CultureSingapore Has Its Own Nanyang Letters, Even Without ‘Letters to Grandma’

Singapore has its own collection of Nanyang family letters, even without the film “Letters to Grandma.” For migrants who left for Nanyang in earlier generations, a letter home could carry a simple message that they were safe, a substantial sum for household expenses, or the longing accumulated over years by 82-year-old Zhang Wenjin. After the film screened locally, it stirred a strong response. The stories of older Singaporeans offer another view of generations of separation, reunion and yearning among Nanyang Chinese families.