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William Zheng

Chinese state media and influencers have pushed back on criticism of hit indie movie Dear You, which has been described as a tool to expand Beijing’s influence over the Chinese diaspora.
The Chinese media’s counterpunch this week came in the countdown to the movie’s release in Singapore and other Southeast Asian markets on Thursday.
The film, which is in the Teochew dialect of Chinese, depicts a young man uncovering his family’s past by tracing remittance letters sent home from Thailand. It explores Chinese migration to Southeast Asia and the diaspora’s struggle to preserve its heritage.
The movie has been a hit in China, earning over 1.7 billion yuan (US$252 million) since its release on April 30.
But it has also ignited a debate across Southeast Asia about Beijing’s soft power and political influence in other countries.
Sim Tze Wei, correspondent for Singapore’s most widely read Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao, called the film a masterclass in “non-coercive” united front propaganda aimed at evoking a sense of closeness to China.
Sim was referring to the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, which is responsible for influencing and building solidarity with members of the diaspora and their organisations to align them with the party’s goals. The film’s producer, Luo Zhanhong, publicly thanked the United Front Work Department for its support.

In an editorial on Tuesday, the Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, said a Singaporean newspaper’s “sarcastic” interpretation of the movie “attached a political label” to people’s genuine sentiment.
Without naming Lianhe Zaobao, it said: “It is not only disrespectful to the movie’s creative work but also a hasty interpretation of history.”
The editorial said the Singapore newspaper was “a lonely outlier” as the film has “overwhelmingly positive reviews”.
A day after the Lianhe Zaobao article was published, Singaporean Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong was in China on an official visit.
Lee did not mention the controversy over the movie but did say that the relationship between the two countries was based on “mutual benefit”, not ethnic ties.
In its editorial, the Global Times said that while Lee’s view was “not unreasonable”, the concerns about Dear You showed the Singaporean media were worried about “the potential loss of room for opportunism and playing both sides” because they were “witnessing the steady rise in the influence of Chinese culture”.
“This has led some to suspect that behind these so-called media commentaries, there may be some [political] forces at play,” it said.
On Monday, Global Times social media account Buyidao went even further, saying the Singapore article showed “the lingering influence of the Cold War mentality”.
“Some people stubbornly regard cultural exchange as a battlefield of ‘infiltration’ and ‘counter-infiltration’,” it said.
“They deliberately distort the concept, labelling all normal cultural, kinship and people-to-people exchanges within the Greater China cultural sphere as so-called united front work … In their words, it is actually a synonym for infiltration, subversion and espionage.”
Former Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin also weighed in online, describing the Lianhe Zaobao column as “petty”.
But he also struck a more conciliatory tone, noting that Singapore had to be “very sensitive” to the influence of major powers and must “always try to maintain the balance”.
Hu added that Lianhe Zaobao also published articles that praised the movie, which indicated that “wariness is not a universal reaction among Singaporeans”.
On Saturday, Han Yong May, deputy editor-in-chief of SPH Media’s Chinese Media Group, which owns Lianhe Zaobao, said in a column that she “does not entirely agree” with the views expressed in Sim’s commentary.
But she said the comments were from Sim’s “personal column” that was “meant to offer her own perspective”.
Han noted that after the debate erupted, it felt like Sim and Lianhe Zaobao “were thrown into a boxing ring and getting beaten up” in a campaign of “organised, coordinated misinformation” attacking the paper and Singapore.


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China-Singapore relations

A correspondent for Singapore’s most widely read Chinese-language newspaper called Dear You a masterclass in “non-coercive” propaganda. Photo: Dickson Lee

A Chinese state media outlet’s social media account says the Lianhe Zaobao article about Dear You shows “the lingering influence of the Cold War mentality”. Photo: Handout

Dear You movie review: nostalgic Teochew family drama a surprise box office hit in China

Li Sitong as the young Nanzhi in a still from Dear You (category IIA, Teochew), directed by Lan Hongchun. Wang Yantong and Wu Shaoqing co-star.

Wu Shaoqing in a still from Dear You.

Wang Yantong (left) and Chen Qinqin in a still from Dear You.

Singapore will run Dear You film mostly in Mandarin, not Teochew. What’s lost in translation?

A still from “Dear You”, the hit Chinese film shot in southern Teochew dialect. Photo: Handout

Kristen Chng said watching “Dear You” reminded him of his grandfather’s journey of hardship after leaving his ancestral village in Guangdong province. Photo: Handout

A still from “Dear You”. The Chinese film, shot in southern Teochew dialect, follows a grandson uncovering his family’s past by tracing “qiaopi” – or family letters and remittances – sent home decades ago. Photo: Handout

A still from “The Last Dance”. The Hong Kong film was released in Mandarin instead of Cantonese during its Singapore run in 2024. Photo: Emperor Motion Pictures

A still from “Dear You”. The film has raked in more than US$236 million in China since its April 30 release. Photo: Handout

Sean Tan, who visited his ancestral village in Shantou in April, said hearing Teochew spoken in its original form was “quite inspiring”. Photo: Handout

Dear You – the Chinese migration film igniting a propaganda debate in Southeast Asia

 Illustration: Henry Wong

Suspicions were raised about Dear You in some quarters when the producer publicly thanked an organ of the Communist Party for its support. Photo: Handout

In the 21st century, Beijing has blurred the line between Chinese nationals living abroad and foreign citizens of Chinese descent. Photo: Getty Images

Visitors walk across representations of the kinds of letters and remittances Chinese migrants once sent back home at an event to promote Dear You in Shenzhen, southern China’s Guangdong province, on May 20. Photo: Xinhua

For young Southeast Asian Chinese, their “imagined China” is no longer a rural homeland but a “hyper-modern” culture, a researcher said. Photo: Handout

 Critics fear that Beijing might be able to use its growing soft power to influence politics overseas. Photo: Handout

News

China

Politics

Beijing is aggressively defending the box office smash from claims it is a tool to boost influence over the Chinese diaspora


Beijing is aggressively defending the box office smash from claims it is a tool to boost influence over the Chinese diaspora.


Singapore

Lee Hsien Loong

Hu Xijin

Global Times

Is hit indie film Dear You propaganda? Don’t be disrespectful, Chinese media says

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Beijing is aggressively defending the box office smash from claims it is a tool to boost influence over the Chinese diaspora

Beijing is aggressively defending the box office smash from claims it is a tool to boost influence over the Chinese diaspora