# Kinship and Roots Link Chinese at Home and Afar, One Qiaopi Letter at a Time

> From qiaopi letters to the hit film Dear You, ties of kinship and homesickness bind Chinese at home and abroad. In Shishi, Fujian, a letter-writer approaching 80 still helps young roots-seekers craft family letters with a sense of ceremony.

- Source: Times of China (Times of China)
- Canonical URL: https://timesofchina.cn.com/en/article/qiaopi-kinship-links-chinese-at-home-and-afar
- Chinese edition: https://timesofchina.cn.com/article/qiaopi-kinship-links-chinese-at-home-and-afar
- Author: 中国时报编辑部
- Section: Society
- Published: 2026-08-06T14:00:00+08:00
- Updated: 2026-08-06T14:00:00+08:00
- Tags: 侨批, 华侨华人, 福建, 寻根, 文化遗产

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Letter by letter, qiaopi have linked Chinese people at home and abroad. From yellowed family letters to the recent hit film Dear You, ties of kinship and homesickness are leading more and more young overseas Chinese onto journeys in search of their roots. There are more than 60 million overseas Chinese living in over 200 countries and regions, and more than 20 million of them trace their ancestral roots to Fujian province.

## A lifetime of writing qiaopi

In Shishi, Fujian, a man now approaching 80 has spent 60 years writing qiaopi for others. Qiaopi are a special kind of letter sent home by overseas Chinese, combining a family letter with a remittance. By his recollection, from the 1960s to the 1990s he wrote more than 100,000 of them.

These days, more of the people who come to him are young. He says people come for all sorts of things: to write an apology to a mother far overseas, to send a cousin abroad a traditional envelope with stamps, or to write letters to their future selves. What they are seeking is a sense of ceremony. In 2013, qiaopi were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.

## Keeping the roots

For many overseas Chinese, qiaopi carry the hardship and deep feeling of an older generation. Xi Jinping once said these letters recorded the strenuous efforts of the old generation of overseas Chinese and their profound love for the hometown and the motherland. In 2020, he visited a qiaopi museum in Shantou, Guangdong.

The pull of kinship continues in the younger generation too. In August this year, a group of young ethnic Chinese from Myanmar returned to Fujian in search of their roots. Chen An, a 24-year-old Chinese-language teacher, was among them. She said her father insisted they master the language so as never to forget their roots.

## From attracting capital to winning hearts

During his years working in Fujian, from 1985 to 2002, Xi placed great importance on work with overseas Chinese. In 1991 he led a delegation to Indonesia to call on the diaspora leader Liem Sioe Liong, using an agricultural metaphor to push for the Yuanhong Investment Zone, turning initial aid, or giving eggs, into self-sustaining development, or raising hens. The project became, for a time, China's largest comprehensive foreign-funded land development.

In late July 2026, a meeting on Chinese nationals overseas was held in Beijing, where Xi issued instructions stressing the need to rally hearts and pool strength, not merely to attract capital. From qiaopi to roots-seeking, from attracting capital to winning hearts, a connection built on emotion and culture is drawing Chinese at home and abroad ever closer.

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Originally published by Times of China. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://timesofchina.cn.com/en/article/qiaopi-kinship-links-chinese-at-home-and-afar.