Editor's Note
Due to historical fate, a group of compatriots born in Taiwan Province finally settled in the mainland. Time has passed, and now most of them have entered their twilight years. Walking into their hometown memories, listening to their growth and life in the mainland, and their insights into cross-Strait exchanges are a vivid reflection of the great history of cross-Strait relations. Starting from this issue, we have launched "Old Mainland Taiwan Compatriots Reminiscing on the Turbulent Years", inviting former representatives of the Taiwan delegation to the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, representatives of the Taiwan delegation to the National People's Congress, and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from Taiwan Province to talk about their time in the times. Nostalgic memories in the tide.
In 1949, I went to Xiamen, China with my grandfather who had settled in mainland China. I never expected that I would never see my parents in Taiwan again, separated by the strait. When I left Keelung Port, my mother carried her 2-year-old brother on her back and kept waving to me. The scene of me being unable to let go of my concern for my daughter who was traveling far away has always stayed in my heart. This shore and the other shore, this road home, I have waited for more than 26,000 sunrises and moonsets. We hope that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will no longer be isolated, and that compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait will get closer and eventually reunite. This is our common expectation, as well as our responsibility and mission. I believe that the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the ability and wisdom to solve this problem. We want peace, not conflict, and communication, not isolation.
Zhang Guizhu
waved goodbye to Keelung
In 1949, my grandfather (we called him grandpa) who lived in Xiamen came to our home in Keelung from Xiamen as a guest. Grandpa brought us a lot of delicious food and invited our family to visit Xiamen. I heard from my mother that my grandpa was doing business in Xiamen and lived a very wealthy life. The scenery in Xiamen was also very beautiful. My sister and I were clamoring to go to Xiamen with my grandpa. At that time, my father was working as an engineer in an electric lighting company in Keelung. However, he was injured in an accident, which affected his normal work. My mother was also a housewife, so the family life was very difficult. My sister and I rarely had the opportunity to go outside Keelung. Play.
My grandpa was originally going to take my sister to Xiamen, but the day he left Taiwan was very close to the day when my sister was going to study in Japan, so after my application, my mother agreed to let me go with my grandpa. At that time, you had to apply for documents and take photos before leaving Taiwan to go to the mainland. My mother said, if you can't make it in time, don't go. But what I didn't expect was that at the last moment, I got the documents I needed to go to Xiamen with my grandpa.
I still remember clearly that that afternoon, my mother carried my 2-year-old brother on her back, holding me with one hand, and got on a rickshaw and rushed to the Keelung Passenger Terminal. Because I have never traveled far away, my mother repeatedly told me that when I arrived in Xiamen, I must listen to my grandparents, pay attention to safety, and take care of myself. When we arrived at the dock, grandpa was already on the boat. The boat was very big and was about to sail. The whole family was very anxious, but we couldn't find Grandpa. Just when my mother was about to take me home, I found my grandfather among the many passengers. Grandpa heard me calling him, stuck his head out from the deck, and told me to get on the boat quickly. In this way, one person passed from person to person, and I was carried onto the big wooden passenger ship. I was so happy to get on the boat that I leaned out of the window and waved goodbye to my mother.
Wearing a small skirt and red shoes, with a smile, and waving to my family on the shore, I never thought that this would be my last farewell to my mother, my 40-year separation from my hometown in Taiwan. My luggage only consisted of a few summer clothes that my mother simply packed for me, because we just wanted to go to Xiamen for a few days with my grandpa. However, fate has made me deeply connected with the mainland. This year, I was 7 years old.
A boy in Xiamen
My grandfather was from Zhejiang. When he went to Taiwan to do business, he met and got married to his grandmother, who grew up in Taoyuan. Later, the two settled in Jiangtou, Xiamen, which is today's Xiamen Taiwan Street area.
When I first arrived in Xiamen, I had no playmates and could only sit obediently on the bench in front of my house every day. Many adults and children from the neighbors came to watch the fun and wanted to see what this little girl from Taiwan looked like.
Because I am the only granddaughter around, my grandparents love me very much and even hire a nanny to look after me. I have everything I need and I don’t have to worry about food and clothing. I enjoy living in Xiamen.Because I couldn't return to Taiwan for a while, when I reached school age, my grandpa arranged for me to go to elementary school in Xiamen and renamed me Zhang Guizhu instead of the name "Zhu Lu" I used in Taiwan.
