🎬 Dear You opens in North American theaters on September 4, in Teochew with English and Chinese subtitles. If the episode below makes you curious, this is the week to see it on a big screen.

A 14-million-yuan film shot in a dialect most Chinese people can’t understand, starring people who had never acted before, has made 150 times its budget.

Dear You (《给阿嬷的情书》) opened in mainland China in late April with neither big celebrities nor an established IP franchise.

Word of mouth did the job: 2.1 billion yuan ($312.5 million) worldwide by late July, and a Douban score that opened at 9.0 and kept climbing to 9.3 — the highest a Chinese drama has managed in years.

After hitting cinemas in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia, it reaches US and Canadian audiences this Friday.

The story turns on qiaopi (侨批), the letters accompanied by remittances that Chinese migrants in Southeast Asia sent home for over a century. An elderly Chaoshan grandmother had spent decades writing to the husband who left for Thailand to work. Her grandson, buried in debt, goes to Bangkok to find his grandfather, whom the family believes got rich there — and brings back a truth that disrupts everyone’s understanding of the last fifty years.

In July, I recorded an episode of filmmaker Aladin Farré’s Middle Earth Podcast, the podcast on China’s cultural industries, with musician Sam Debell and Chaozhou filmmaker Lam Can-zhao.

We went from Chaoshan cinema to Yunnan folk bands, asking how dialects clawed its way back into popular culture — and whether it can stay there. Show notes below.

Episode: Middle Earth #112 — How Chinese Dialects Are Finding a New Voice (episode summary and transcript below by Aladin Farré and Yang Tingting for The World of Chinese)

Guests

• Sam Debell — a British musician based in Kunming, where he runs a label working with bands from Yunnan’s ethnic communities, most of whom record in their own languages rather than Putonghua

• Lam Can-zhao — a director from Chaozhou who casts family and neighbors and shoots in Teochew. His 2023 short A Bright Sunny Day went to Cannes’ La Cinef; A Summer’s End Poem took Best Short at Berlinale Generation Kplus the following year

• Yaling Jiang — consumer research and strategy, and the author of this newsletter

Timeline

The following are excerpts from the transcript of the episode (edited for clarity):

04:03

Aladin Farré: How did your use of language differ between private spaces, like family and community, and public spaces, like school and work, while you were growing up?

Jiang Yaling: For people of my generation, we spoke dialect at home with our families, but always used Putonghua in school. I think this was quite common across Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. I’ve seen local policies introduced in places like Suzhou and Shanghai to promote Putonghua in schools.

Lam Can-zhao: In my hometown, Chaoshan, we speak Teochew at home, at the local market, and in everyday life. The main language stays the same whether you’re in private or public spaces. You don’t switch languages just because the place changes.

I’ve lived in Guangzhou for 11 years now, and it’s quite different. While Cantonese is the main local language, the city’s huge migrant population means people often switch to Putonghua in public spaces, such as at work or on the subway. How people use dialect really depends on the community you’re in.

08:57

Aladin: Could you share some examples of cultural products, such as TV programs, that used local dialects in the 1990s and 2000s, and what happened to them over time?

Lam: When I was a kid, Teochew comedy skits were hugely popular. Everyone watched them, and kids would imitate them at school performances. But now, as the internet took off, the skits gradually faded from the mainstream. People shifted toward Putonghua content, foreign movies, and variety shows.

11:36

Aladin: Sam, since most of the artists you work with don’t sing in Putonghua, could you tell us more about these artists, the languages they perform in, and how their music has been received both in China and abroad?

Sam: We have bands from various ethnic communities, including Manhu from the Yi culture, Bagedai from the Va culture, and Wild Mushrooms from the Hani culture. Manhu, for example, sings in a local Yi dialect spoken by around 60,000 people. That makes it difficult to build a large audience in China. Whereas overseas, they’re doing better. It’s difficult to say exactly why; perhaps it’s simply the appeal of the music itself.

