In 2013, a man in his forties was packing up the things from his former residence in a resident's home in Tainan, Taiwan Province. These were the relics left by his deceased father. He stroked one by one, as if he was saying this to his father.
The man muttered to himself: "Dad, after you leave, I am the only one left at home. There are no relatives, I have no home."
The man sorted out and sorted it out carefully. He saw a wooden box that looked very old, but he could see that he was very caring and wiped it frequently. The man opened the wooden box and found several yellow letters inside. He was about to open it and read it. A black and white photo fell from the envelope. There was a gentle woman inside, smiling and gently hugging a young girl.
The man thought about it in his mind. He had never seen this mother and daughter before, nor had his father taken out this photo. Who were they? Are they their father’s relatives in the mainland?
took out the letter and read it carefully. The man's pupils suddenly dilated. He was shocked at first, and then he picked up the photo just now with his hands tremblingly, and said in tears: "Sister! My sister I have never met before!"
It turned out that the girl in this photo was his half-sister. It was not until his father passed away, and he was in his forties that he saw his sister's photo for the first time.
Lonely and helpless, he had the idea of finding his sister, but there were so few clues in the vast crowd, who should he ask for help?
Homesickness induced by a letter from home
The man's name is Zhang Yuchen. When he was a child, he heard from his mother that his father Zhang Guochen is from Guangxi and his home is in the mainland. The reason why he stayed in Taiwan was because the situation at that time was forced to come with the Kuomintang troops.
When Zhang Yuchen was born, Zhang Guochen was already in his fifties. I was born in old age, but in Zhang Yuchen's memory, he saw his father smiling at him very young. Especially when I look at myself, I always sigh. He never said anything he asked.
Wait until he could speak and could learn some sentences from adults. Zhang Yuchen lay in his father's arms and learned the first poem in his life, "Homesickness".
"Nostalgia is a shallow strait. I am here and the mainland is there."
He is still young and does not understand what nostalgia is, but he knows that the place where his father often looks at with tears is his hometown.
Chapter Yuchen asked his father curiously, why don’t he go back if he misses home?
Whenever this happens, my father always shook his head helplessly, and his eyes are red and said, "How can a wanderer who is away from home, but it's a pity that he can't go back!"
After slowly growing up, Zhang Yuchen realized his father's helplessness. Communications were interrupted for many years, and the development speeds of both sides of the Taiwan Strait were different. In addition, the communication methods were backward at that time, let alone going home to visit relatives, I didn’t even know where to send the written letter to.
In Taiwan Province, there are many homesick wanderers like my father. They were obsessed with countless times, and they were able to set foot on the land of their hometown again in their lifetime and drink a sip of water from their hometown.
However, things always go against your expectations.
Later, I don’t know when it started, but Zhang Yuchen found that the serious father finally had a smile on his face. He looked at his father and smiled, and he also smiled. He likes such a father, only the father who smiles like a kind father.
The mother secretly told him that his father contacted his relatives in mainland China. It was because his relatives came to the letter that his father was so happy.
Chapter Yuchen only realized at this time why his father did not give birth to his only child until he was in his 50s. It turned out that my father had a marriage in mainland China, but for some reasons, he was forced to come to Taiwan Province. He then tried various ways to go back but never got what he wanted.
Days pass day by day, my father's longing for his relatives becomes stronger and stronger, and the loneliness of living in Taiwan becomes stronger and stronger. It was not until he was in his 50s that he met his mother through an introduction and gave birth to him shortly after marriage.
But even if I have a home here, my father is most concerned about the mainland. He heard his father muttering to himself from his dream again, shouting "Ten Sisters" over and over again.
My father often said that he was just a duckweed , and he could only take root after returning to the mainland. Zhang Yuchen didn't know what it meant, but he knew that every time he did this, his mother would always sigh and gently stroke his father's back and said, "There will be one day, there will be one day."
The young Zhang Yuchen didn't know his father's concerns, and he also tried to ask about his father's home in the mainland, the wife who was waiting for him in the mainland. But every time it is my father's rage, which has become a minefield for the family.
Chapter Yuchen could not understand the relationship between his father and his mother, but he knew since he was a child that his father had never given up his hometown, let alone given up his relatives in his hometown.
Because Zhang Yuchen's parents were already very old when he was born, he lost his parents as soon as he entered middle age. For a moment, he was lonely and had no relatives in the world, and was particularly lonely. He had an idea, and wanted to find his father's relatives in Guangxi, but a huge China. How should he start with no clues?
Until 2013, when Zhang Yuchen sorted out his father's relics, he learned for the first time that he actually had a half-sister. The mother and daughter in the photo sent with the letter were the mother who was the father’s wife in mainland China, and the daughter was her sister.
Chapter Yuchen carefully read all the letters and found some key information. He found that the communication between the two parties began in the 1980s, but for some reason, it was broken since the 1990s.
embark on the road to seeking relatives
Chapter Yuchen started from his father's unit before his death, hoping to learn about what happened back then through some living uncles and uncles. However, things went against my wishes. There was very little information about my father staying in Taiwan, and some didn't even know about him and his family in the mainland.
