Beijing Uses Low-Budget Hit Dear You to Court Diaspora as Teochew-Language Film Tops 2026 Box Office
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 4
Beijing Uses Low-Budget Hit Dear You to Court Diaspora as Teochew-Language Film Tops 2026 Box Office
2 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Jul 4
Summary
Dear You — a low-budget family migration drama in Teochew, a language many mainland Chinese barely understand — has emerged as China’s surprise box-office hit of 2026.
Beijing has embraced the film as a tool to reach Chinese communities abroad, using its story of family, migration and belonging to project a message to the diaspora.
That official praise has sharpened the film’s resonance beyond entertainment, turning it into a focal point for fraught questions of identity among overseas Chinese.
The episode shows how Chinese authorities can repurpose a commercial cultural success, especially one rooted in regional language and migration, for broader diaspora outreach.