A Love Letter to Grandma: How a Movie Stirs Cross-Strait Nostalgia

BEIJING, Aug. 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report by China.org.cn on the movie "Dear You":

This weekend, "Dear You" — a movie from the Chinese mainland — will make its Taiwan premiere at the Taoyuan Film Festival. Tickets sold out within 20 minutes of going on sale.

"My dearest wife Shurou, may this letter find you well…" So begins the letters of Zheng Musheng, the letter-writer in the movie who went to Siam (present-day Thailand) to make a living. Through a unique form of mail known as "qiaopi," which combines letters and remittances, he expressed how much he missed his wife and yearned for his family and hometown. Decades later, the couple's grandchild followed the trails of these "qiaopi" in search of his grandfather, only to find that Zheng Musheng had passed away long ago. All those years, it was Xie Nanzhi, a lady of Chinese origin Zheng had once helped, who kept sending those "qiaopi," quietly standing guard over a family across the ocean.

In that age of slow transportation and handwritten letters, the persistence, affection and integrity of ordinary people deeply touched audiences.

This movie's tremendous popularity in Taiwan owes much to how it touches a shared vein of historical memory and cultural roots. In history, people from coastal regions including Fujian and Guangdong set sail to make a living elsewhere; some headed to Southeast Asian countries, which forms the movie's backdrop; some crossed the Taiwan Strait and settled in Taiwan, a journey known as "Tangshan to Taiwan," meaning from the Chinese mainland to Taiwan. In some families, several brothers may have each chosen a different migration path, so waiting for their letters and expecting a family reunion became shared hopes for many people in that era.

In the movie title that literally means "A Love Letter to Ah-ma," the word "ah-ma" means "grandma" in the Teochew and Hokkien dialects of Fujian, and remains one of the most common terms in Taiwan today. The movie opens with white characters on a black screen reading: Ah-ma says, to be human is to have heart and honor, which is also a moral conviction written into the Chinese DNA. There are no epic, sweeping scenes in this movie, yet the familiar dialect and every folk custom stir the softest, deepest nostalgia in the human heart.

In Taiwan, many have channeled that nostalgia into action, setting out to seek their roots. Wang Wenrui, an elderly man who calls himself "Taiwan Ah-gong (grandpa)," is one of them. Over a century ago, Wang Wenrui's grandfather left for Taiwan to earn a living. When he passed away, all he left behind was an ancestral tablet bearing his hometown address. But after so many years, both administrative divisions and place names have changed beyond recognition, as a result, all of Wang's efforts to find his family roots ended up in vain. A few years ago, he tried posting a video on social media seeking leads, and just five days later, he successfully located his ancestral hometown. Not long after, he returned home, paid his respects at the ancestral shrine, and met his cousins. Since then, this Taiwan Ah-gong has traveled back and forth between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, livestreaming to help farmers of his homeland sell their produce, while using his camera to share life on the Chinese mainland with people in Taiwan.

In recent years, it has become commonplace to see young people from Taiwan starting businesses and chasing dreams across various walks of life on the Chinese mainland. In recent months, people-to-people cultural exchanges have been flourishing, and many young people from Taiwan, after their first taste of life on the Chinese mainland, have taken to social media to share their wonder. Statistics show that in merely the first six months of 2026, Taiwan residents made over 1.84 million visits to the Chinese mainland. Whether they have come to trace their ancestral ties, or to pursue new experiences and new opportunities, deep down, these Taiwan compatriots carry within them an innate bond that no external force can sever.

From a single movie that triggers nostalgia for homeland to the long-held wishes of millions, people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait with their interactions and resonances will surely witness how the aspirations become a reality.

China Mosaic
http://www.china.org.cn/video/node_7230027.htm 
A Love Letter to Grandma: How a Movie Stirs Cross-Strait Nostalgia
http://www.china.org.cn/2026-08/14/content_118648124.shtml 

SOURCE China.org.cn