After six years of hard work, although Zhang Yuchen gained nothing, he never gave up from beginning to end. His wish is very simple. He wants to find the sister who is more than 20 years older than him, hoping to find the Zhang family, return to his hometown, and return to his hometown. At least I can't be like my father, and I can't return to my roots until I go back.
By chance, Zhang Yuchen chatted with a friend and talked about his search for relatives. The other party's words made the originally stagnant road to search for relatives usher in dawn again.
"Why don't you contact the mainland directly? Since your father is from Guangxi, you should go to Guangxi to find it, not in Taiwan."
Chapter Yuchen suddenly realized that he wasted a whole six years and had been doing nothing. But on the mainland, I don’t know anyone I know and don’t know who to contact. What should I do?
With a try-out attitude, Zhang Yuchen sent a letter to the Public Security Bureau of Qinzhou City, Guangxi to look for his close confidants.
In the letter, Zhang Yuchen briefly introduced the situation of his home and some clues extracted from letters twenty or thirty years ago. He only knew that he had a half-sister, who was now 60 or 70 years old. His hometown was in Qinzhou , with his surname Zhang, and lived in Beiying Village before liberation.
When I received this letter, the police from Qinzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau were also very troubled. There were so few clues, where should I start?
But the staff found the director with this letter from the Taiwanese compatriots, hoping to help a group of homesick wanderers. The director who learned about this immediately gave an instruction in the letter and asked colleagues from the household registration department to cooperate with the police station to start an investigation as soon as possible and find the relatives of Taiwanese compatriots.
It is actually not difficult to find someone. The difficulty is that you don’t even know the other person’s name, age, where you live, and what you look like. The other party was looking for a woman, and according to her age, it was estimated that she already had grandchildren.Where did she marry after she got married? Are you still staying in Qinzhou?
After understanding, some villages before liberation experienced several major changes after liberation, and many places even changed their place names. There is indeed a place called Beiying in Qinzhou City, but it is Beiying Community, not Beiying Village.
With the idea of giving it a try, the police came to the local area to investigate, and the results were disappointing.
"This place was not called Beiying before, but it was changed to the teenager. It was just that several nearby villages were merged together."
"Does there any of these villages have anything to do with Beiying Village?"
"This place turned out to be Daling Village and Shiling Village. I don't know what you are talking about Beiying Village. However, as far as I know, there were indeed many people in this place before, and they all went to Taiwan after liberation."
The search for a relative has finally made progress
. It seems that there is a natural will in the dark. The search for a relative is almost impossible, and the progress of the search for a relative is much smoother. Just a week after receiving Zhang Yuchen's letter, the police at the police station made substantial progress.
After reading a large amount of local information, the police found that Beiying Village before the founding of New China was actually near the large campus on st Road, Qinnan District.
The police also found the Zhang Council, hoping to find some news about Zhang Guochen from them, but unfortunately there is no record above. But there is another thing that is pleasant, that is, the police found a person in the genealogy - Zhang Dong.
Her father joined the army before liberation and later went to Taiwan, and there was no news for many years.
Could Zhang Dong be the sister Zhang Yuchen is looking for?
But when the police rushed to the vicinity of the university, they found that Zhang Dong's family had moved away long ago. I thought the work of seeking relatives would stagnate again, but I didn’t expect that someone would know where Zhang Dong moved away.
When he arrived at the next place, the answer he got was that Zhang Dong moved out, and this time someone still knew about Zhang Dong’s new home.
Except for some troubles on the road, other relative search information progressed very smoothly. Even Zhang Yuchen was very surprised when he learned about these situations. After all, he spent a full six years and made no progress in finding relatives. I just contacted the Guangxi police and made a breakthrough in just one week.
"What? My brother in Taiwan is here to look for me?"
Zhang Dong heard the police telling his purpose and stood there, without saying a word for a long time. After a long time, he held back his tears and said, "Can you tell me some information? I...I'm afraid of having a happy moment."
When the police took out the photo of Zhang Guochen and his son in his early years, Zhang Dong was stunned for a while, carefully looked at the photo, stroked the person above, and then suddenly collapsed and cried: "Brother, I've been waiting for you for almost forty years!"
Zhang Dong's emotions collapsed instantly. She was incoherent, just shouting her brother's name over and over again, and tears came like a breaking dam.
When the mood calmed down, Zhang Dong took out a small box from the cabinet, and after opening it, there was a letter inside.
"This is the first letter my father wrote to me in 1983, and I have kept it until now. At that time, I was almost married, and I was particularly excited when I heard my fourth uncle say that my father was still alive. Later, my father wrote to me and sent a photo of him and his brother. I... I have wanted to see my brother since then and hug my relatives!"
