CHAOSHAN, GUANGDONG: For Singaporean human resource professional Jennie Lim and her 69-year-old mother, Dear You was more than just a movie - it became the push for a trip they had long wanted to make.Filmed almost entirely in Teochew, a language widely spoken in China’s Chaoshan region, the film tells the story of a young Chinese villager named Zheng Xiaowei, who travels to Thailand in search of his grandfather, Musheng, who fled in 1948 to escape conscription during the civil war.Set against the backdrop of the mass migration of Teochew people from Chaoshan to Southeast Asia during the 1940s, the film explores themes of family, identity and homecoming.Its success has also inspired descendants of Teochew migrants across Southeast Asia to visit Chaoshan and reconnect with their roots.
“We actually wanted to come here already,” Lim, 43, told CNA.“But the movie was what made my mother decide to do the trip.”
Jenny, right, and her mom take a tour at Mianhu town in Jieyang on Jul 17, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Hu Chushi)
Lim’s mother, a Hainanese woman named Tan, who married into a Teochew family, saw the trip as an opportunity to introduce her to important places tied to their family’s history.Over eight days and seven nights, they explored Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang, Chaoshan’s core cities where most of the movie was filmed - retracing key scenes while discovering local culture and history that shaped their own family’s roots.They even made it a point to watch the film in Chaozhou.“The main purpose was to come and look at heritage, (places) and what actually brought our ancestors to Singapore,” Lim said.