I was young and young at the time, and I didn’t quite understand what was going on between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. What left a lasting impression was that every time I accompanied my elderly grandma to the hospital, she always told me to memorize the address of my hometown in Keelung. Grandma said, "Taiwan has not been liberated yet. Now we cannot return to Taiwan. I may not be able to see your mother, but you must memorize your house number so that you can return to Taiwan one day or meet your relatives in Taiwan." , There is physical evidence of identification. "
My home address is Port 8, Keelung, Taiwan. My mother's name is Zhang Fu, and my father's name is Zhang Shizhu... Under the instructions of my grandma, the information of these Taiwanese family members was clearly engraved on it. In my mind when I was 7 years old at that time. Grandma also asked me to keep the pair of red leather shoes I wore from Taiwan in a small suitcase so that I could use them as physical evidence when I recognized my relatives in Taiwan.
In 1960, my beloved grandfather passed away. My grandma was worried that she would have no one to take care of me in the future because of her old age, so she asked someone to introduce me to someone. In the social environment at that time, my grandma thought that she must find me a family with a good "status", so I found my lover. My family's "status" was a poor peasant and a mainland man who was a retired soldier, and we got married. .
Growing up in Mainland China
Except for not being able to meet my parents in Taiwan, my life and growth process in coming to Mainland China were very smooth, but my experience of joining the Chinese Communist Party organization was quite bumpy. Because my parents are both Taiwanese citizens, I submitted applications for party membership 8 times in a row. It was not until the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China that we proposed to implement the policy of Taiwan compatriots and Taiwanese compatriots living in the mainland. , no discrimination”, I was accepted by the CCP organization. From my heart, I am proud to join the Communist Party of China. When I was working as a female worker in Xiamen No. 2 Weaving Factory, every time I talked about asking party members and comrades to stay in meetings, I really looked forward to being a party member. So far, I have served the Party gloriously for more than 40 years.
I can grow from an ordinary female textile worker to a national cadre, and I would also like to thank the party organization for training me. In 1973, when I was working in the workshop, I received a notice asking me to go to Beijing for a meeting, saying that the National People's Congress was going to establish a Taiwan Provincial delegation. As a Taiwanese compatriot in Fujian, I was recommended as a representative of the delegation. I never dreamed at that time that I would become a representative of the National People's Congress.
In 1975, at the first session of the Fourth National People's Congress held in Beijing, the Taiwan Provincial delegation consisted of 12 Taiwanese compatriots who have permanently resided in the mainland, 4 of whom were women representatives, and I was one of them. On the opening day of the
conference, Premier Zhou Enlai made a special trip to visit the compatriots in the delegation. I still clearly remember the scene at that time. Seeing Premier Zhou Enlai walking towards us from a distance, I quickly stood up from my seat. Because I was very excited, I accidentally touched the special pencil on the table in my hurry. When I reached out to pick it up in a hurry, the pen tip pierced my palm again. , I still have a black mark on my hand.
After attending this meeting, my sense of identity, mission and responsibility was awakened. After returning to Xiamen from Beijing, I continued to produce while promoting the spirit of the National People's Congress meeting to my workers. I also used my time after get off work to visit Taiwanese compatriots in Xiamen. At that time, I often thought, how great it would be if my parents in Taiwan and my compatriots on the island could live as happy a life as I did in Xiamen! Under the current cross-strait relations at that time, a protracted propaganda war was fought by shouting messages to each other through radio. With a simple mentality, I once went to the Taiwan Front Radio Station and told my parents in Taiwan what I was saying, hoping that they could hear me and rest assured that I was on the mainland. I said that since I came to Xiamen with my grandfather in 1949, I have been cultivated and cared for by the Chinese Communist Party here, and I have grown up happily in our socialist society. I have successively served as a deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. I have not only helped Taiwanese compatriots in the mainland He lived a happy life and built his own happy family, growing from a textile worker to a national cadre.Later, my story was also told in the documentary "In Azu's Homeland" shot by Bayi Film Studio.
Absent Family Fun
In 1985, a letter sent from Switzerland broke my peaceful life at that time. It was written to me by my cousin (my aunt's daughter) living in Switzerland, who was commissioned by her family. My cousin happened to hear my story while listening to domestic radio in Switzerland. My mother was seriously ill at this time, so she thought of sending a letter from home to ask the Chinese Embassy in Switzerland to help contact the country and forward the letter to me.
In 1985, a letter sent from Switzerland allowed Zhang Guizhu to reconnect with her relatives on the island after 35 years.
