Published on: 2026-07-07
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
The film “Dear You,” successfully showing in cinemas in China, has caused a wide resonance on social networks and introduced the general public to the touching story of “special letters to loved ones” – ciaopi.
The plot of the film is as follows: the grandson goes to Thailand in search of his grandfather with letters that his grandmother had kept for many years. However, he finds out that the “grandfather” with whom the grandmother had been corresponding for decades had long since passed away. All these years, a completely unknown woman had been sending letters and money instead of him.
Qiaopi is a general term for letters and money orders that overseas Chinese sent to their families back home. In June 2013, the qiaopi archives were included in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
The hero of the film — the rickshaw puller and sailor Zheng Musheng — sent all the money earned through hard labor home, but could not even afford a ticket on a ship to China and eventually died in a foreign land. In the real story, countless Chinese emigrants took on the hardest work abroad, often denied themselves much, and sent savings along with letters to their distant homeland. In these letters, they reported on their well-being and expressed homesickness.
The heroines of the film – Se Nanchzhi and Ye Shuzhou – did not know each other at all. However, after Zheng Mushen’s death, Se Nanchzhi took upon herself the heavy burden and for a whole 18 years wrote letters and sent money on his behalf, maintaining the “sweet lie” and hope of the two families.
Xuan Xiaomin, chairman of the Chinese Culture Education Center “Xinghan” in Shantou city, noted that qiaopi are “letters from Chinese emigrants abroad,” a “lifeline” for those left at home, and an embodiment of the loyalty and honor of the Chinese people. It was precisely this “devotion and sense of duty” of Xie Nanzhi and Ye Shuzhou that became one of the most poignant foundations of the film.
Qiaopi is not only a way of expressing kinship feelings but also a manifestation of patriotic responsibility. Even during the War of Resistance against Japanese aggression, many overseas Chinese sent donations to the front through the qiaopi money transfer network. During difficult economic times, hundreds of millions of yuan in remittances from emigrants became a huge contribution to the country’s revival. And with the beginning of the reform and opening-up policy, the selflessness of compatriots abroad became an integral part of China’s modernization.
Today, in cities such as Quanzhou in Fujian Province and Shantou in Guangdong Province, chaopi archives have been opened: here, hundreds of thousands of letters are professionally restored and carefully preserved. The city archive of Shantou alone contains more than 92,000 chaopi translated letters – the largest collection in China, and all documents have already been fully digitized.
The interest in qiaopi sparked by the film continues to grow abroad as well. Lin Shaohua, executive chairman of the International Association of Chaoshan Fellowships and chairman of the Shantou Overseas Chinese Business Association, said: “The film is built around the storyline of qiaopi, closely intertwining personal experiences, familial obligations, and the trends of the era, creating an ode to love for the homeland that transcends seas and mountains.”
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