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0Chinese tourists flock to Teochew sites after indie film becomes surprise hit
Variety | By Naman Ramachandran| 538 words | ★★☆☆☆
Made on a shoestring budget, the hit drama Dear You has triggered a surge of interest in the history of southern China’s Teochew diaspora
Made for roughly the price of a single scene in a Hollywood blockbuster and filmed entirely in a southern Chinese dialect, the drama Dear You does not have the hallmarks of a box office hit.
But the independent film has unexpectedly become a sensation in China, receiving stellar reviews and sparking a wave of tourism to the small corner of southern Guangdong province where it is largely set.
Produced on a shoestring budget of just 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million), Dear You has already grossed more than 200 million yuan in China since its release on May 3. It is projected to eventually take about 800 million yuan – a record for a dialect film in the country – and is set to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival on May 15.
The film appears to have struck a chord in China – where young people are increasingly captivated by regional culture – by exploring the history of Chaoshan, a cluster of coastal districts in eastern Guangdong known for its distinct cuisine, teahouses and rich diaspora heritage.
From the 1800s, generations of Chaoshan people – also known as Teochew – left their homes in this historically poor corner of China to seek their fortunes across Southeast Asia and beyond – in Penang, Singapore and the United States. Famous for their clan-based culture, they formed tight-knit communities wherever they settled.
Dear You spans Chaoshan and Thailand, following a grandson’s search for his family history by tracing letters sent home decades ago. As he pieces together his grandfather’s story, the film explores the wider history of the great “South Seas”, or Nanyang, migration of the 1800s, when millions of economic migrants fled southern China.
The production has earned rave reviews. On Douban, China’s answer to the film review platform IMDb, it has a score of 9.1 – one of the highest ratings for a release this year. It has also become a talking point on social media among overseas Chinese communities, particularly in Southeast Asia.
For many, Dear You’s success reflects a wider shift in China’s consumer market, as young people become increasingly interested in exploring and celebrating local culture and traditions.
A string of films, television shows and even video games have tapped into this trend in recent years, often sparking a flood of visitors to far-flung parts of China – such as Altay, an ethnic Kazakh enclave in China’s western Xinjiang region, which formed the backdrop to the hit 2024 miniseries To the Wonder.
Now, travellers are flocking to filming locations across Chaoshan used in Dear You, turning historic arcade streets and ancestral mansions into new hotspots.
“We’ve had a lot of bookings after people watched the film. Some clients told us their relatives in the US and Southeast Asia are also discussing it and planning to visit later this year,” said Janet Zhou, a sales manager at a travel agency in Shantou, a city in Chaoshan.
Colly Fang, a film-goer in Hong Kong, said Dear You had also made her more interested in visiting the region. “Local folklore and culture have become a huge draw for young people lately,” she said. “This film made my friends and me want to explore these smaller cities in Guangdong.”