15:42

Aladin: Have you watched the film Dear You? What did you think of it?

Yaling: I really liked the film because it sheds light on individual stories, which are often missing from mainstream Chinese cinema, especially films by major directors who tend to explore broader narratives. This movie offers a different perspective. It’s about how personal lives are shaped by generations, history, and the Chinese diaspora.

19:48

Aladin: Lam, why did you choose to make films in fangyan?

Lam: About four or five years ago, I suddenly felt this pull to go back home and tell stories there. I made a short film with my relatives and friends as non-professional actors. I felt that having them perform in our native language was the most natural way to tell those stories.

The film, A Bright Sunny Day, became the first Teochow-language film selected for Cannes. Riding on that momentum, we quickly made a second short, A Summer’s End Poem, which won Best Short at the Berlin International Film Festival. Since then, I’ve continued making dialect films.

21:38

Aladin: Since Dear You became a huge success, have more producers shown interest in making dialect films?

Lam: Yeah, a lot of investors started getting interested in Chaoshan stories. The film made Chaoshan-themed projects feel less risky and turned the region into a new hotspot for filmmaking. People started paying more attention to local stories and local filmmakers.

23:04

Aladin: Yaling, you’ve written about the rise of influencers using their hometown dialects on social media. Could you tell us more about this trend and why fangyan content is becoming popular online?

Yaling: These creators are bringing more attention to diminishing dialects. I agree with the idea in the 2022 TWOC article that social media could help save Chinese dialects. Language survives through both input and output, and these platforms offer new spaces for people to hear and use dialects. One influencer I’m especially excited about is a Cantonese account. It’s called “A Corgi Who Sells Herbal Tea.” It doesn’t just tell the story of a dog living in a herbal tea shop. The entire story is narrated in Cantonese.

28:41

Aladin: Sam, do any of your bands incorporate dialect learning, skits, or other cultural elements into their work? Or do they mainly focus on music?

Sam: I’d say some of the bands do explain the meanings behind their songs, so people can understand what they’re singing. But it’s not really about teaching the dialect or creating a participatory learning experience. It’s more about providing the context.

29:30

Aladin: What do you think the future of dialect will be like?

Yaling: I have quite a pessimistic view on this. I think fangyan may increasingly resemble regional operas, as in, people may consume them in certain scenarios, while fewer people use them in everyday life. As more people move between cities and regions, younger generations may not be able to pick up local dialects as easily.

But at the policy level, I think there are still ways to support dialect preservation, such as connecting dialects with cultural and commercial activities. For example, local tourism can incorporate dialects into the visitor experience, while films and shows like Dear You can continue to bring regional languages into the spotlight.

Sam: I agree with Yaling. I think fangyan will probably still exist in the next 50 years, but there will be far fewer of them. A dialect needs a minimum population to survive, so many smaller local varieties may eventually disappear. I’ve seen this with ethnic languages in Yunnan; it can take only a few generations for a language to be lost. In Kunming, many kids no longer speak the Kunming dialect. If they don’t speak it, then their children won’t understand it either.

Lam: I feel like dialect films are increasingly being seen as cultural assets for a region. Local governments are stepping in to support them. So even if there’s no market for it, there are still ways to preserve it. And honestly, I think dialect films are also finding their own lane—niche, but international.

Listen

• 🎧 The World of Chinese episode page — full audio, plus TWOC’s edited transcript of the conversation

• 🎧 Buzzsprout · Spotify

Go further

• Following the Yuan: Navigating mainland China’s regional archetypes

• TWOC’s review of Dear You: “Dear You”: A Dark Horse’s Quiet Revolution Against Movie Formula

• TWOC on the uncertain future of grassroots Chinese opera

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Welcome back! “China color” is a column that records Chinese people’s unfiltered voices, as well as field trips by our contributors. Here are some of our previous pieces as examples: how do Chinese graduates feel about the job market, a trip to Mixue’s hometown, both of which you can read for free without subscribing.

