Can Beijing Stay Out Of The Way?

Dear You is capturing hearts and wallets across SE Asia. Now that it is successful the soft-powers that be cannot help themselves.

Douglas Montgomery's Straits Times op-ed examines why Dear You, a US$2 million Teochew-language film, became China's biggest soft-power success in years — precisely because Beijing wasn't visibly involved.

Drawing on cases from Wolf Warrior 2 to Ne Zha 2, he argues the qualities that make stories travel — ambiguity, criticism, emotional honesty — are the same ones that make governments uncomfortable.

The lesson for Beijing: cultural influence works best when the state stays out of the room, and the temptation to claim ownership of success is exactly what kills it.