KUALA LUMPUR – “My parents were living here, so I took a test and obtained Malaysian citizenship,” recalls Goh Choon Piow, 86, a naturalised Malaysian, as he reflected on giving up his Chinese citizenship in the 1960s.

As part of the citizenship test, he had to pronounce the Malay words for “identity card” (kad pengenalan) and state the name of Malaysia’s then king.

When the Straits Times met Goh in early July, he had just watched Dear You for the fifth time. A Teochew, he says the film resonates deeply with him because it mirrors his own journey from China to Malaysia at the age of 16.

“It was a very hard time,” Goh recalls. His first job was as a sundry shop assistant, working 15-hour days in Gombak, Selangor. Many of his customers were Malay rubber tappers, which was how he picked up the national language quickly.

The mainland Chinese hit, which was filmed almost entirely in the Teochew dialect, tells the poignant tale of Nanyang migrants torn between working in South-east Asia and longing for their hometowns in China. It has taken at least RM15 million (S$4.8 million) at the Malaysian box office, making it the country’s top-grossing Chinese-language film of 2026.

Becoming Malaysian did not sever Goh’s ties with his Teochew ancestral village in Da’an, Guangdong province. After China opened up in the 1990s, he returned regularly and in 2022 donated 20 million yuan (S$3.81 million) to build an arts centre there in memory of his grandfather.

Goh’s story reflects that of many Chinese Malaysians, who see little contradiction between being loyal citizens while maintaining deep cultural and ancestral ties to China. The popularity of Dear You reflects how it has struck a chord with this community because it mirrors that enduring connection across generations.

Its themes have r...