CHAOSHAN, GUANGDONG: Decades ago, Chinese families separated by migration and war relied on handwritten letters that would take weeks, or even months to arrive.Today, instant messages on WeChat are helping their descendants to reunite and reconnect with lost relatives in China.Interest in tracing ancestral roots has surged among Singaporeans and Malaysians of Teochew descent, following the recent success of Chinese box office hit Dear You.Set against the backdrop of the mass migration of Teochew people from China’s Chaoshan region to Southeast Asia during the 1940s, the film tells the story of a young Chinese villager who travels to Thailand in search of his grandfather, who fled the country to escape conscription during the civil war.
Dear You tells the story of a Chinese villager who travels to Thailand in search of his grandfather. (Image: Golden Village)
Dear You has become one of China’s highest-grossing films this year, taking in nearly 2 billion yuan (US$296 million) at the domestic box office. “The film has helped many descendants (of Teochew migrants) understand the journeys of their ancestors, and the family ties they left behind,” said Zeng Jianpeng, co-founder of the Chaozhou Volunteer Association for Reuniting Overseas Chinese Families. “That emotional connection has made many older people want to reconnect with relatives in their ancestral villages,” he added.Spread across Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi provinces, the more than 3,000 strong volunteer group has been helping overseas Chinese trace their ancestral roots.Ancestry search enquiries from Singaporeans and Malaysians have surged since the film's regional release in June, Zeng told CNA - from just one or two new requests each month to dozens.A Thai-dubbed version is set for release on Aug 6.“Requests suddenly poured in,” Zeng said.“We were basically overwhelmed with cases.”
