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Whether you’re from the Chinese diaspora community, the Thai-Teochew film “Dear You” should be on your list of watchable movies, especially because it shows the divide between the olden days and the modern day in an authentic manner. Cast members are no big names or mega stars. The only familiar name is Usha Seamkhum, courtesy of “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” (2024), which if you’ve watched it before would give you a rough idea of how emotional this movie can get. In fact, I can tell you that “Dear You” (2026) is three times more emotional than “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” (2024).

The China Chinese production team must have done extensive research to arrive at a decision to pick the track, “Harapanku” because it’s in Indonesian, and not in any of the spoken tongues/languages in the film. As the film depicts letter-writing or khiau phoi to those family members and relatives outside their point of origin (China) who had fled the Chinese civil war, those who are able to capture the lyrics as Malay language users and speakers, in especially Malaysia and Singapore and other regional neighbours, will find it a heart-warming/an eye-opening insert song – particularly because audiences would typically expect mainly songs in Teochew, given that it’s used extensively throughout the film.  

If you’re lost while watching the film, and trying to listen to the lyric(s), just like I was, for a minute (or two), fear not. It’s because the cover version of “Harapanku” was almost as flawless as the original. For the younger generation, you might know Beijing-based Chen Jia, who is known to give you vibes of Teresa Teng, from her vocals and style.

The Taiwanese Teresa Teng had recorded a Mandarin version of the song (written by a Malaysian songwriter, inspired by a girl from Penang), but also decided to pay tribute to her Indonesian fans. After all, Teng was a polyglot (throughout her career). By the way, Teng used her skills in a positive way, especially because she had also recorded “Tian Mi Mi”, and acknowledged that she was inspired by “Dayung Sampan” (melody used in the Singaporean Hokkien “Wonderland” film, with lyrics adapted for the context of the movie), the 1940’s Peranakan folk song.

Sources inform me that Teng recorded “Harapanku” in the 1970s, but only released it in 1983 via an Indonesian record label. As a singer-songwriter, her job nature necessitated lots of travel around the globe. An incident involving diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Japan in the 1970s made her broaden her horizons and viewpoints, which gave her strong reason to record her work in different languages, beyond those she was comfortable in, allowing her to connect and gain fans internationally.  

Teng was last engaged to a French male, before her passing in 1995.