In less than three weeks, an anxiety-ridden new regulation those whom go through China’s borders will take effect.

On the surface, many other countries are also stepping up measures at the border (Europe’s Entry/Exit System comes to mind). So, what’s so special about the 19-article Regulations of the State Council on the Administration of Exit and Entry?

While including a clause punishing unlawful foreign nationals, this regulation mainly holds up the threshold that governs the mobility of Chinese nationals.

Previously, it has become common knowledge that Chinese civil servants, as well as those at certain schools, banks, and CSOEs, having to hand in their passports and giving the ultimate deciding power to employers for any outbound trip plans. Passport confiscations have reportedly happened to ethnic minorities (including those in Xinjiang and Tibet), as well as high-tech AI talent from DeepSeek and Alibaba.

As we see in our social media sentiment analysis later, the announcement, dropped on July 31, caused widespread anxiety especially among people with foreign residency permits, public sector staff, and people who are planning to travel after Sep 15.

Having garnered wide attention from Western media, from BBC to France24 and DW, Chinese edition of Global Times published a commentary in early August, aiming to make a matter-of-fact case that was cast under a negative light by the West.

“In recent years, more and more foreign friends have, through on-the-ground visits and firsthand experience, seen a China that is starkly different from the image long vilified by Western media.

This kind of grassroots exchange based on ‘seeing is believing’ has broken the narrative monopoly that certain forces have carefully cultivated. When some Western public opinion is stirring up ‘panic,’ we would like to ask: who exactly is panicking, and about what?”

To answer this (rhetorical) question, we analyzed popular posts and comments under the keywords “exit-entry new rules / Regulations on Exit and Entry Administration / Sept 15 exit-entry rules / exit restrictions” with the help of open-source tool MediaCrawler and Claude.

Our sample size are 816 Rednote comments, collected 7 days after the regulation was announced on July 31, and 2,335 comments 20 days after the announcement, respectively. (The second dataset only includes part of the first one as Rednote shifts search results based on popularity, and some comments were quickly deleted by the user/platform.)

“Who exactly is panicking, and about what?”

There are three groups of people who have demonstrated more fears than others:

• Green-card and permanent-residency holders

• Public-sector staff, especially teachers

• Travellers holding tickets for late September

Four Typical Attitudes (based on data collected July 31-August 7)

Five Typical Attitudes ((based on data collected July 31-August 20)

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📊 BIG STAT

China AI’s to-consumer business dilemma // In recent months, one question has been hanging over China's booming AI space: wh…

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Following our issue in April about regional archetypes (e.g. Only Daughter in Jiangsu, Zhejiang & Shanghai, Northeast Homie, etc.), we're back, this time focusing on China's socioeconomic stereotypes including:

• 小镇做题家 Small-Town Exam Whiz

• 凤凰男 Phoenix Man

• 富二代/厂二代/官二代 Rich/Factory/Official Second-Gen

• 打工人/牛马 Laborer / Corporate Cattle

• 当代孔乙己 Modern-Day Kong Yiji

• 碳水脸/蛋白脸 Carb Face / Protein Face

For each term, we explain the definition, the origin, and provide links to reading more in media/social media.

Before diving in, I want to reiterate why we gather these together:

From the outside, China has still largely been seen as a monolith: people on this vast land think and act in unison under the one Party rule. Inside of China, however, people from different parts of the country take genuine pleasure in learning about and debating these archetypes and stereotypes. They can be the start of a deeper understanding.

There are practices where people introduce stereotypes and archetypes without context, and I'm personally strongly opposed to that. Instead, I hope these terms open conversations and spark curiosity, and serve a practical purpose too, for Chinese-language learners who might otherwise blank out when they run into these terms.

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小镇做题家 Small-Town Exam Whiz

Definition: People from rural areas or small towns who study relentlessly to test their way into elite universities—only to find, upon entering big cities, an unbridgeable gap in social capital that no amount of correct answers can close.