I still remember the scene when I received the letter from my cousin home. I heard that someone from the Xiamen Municipal Public Security Bureau was looking for me. I returned home from work in a panic, thinking that I had not broken any laws, so how could someone from the Public Security Bureau be looking for me? When I entered the house and saw the comrade from the Public Security Bureau explaining my purpose of coming, I cried all night. The more I thought about it, the more heartbroken I became. While reading the letter over and over again, I thought, since my cousin can find me, does that mean that I can soon too? Contact your parents?
Later, my cousin and I began to communicate continuously, and in 1986 we made an appointment to meet in Hong Kong. This is the first time I have met my relatives in Taiwan after we were separated for 37 years. My cousin called me "Zhulu" when we met, and we both hugged each other and cried, unable to make a sound. Since my cousin was transiting from Hong Kong to Taiwan at the time, and could only stay in Hong Kong for one day, we talked until very late that night, accompanying my cousin on what had happened at home over the years, and piecing together the memories of my absence in this family. When we parted, my cousin and I agreed that she would return to Taiwan to contact me, and I would wait in Hong Kong for a call back from my Taiwanese family.
But who knew that after my cousin left, there was no news at all. I spent a whole two months waiting and anticipating. Just when I was looking forward to it in the morning and at night, seeing that my visa was about to expire, and almost giving up waiting to return to the mainland, the hotel phone rang. The familiar accents of my sister and brother came from the other end of the phone, but my mother’s was the only one I didn’t hear. During the phone call, I learned that my mother was very ill at the time and could not get up to speak. Later, I was unable to hear her voice until she passed away, which has become a regret in my life. It will be a year later that
returns to his hometown. In 1987, during the movement of many homesick mainland veterans to return home to visit relatives, the Taiwan authorities announced that some Taiwan compatriots would be allowed to return to the mainland to visit relatives, and the barrier between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait was finally broken. Groups of relatives from the other side of the Taiwan Strait were welcomed at the Heping Wharf of Xiamen Port. At that time, I was already the deputy secretary-general of the Xiamen Taiwan Federation, and I often received guests from my hometown in Taiwan. urgent.
However, the journey home was far away, and I have kept the official letter from Taiwan rejecting my visit to Taiwan to this day. Because I have actively participated in mainland China's work against Taiwan since I was young, and later joined politics, I became a target of rejection by the Taiwan authorities from returning to Taiwan to visit relatives. Later, I learned that after my father passed away, my younger brother went into business with my mother. Because my status was too special, out of fear, my younger brother canceled my household registration in Taiwan in 1974 on the grounds of "death."
Later, it was not until the Mid-Autumn Festival in 2002 that my wish to return to Taiwan to visit relatives was finally realized. At this time, it had been 53 years since I left Taiwan. The ancients said, "It is particularly bright from June to the Mid-Autumn Festival." The day I went home happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival. Under the bright moonlight, I looked at the bed where my mother had slept, the Buddhist niche where incense was burned during her lifetime, and the Buddhist altar where she had been waiting. As I walked through the courtyard, I couldn't help but cry bitterly, lamenting the pain of separation that the pain of history has brought to our little family.
I heard from a neighbor that my mother missed me the most when she was alive. In the end, she became seriously ill and she sat at the door and talked about me all day long. My younger brother told me that every year during the reunion dinner on New Year’s Eve, my father would always put an extra pair of bowls and chopsticks, as if I was still with them. And I, the "Azhu" they loved most, could only go to their graves and burn a stick of incense when I returned home to express their dear daughter's endless longing for the two elders.
" Gulangyu Island The sea is surrounded by vast seas, and the sea water is swollen with waves.Gulangyu Island faces Taiwan Island in the distance. Taiwan is my hometown..." " Gulangyu Zhibo " is my favorite song. Whenever the melody of the song sounds, I can't help but hum along. The lyrics "I long, I long, to see you soon, beautiful Keelung Port" express the deep emotions in my heart. The compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait live on the same roots and are connected by the same spirit. I hope that my story will forever become history, and I hope that both sides of the Taiwan Strait will become history. The tragedy of separated relatives should not be repeated, and future generations should not suffer the pain of a turbulent life. The island of Taiwan is like a ship, carrying the common destiny and pursuit of hundreds of millions of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The years have written the joys and sorrows, and Taiwan will eventually return. The nation will eventually be reunited.
(Thanks to the Xiamen Taiwan Federation and Ms. Liu Shuping for providing interview support for this article)
Source: "People's Political Consultative Conference" (page 08, August 13, 2022)
Oral: Zhang Guizhu
Reporter: Xiu Jing
layout editor: Xiujing
new media editor: Mochou
