Tiger’s Head, Nail’s Tail: Yours Faithfully

Tiger’s Head, Nail’s Tail: Yours Faithfully is an essay-film serving as the conceptual and psychological backbone of the multi-chapter research Tiger’s Head, Nail’s Tail. The project is an excavation of language, migration, and the political translation of memory across Southeast Asia.The research is inspired by the life of Hui’s century-old grandfather and his migration from Chaozhou through Vietnam, eventually settling in Hong Kong. Central to this narrative is his past role as a scribe—an invisible intermediary who facilitated communication for Chinese migrants through the Qiaopi (or Silver Letters) system.

This vital 20th-century network of correspondence and finance was a lifeline for the diaspora, yet it relied on the scribe to write, read, and perhaps censor the messages of others. The essay film is a montage of conversations with Hui’s grandfather, archival material, and footage from migration sites. It contextualizes the scribe’s role within the broader history of Qiaopi while reflecting on the geopolitical dynamics of the Cold War era—from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China to the complex diplomatic shifts among newly decolonizing nations in Southeast Asia. Through this lens, the film explores the trust and time involved in historical letter transmission versus contemporary communication, reframing the act of transcribing to illuminate the emotional and political contours of a momentous displacement. Tiger’s Head, Nail’s Tail: Yours Faithfully is part of A City in Transmission: Five Works from Videotage, curated by Doris Poon and presented in collaboration with Videotage as the first installment of Histories of Video Art.

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