Origin: The term originated in May 2020 from the Douban group “985 废物引进计划” (985 Loser Recruitment Plan), a support group for graduates from China’s elite universities who felt left behind. It entered broad public view a month later, quickly went viral, capturing a widespread structural anxiety over diminishing upward mobility despite high academic achievements. In July 2022, it surged again amid controversy over singer and actor Jackson Yee securing a coveted, stable job at the state-funded National Theatre of China.

Read about it in media: 真实故事计划 (Real Story Project) 2020/06/03 小镇做题家：一个211高校学生的命运陷阱 (”Small-town exam whiz: the fate trap of a 211-university student”)

光明日报《青年说》(Guangming Daily, “Youth Talk”) 2020/08/09 把自信紧握在手上，”小镇做题家” (”Holding tight to confidence in hand: the ‘small-town exam whiz’”)

小红书 (RedNote) 2022/08/19 小镇做题家，我只做到了前四个字 (”Small-town exam whiz, I only made it as the ‘small-town exam taker’”)

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I have to say, I have been slightly out of the loop in emerging tech since leaving my full-time role as a tech reporter at SCMP a few years ago. But you’ll definitely see more coverage about the intersection of AI and consumer over here as AI starts feeling more tangible in the Chinese consumer psyche and in everyday consumer culture.

Also, if you haven’t, this is the last day of the reader survey. I really hope you can take a few minutes to complete this, which would mean a great deal to us.

Until next time.

03 Entertainment & Companionship

🤖 Bionic Humanoid Robots

Liaode Technology E1 “Yiyi”

Liaode Technology, a Shanghai-based robotics startup, has introduced a full-sized ultra-bionic walking companion with an anthropomorphic aesthetic. Anchored by an intelligent high-fidelity head and integrated AI large language models, the robot is capable of empathetic, multilingual dialogue spanning diverse regional dialects.

• Price: Quoted at WAIC for: ¥248,000

Yaling’s verdict: The buzz of humanoid robots started with Unitree at the beginning of 2025. After almost two years of an arms race, in China, it can be foreseen that the first mainstream user scenario of bionic humanoid robots may be sex companionship.

In the Chinese market — where systems and rules are conventionally built to support the male — sex companionship is respected as a genuine user need. (When the Economist put it to introduce their recent podcast about China’s manosphere, it says: “China is also home to a large number of traditionally minded men whose views on gender are supported by the Chinese government.”)

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I really didn’t think I would be the perfect ambassador for the Chinese voice-to-text app, Typeless, until this week.

As some of you might have seen on Substack Notes — my left collarbone is broken and my left hand is in a sling, which limits my ability to do any chores or type on a laptop.

Thankfully, Typeless is helping me transcribe and format the messages I want to say and the emails I want to write back. I was already a free user before my injury, and the day after it happened, I paid for the £150/year subscription without hesitation. (Here’s a referral link in case you want to try it 🫣)

But Chinese AI products are not just limit to what people can use on their devices. Along with part 2, this guide walks through three categories — smart wearables, home products, entertainment & companionship — many of them shown at the recently concluded WAIC in Shanghai that was addressed by President Xi Jinping, and on mainstream e-commerce platforms. (You can read more about WAIC from AI Proem’s coverage, written by our friends and Zheng.)

I do not have immediate access to these products as I’m currently back in the UK, however, under each description, I will give you a few simple reasons why I want to try them or not.

Imagine a life where you’re wearing glasses that translate for you, a pendant that notices when your mood dips, exoskeletons that carry you further, lamps that tutor your kid… and now let’s jump in.

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01 Smart Wearables

🕶️AI Glasses

Alibaba Qwen AI Glasses

Qwen AI Glasses are AI hardware terminals launched by Alibaba based on its Tongyi Qwen large language model, featuring series such as the S1 (equipped with a binocular display) and the G1 (focused on audio and photography). It offers features including real-time object recognition, simultaneous translation, first-person navigation, and voice meeting transcription.

