Dear You: Beijing puts on movie night for diplomats to help them ‘better understand’ China

Beijing has staged a special screening of a blockbuster film that sparked a debate about propaganda in Southeast Asia, inviting 150 foreign diplomats and their families to the event to help them “better understand China”.

Diplomats from 74 embassies, including Indonesia, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Peru, attended Monday’s screening of the film Dear You, which was organised by the Chinese foreign ministry.

The movie was shot in the Teochew dialect spoken in the Chaoshan region of Guangdong province and follows a man as he uncovers his family’s struggles over half a century through remittance letters sent from Thailand in the 1940s.

The story also touches on the issue of migration to Southeast Asia and the Chinese diaspora’s efforts to preserve their heritage.

Assistant foreign minister Hong Lei told the event that vast numbers of Chinese people had worked hard to make lives and careers in foreign lands.

He added that the film showed ordinary Chinese people’s care for home and country and their true kindness.

“[I] hope that by watching this film, everyone can further enter the deep recesses of the Chinese people’s hearts and minds, and better understand China,” he said.