Dialect films. Let more of them be screened in Singapore.

I refer to the brouhaha about the latest film, Dear You, in Chaosan dialect, where literally  thousands of Singaporeans have gone to Johor Bahru to watch.

I profess I am not a dialect speaker, although my heritage is Cantonese, hence the pull of the grandmotherland and motherland is watered down and the ethnic attraction of going back to China or India respectively is practically 0 in my consciousness.

I am proud to be half Chinese. I acknowledge my mother and grandmother were Chinese citizens, but I am a patriotic Singaporean and will remain so. I am very happy to witness China's progress in the last 30 years or so, developing from a poor country till today, a highly industrializing and ultramodern powerhouse, at least from what I observe during my visits to tier 1 and tier 2 cities.  

The issue is about the wanting to connect with the 'lao jia' or hometown for the people who were born there. Many years ago, from the early 20th century to late 20th century, many Chinese people fled China to come to S.E. Asia to look for a more prosperous life, hence, the men left their womenfolk back in the villages and sent back qiaopi or monthly remittances to feed the family who were probably living a hand to mouth existence.  When China started the road towards market capitalism in the mid 1990s, it steadily uplifted hundreds possibly 1 billion people in the last 25 to 30 years from dire poverty to middle class wealth and standards of living.  

Life is short, and it is a shame that the authorities and censorship board still retains archaic regulations which are not applicable in modern day Singapore. I do not think that there will be people - after watching the movie - will want to pack up and migrate to Suzhou province. 

When the speak Mandarin program was kickstarted. This was targetted at Chinese Singaporeans more than 60 years ago, to foster Mandarin as the mother tongue, this program and policy was the right one. Chinese of all dialects speak 'Pu Tong Hua' in China and this unifies the peoples North and South.

Let there be many more screenings of Dear You in Singapore. Many families, want to just spend quality time with grandma and grandpa and organize a family outing, so why make it so trying that there are so few screenings here ? 

There are foreign films aplenty in Singapore, so why limit the number of screenings if the demand is greater than supply ? 

Do something meaningful for the people, our  Government leaders. 

Everything can be amended if it poses no threat