• Price: S1 ¥3,499; G1 ¥1,869

Yaling’s verdict: As a contacts-over-glasses person, AI glasses never appealed to me.

I also don’t think they’re headed for mass adoption in China. Aside from the privacy concerns well-discussed in the West, here are two recent policies/events that add to the hurdles: On June 2, the Ministry of Education issued a clear warning ahead of the national entry exam: regardless of the reason, and regardless of whether it is actually used, bringing a mobile phone, smartwatch/smart band, smart glasses, or similar device into the exam hall constitutes cheating.

Outside the exam hall, AI glasses have also sparked social and ethical controversy. The Rokid glasses community was reported for a user uploading secretly filmed content of a flight attendant, triggering intense public backlash.

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It will take around 7 minutes to complete thoughtfully, and it will shape what Following the Yuan publishes, and how, to a great extent. As a thank-you, I'll be giving one respondent a year-long membership. 🙏

Brands ment…

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All posts in this group called “Shanghai Happy Planet Part-Time 2” are for either ‘blowing up venues’ as paid attendees or part-time retail jobs.

I lurked for days until this popped up:

“Task: visiting a renowned luxury watch exhibition

Time: any 10 minutes between 10:00-18:30

Requirement: no restriction, clean appearance

Compensation: 50 yuan the next day (including 10 yuan deposit)”

The gig in description is Swiss watchmaker Rolex’s landmark exhibition in Shanghai, which was run from June 10 to until June 28.

The glitzy exhibition was attended by Chinese celebrities including tennis player Li Na and Director Jia Zhangke, and executives from the HQ to celebrate the centenary of the brand’s first waterproof wristwatch. And alongside them, an unknown number of paid attendees.

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Edited by: &

Production:

For decades, selling cigarettes was one of the surest ways to make money in China.

As long as shop owners continued to buy whatever the country’s sole cigarette maker, China Tobacco (HKG: 6055), assigned to them, their license would be upgraded. The higher the tier, the more cigarettes they would be assigned — including premium brands, the most lucrative cigarettes.

With many Chinese customers being heavy smokers, and China Tobacco being the same entity as its regulator, State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, there was virtually no threat to this steady source of income. Licensed retailers were in such a desirable position that they were considered prime marriage material. China Tobacco, meanwhile, provided the government with a good chunk of revenue.

All that changed in 2025.

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📊 BIG STAT

China’s “him economy” gains real traction this 618 // Men’s products emerged as a standout growth category in this year’s 618 shopping festival — in Austin Li’s livestream, male shoppers’ average order value and repurchase…

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I thought these may be important to a fan, so instead of throwing it away, I posted on…

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I moved to Tokyo for grad school after 2022 and now work as a freelance writer and designer. Over the last few years, I’ve watched friends and acquaintances back home get caught between “trying harder” and “lying flat” amid an increasingly competitive job market, even as opportunities have shrunk.

The last time I visited a friend in a new first-tier city, she was busy preparing for the guokao (国考), China’s national civil service exam.

When I asked why, she said it was her parents’ wish. Like many Chinese parents, they believed that a stable job was the only real job. She had been dead set against it at first.

After she started her first tiresome full-time job, she gradually realized she’d rather be a civil servant to lie flat (tangping, 躺平). After all, it comes with fixed hours and generous benefits for the rest of her life.

In order to lie flat later, she decides to do the exact opposite now:

She wakes up at 7 every morning, grabs some bread, and rushes off to her day job at a private company. After a full day of work, she returns home and studies for the exam, memorizing dense political terminology, prepping for interviews, drilling past questions compiled by other test-takers online. She is often too anxious to fall asleep at night.

She hadn’t even worked this hard for the gaokao (高考), China’s notoriously competitive college entrance exam. ‘Was it really worth pouring in this much effort, this much energy?’ I wanted to ask but didn’t dare to. I wished her the best.

