrive in China, but a heavy storm dumps the postman into a river off the bridge he is riding his bicycle across, and all he is able to salvage for Shurou is the photograph. Shurou, receiving the photo and believing Nanzhi and the children are Zheng’s second family, is upset. Later developments, including the closure of the letter remittances office in Bangkok, and Shurou’s move to another part of Shantou, make the break between the two women total.
Much of the plot is based on actual experiences of Chinese labourers working in Southeast Asia though the more significant parts – along with a reconciliation scene – look very contrived. A moral behind the film, in which Xiaowei is humbled by the reality behind Zheng and Nanzhi’s experiences (and supposedly resolves to work harder at school and spend less time carousing and wasting money), is present. Forging and strengthening family bonds across the constraints of physical geography and the passage of time, and the importance of reading and writing in helping families to cope with long absences and to foster hope and emotional resilience, are important messages audiences can be expected to learn and carry away. Equally important is a message of community and other mutual support mechanisms among Overseas Chinese communities in host countries (whose governments may be hostile to Chinese immigrants), not least among these the letter remittance offices and the people they employed.
For amateur actors, the cast does a very creditable job under Lan Hongchun’s direction. The film runs at a brisk pace, packing in several plot developments and twists, so that the camera does not have to dwell very long on individual actors and the entire narrative has a matter-of-fact ambience. There’s not really very much character development, not even among the major characters (though Zheng does have rebellious tendencies and a keen sense of social justice), and all characters are little more than stereotypes. The one drawback in this film is the music soundtrack which can be rather sappy and intrusive.
The lie that Nanzhi maintains for nearly 20 years turns out to be more devastating for Nanzhi than for Shurou, herself having become bitter over her lost husband due to a misunderstanding arising from an unfortunate accident: when the two women finally meet, Nanzhi is suffering from dementia. It might be no coincidence that the dementia represents Nanzhi’s punishment for having deceived Shurou and her family. There may be a lesson here for audiences about how random events or particular decisions can influence people’s thinking and reactions far more than they should, to the extent of derailing relationships and causing long-lasting grief.