In the past weeks, China’s film market witnessed the unlikely rise of an independent film. Made on a shoestring budget of just 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million), Dear You was filmed entirely in Teochew, a southern dialect, with a cast of mostly regular people and not one celebrity.

Yet it became the top hit in China, pulling in more than 600 million yuan (US$88.12 million) since the Labour Day weekend. On Douban, the Chinese culture forum, the film was rated 9.1 out of 10, putting it in the same league as Titanic, Spirited Away and The Shawshank Redemption.

Wanting to witness the magic myself, I went to the cinema over the weekend. There was a full house, though it was close to lunchtime. The film started light as minor characters made jokes and acted foolish, but soon waves of emotion kicked in. By the time it ended, the large man sitting next to me was sobbing into his palms.

It’s no miracle the movie has become such a huge success. It does exactly what the Chinese entertainment industry has been accused of failing to do in recent years: tell a good story.

The story centres on Ye Shurou, a grandmother in China’s Chaoshan region. Her debt-ridden grandson travels to Thailand to find his rumoured billionaire grandfather, Zheng Musheng, who in his early years went there to make a living but never returned. Ye believed he had an affair and married another woman, only to find out what really happened through her grandson decades later.

The story is skilfully told. Ye and Zheng’s long-distance love is depicted through the letters they sent each other. The grandson finds a string of people who knew his grandfather and eventually pieces together the truth.