On April 28, China’s Ministry of State Security published an article claiming that “lying flat” is being stoked by hostile foreign forces:

Numerous cases suggest that anti-China hostile forces, under the banner of “lying flat,” are actively attempting to erode the thinking of Chinese youth.

I wonder how my friend would react to it. If her goal is to lie flat inside the civil service system, does that make her “a victim of foreign subversion,” or its most dedicated opponent?

What follows is my attempt to think through that question: where this word came from, who has been fighting over what it means, what young people are actually doing, and how ordinary people responded when the state security apparatus tried to claim that their exhaustion was, in fact, a foreign plot?

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Since China reopened in late 2022 after COVID, I’ve been asked and been asking people this question:

Is the Chinese economy really that bad?

I remember discussing multiple phenomena from consumers seeking cheaper replacements, to white collar professionals swarming to cheap lunch deals, to special forces tourism — all can be wrapped up under the umbrella of consumption downgrade. Since 2024, it has become increasingly clear that downgrading one’s options is not just a vibe, but represents something more structural.

At this turning point, what you see may seem contradictory to one another.

If you reside outside of China, have made trips back after COVID, and feel relieved after seeing that the shopping streets and malls are filled with people, you might feel like China has gone back to how you remember it.

But what you may not realize is that things have fundamentally changed. Traffic may no longer be directly correlated with value.

In the consumption downgrade era, brands and manufacturers have also downgraded — they’ve lowered their quality or switched to cheaper alternatives, they have cut marketing budget or use a combination of AI and freelancers to produce campaigns — that’s how they can stay competitive in the price war.

We are seeing this phenomenon across different industries. Since the Labor Day holiday is around the corner, let’s use travel as an example:

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Editor:

Editor’s notes: What’s the point of archetypes and stereotypes? I believe they are essential to our understanding of different human conditions and how environments shape individuals. Within China, the difference is that an archetype is a recognized character type, and stereotypes form later in people’s minds when the archetype …

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📊 BIG STAT

Chinese consumers are eating more instant noodles, not for the reason you think // Over half of Chinese consumers increased their instant noodle intake over the past year, with more than 40% saying they …

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They have both become the sources of entertainment for Chinese consumers with shrinking wallets in 2026.

About two weeks ago, Xi’an hosted a Caijiamo competition (as opposed to Roujiamo with meat, it’s vegetables), where contestants were given a Shaanxi-style crispy flatbread and were as…

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Yesterday was the annual March 15 Consumer Rights Gala. Again, as in the last few years, the issues exposed stop being hard-hit…

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However, since the rise of ‘guochao’/New Chinese Style movement, domestic brands have increasingly taken over the centerstage in consumer aspirations, which make them role models for Western brands in connecting…

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The occasion of Spring Festival gala — which also includes local versions at provincial TV stations — doesn’t attract much good will these days, but it remains a premium opportunity for celebrities and brands to make an appearence. Above all, of course, the one hosted by China Media Group (CMG) trumps all.

Over the last week, you could see waves of celebrities posting their behind-the-scenes content of being on such galas on social media. They may just be happy and honored to be invited, of course.

However, in the age of cancel culture, in which the driving force is the government rather the market in China, it also sends signals to their potential employers: LOOK! I have the stamp of approval from the government; it’s safe to hire me.

Also on the stage were made-in-China humanoid robots. Unitree, Noetix Robotics, Galbot, and Magic Lab each paid RMB 100 million to be on stage ahead of the industry’s IPO craze, according to financial publication Caijing.

So, what’s the role of CMG Spring Festival gala here? A billboard, a business broker, an AI bubble enabler? For now, it seems to be all of the above.

The brands/companies we mentioned in this issue are: Kingsoft Shiyou, Zegna Group, Pop Mart, Mingming Henmang, Eastroc Beverage, Pangdonglai, Walmart, RedNote, Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, ByteDance, Seedance 2.0, BOSS Zhipin, Anta, Alo Yoga, Mixue.

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