Qiaopi: Sending love and money from abroad

Qiaopi, a combination of mail and remittance certificate sent by overseas Chinese to their families in provinces of Guangdong and Fujian in the 19th and 20th centuries, serve as valuable document for understanding this chapter of the history.

The Chaozhou-Shantou region in Guangdong has a long history of people migrating overseas, especially to Southeast Asian nations, to make a living, said Yang Dongmei, assistant curator of Shantou Qiaopi Museum.

More than 10 million people of Chaozhou-Shantou origin are living in over 40 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland.

Migrant ancestors sent back qiaopi as correspondences and to financially support their families back home. Qiaopi business boomed in mid-19th century and ended in the 1970s.

In years around 1931, 40-50 percent of the families in Chaozhou-Shantou region depended financially on qiaopi remittances.

Qiaopi were initially carried back by people travelling back and forth and later by specialized qiaopi houses.

To save space and money, some qiaopi were small and highly concise.

Qiaopi was included in the list of the Memory of the World by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2013.

Shantou Qiaopi Museum has a collection of more than 120,000 pieces of qiaopi.