How was "A Love Letter to Grandma" created?

The Most Touching Cultural Phenomenon of 2026

If there is one work in the Chinese film market in 2026 that truly accomplished the reversal "from local to national, from dialect to empathy, from low-budget to phenomenal," it is very likely "A Letter to Grandma."

It is not a typical commercial blockbuster: no popular celebrities, no huge investment, and it did not rely on aggressive marketing. Public reports describe it as a "three-nothing" movie, yet it achieved success through word-of-mouth, spontaneous audience recommendations, and strong emotional resonance. It broke out from its core market in Chaozhou-Shantou, Guangdong, and became one of the most notable dark horses of the May Day release of 2026. Since its release on April 30, 2026, as of May 24, its box office has exceeded 700 million RMB, setting a new record for films with Chaozhou-Shantou themes.

What made it so moving is not just "touching," but that it turned a cultural memory often seen as local into a letter home that every wanderer can understand.

1. It began as a dialect film, but ended up as a nationwide emotional film

The most striking feature of "A Letter to Grandma" is its status as a "Chaozhou-Shantou dialect film." The movie is largely spoken in Chaozhou-Shantou dialect, and incorporates local symbols such as Kungfu tea, Yingge dance, clan ethics, and Qiaopi culture. These elements might have originally been seen as limitations in the market: would the dialect hinder audience understanding? Does local culture only resonate with locals?

But it actually proves this: the more specific the local experience, the more likely it is to evoke universal emotions.

This process is like a cultural ripple: first making "those who understand" cry, then letting "those who don't understand the dialect" connect through subtitles, visuals, and emotions.

Modern Chaozhou-Shantou dialect, though defined as one of the many Chinese dialects, traces its history back to the Zhou Dynasty of the ancient Henan-Luo River period. Linguists believe only the Chaozhou-Shantou dialect is suitable for reading aloud ancient verses from the Book of Songs and Chu Poems, which are over 3000 years old.

2. The real core is "Qiaopi": a family letter as well as a financial IOU

The most important cultural core of the film is the Chaozhou-Shantou "Qiaopi culture."

"Qiaopi" is not just a letter, but often includes remittance receipts sent by overseas Chinese to their hometowns; it carries the economic support, emotional concerns, and identity memories between those who went overseas and their relatives who stayed behind. People's Daily cites Guangming Daily’s article noting that the film is based on the true history of modern Chaozhou-Shantou people going to Southeast Asia, telling stories generated by the sending and receiving of Qiaopi letters between wanderers and family back home.

This is the most moving part of "A Letter to Grandma": what it films is not just a letter, but the fate of generations of people who "can’t go home" and "always wait for home."

In this sense, the "love letter" in the title is not merely a romantic love letter. It is more like:

- A letter to grandma;

- A confession to the hometown;

- An echo to migrants, diaspora, wanderers;

- And also a memorial and guardianship for the mother tongue and cultural roots.

3. It did not use melodramatic formulas, but moved audiences with "awkward sincerity"

Many viewers were touched by "A Letter to Grandma" not because of its dramatics, but because of its restraint.

Reports describe it as breaking through formulaic commercial film narratives with "awkward sincerity," using a "soft voice conveying strong words" approach: not relying on frequent twists or high-concept stimulation, but accumulating emotional power in calm everyday life.

This sense of sincerity comes from several aspects:

1. Characters are not symbolic sufferers of hardship

Grandma, mother, the traveler, the one who stayed—all are not just present to evoke tears. They have forbearance, but also stubbornness; silence, but also dignity.

2. Dialect is not a gimmick, but the emotional matrix

Chaozhou-Shantou dialect is not merely a "local feature" in the film—it is how the characters express love, guilt, waiting, and longing. When the mother tongue is spoken, memories return.

3. Emotions are not shouted out, but waited for

Waiting for letters, waiting for people, waiting for remittance, waiting for news, waiting for a reunion that might never happen. This act of "waiting" itself is the film's emotional engine.

4. Women's affection is its most valuable contemporary aspect

Although "A Letter to Grandma" deals with migration to Southeast Asia, Qiaopi, nation and homeland, one of its most penetrating parts is its depiction of female roles.

Reviews note the film focuses on the mutual help relationship across time and fate between two female characters, replacing clichéd romantic competition with "female affection," showcasing the endurance, resilience, and cultural transmission of Chaozhou-Shantou women in the tide of times.

This makes it not just a nostalgia film or a simple family ethics film. It actually answers a more modern question:

When men travel far, families are scattered, and history falls silent, who holds the home together?

The film’s answer: many times, it’s grandma, it’s mother, it’s those women not highlighted in history but who silently maintain the order of life and pass down affection.

They may not be the protagonists of grand narratives, but they are the true keepers of family memory.

5. Why did it break out? Because it struck the shared wound of "the era of wandering"

The sudden popularity of "A Letter to Grandma" on the surface is Chaozhou-Shantou culture breaking out; on a deeper level, it struck the universal emotions of contemporary people.

Today's viewers may not all have family migration histories to Southeast Asia, nor understand the Chaozhou-Shantou dialect, but they almost all understand:

- Leaving home for work;

- Not having returned to their hometown in a long time;

- Having unspoken love with elderly relatives;

- Missing a language, flavor, or way of life that is disappearing;

- Becoming successful in the city, yet suddenly not knowing where they came from.

So its emotional impact does not belong only to Chaozhou-Shantou people, but also to all "people who left home."

In other words, it’s not about audiences "understanding Chaozhou-Shantou," but about them seeing themselves in the Chaozhou-Shantou story.

6. Its revelation for Chinese-language film: It’s not that niche culture isn’t big enough, it’s that it hasn’t been filmed true enough

Perhaps the most memorable part of "A Letter to Grandma" is not the box office number, but that it rewrote some market prejudices.

In the past, dialect films, regional culture films, mid- and low-budget family films were often seen as having limited potential. But this movie proves:

- Locality is not the obstacle, vacuousness is.

- Dialect is not the barrier, inauthenticity is.

- Low budget is not the problem, lacking emotional core is the problem.

Its success makes people believe again that Chinese-language movies can still draw power from land, mother tongue, family, history, and everyday life.

It’s not a victory of one film, but a letter home that too many people have waited for

The reason "A Letter to Grandma" became the most touching cultural phenomenon of 2026 is not just because it made audiences cry.

It started from Chaozhou-Shantou, but reached everyone's heart.