"This photo is the photo my father sent to me back then! I thought I would never see my brother again in this life. Thank you for letting me see my brother alive!"
through the police report, Zhang Yuchen finally learned about the past that was secretly hidden by his father.
Old Past
927, Zhang Guochen was born in an ordinary family in Qinzhou, Guangxi, and later admitted to a local Normal University .Here, he met Zhang Dong's mother, the Ten Sisters.
Two intellectuals hit it off at first sight, supported each other, had common ideals and ambitions, and got married shortly after graduation.
949, Zhang Guochen worked as a clerk in a local school, and his mother did farm work at home in order to take care of her family.
In July and August of the same year, Zhang Guochen said he would go to Hainan to participate in the training and officially become a teacher. I plan to go to school to be the principal after returning home, let my wife be a teacher, and spread the seeds of knowledge together, and realize the wish of teaching and educating people back then.
Before leaving, the tenth sister wanted to speak but stopped, and finally said her thoughts before leaving: "I am pregnant."
Zhang Guochen looked at his wife's still flat belly and stroked it carefully, as if he was stroking the fetus: "Child, wait for dad to come back."
Looking at his wife again and said, "Be careful at home, I will come back after the training, and our family of three will live a good life."
Later, the tenth sister was eager to see her at home, but she never saw Zhang Guochen come back. She gave birth to the child alone and allowed others to persuade her to remarry. She always insisted on waiting for her husband to come back at home. This wait lasted for more than 30 years.
schematic
983, Zhang Guochen's th brother went to Taiwan Province and brought back good news and bad news when he returned home.
Everyone thought that Zhang Guochen might die in the war. The good news for the fourth brother is that Zhang Guochen is still alive and in good health. The bad news is that Zhang Guochen has remarried and has a 6-year-old son.
After hearing this news, the Ten Sisters couldn't get sick. Her longing for her husband for many years turned into deep hatred after the arrival of a letter.
Zhang Guochen waited in Taiwan alone for more than 20 years until his temples were slightly white and he reached his destiny. He felt that perhaps this was his fate and he was destined to be unable to go back to see his wife and daughter again. Then he married Zhang Yuchen's mother by someone and then gave birth to Zhang Yuchen.
At this time, Zhang Dong was already a mother and a wife. She could understand her mother's mood very much. She also had resentment towards her father and minded that he had missed her growth for so many years. But after all, she could not resist her longing for her father, and secretly shared letters with her mother from Taiwan, and sent her photos of her childhood with her mother.
As for the later disconnection, it was not that Zhang Dong resented his father for intentional purposes, but because he accidentally lost the address when moving, he lost contact. Only then did Zhang Yuchen understand why when he was a child, his father always stared at the letters returned from the mainland in a daze.
probably misunderstood that my sister hates her father, so my father has never forgiven him and is so secretive about the affairs in the mainland. Zhang Dong also had the idea of working in Taiwan, just to meet his father. But later I thought that my father had already formed a new family. If he reunited with his father at this time, it might lead to embarrassment and embarrassment. Therefore, the idea of finding his father had to be abandoned.
Reunion of relatives
On October 9, 2019, Zhang Dong stood by the road and looked at him. A car slowly drove over, opened the car door and saw that it was exactly the same as the younger brother in the photo.
Zhang Dong couldn't stop his tears in an instant. He walked up to look at his younger brother excitedly, and then choked up and said, "Brother, I have been waiting for you for too long."
Zhang Yuchen could not suppress his inner excitement, and said with tears in his eyes: "Sister, I finally saw you."
Who would have thought that the first meeting of a brother and brother happened more than 40 years later.
At this time, Zhang Dong had long become the grandmother in a big family, and her son also came to pick up his "uncle" that day. When the family got together, Zhang Dong couldn't bear to let go of his brother's hand and kept asking questions.
Due to accent problems, the two people had some poor vocabulary exchanges when they spoke, but even this did not hinder the chat between the elder brother and sister.During those days, Zhang Dong spent all his thoughts on his younger brother.
She took her younger brother to the ancestral hall, incense her ancestors, and took her younger brother to write her name on the genealogy. She knew that this was her brother's greatest wish. When Zhang Yuchen's name was recorded, he knew that he really had a place to go now, and he was no longer the duckweed wanderer his father said.
Postscript
How many people have been able to return to their hometown until the day they left the world, and they are buried in a foreign land.
Now many Taiwanese compatriots have returned to the mainland to find their relatives, hoping to recognize their ancestors and return to their hometowns. This is the expectation of the motherland and the expectation of the people. Both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been waiting for too long and too long. I believe that in the near future, Taiwanese compatriots will eventually return to the embrace of their motherland.
Reference source:
[1] Nanguo Morning Post Client "The two brothers are separated from each other and have not met for 40 years! Qinzhou police help them reunite" 20191015
[2] Qinzhou Daily "69 years of searching for relatives, police reconnecting with cross-strait love" 20190709
[3] China News "Taiwanese compatriots accidentally learned that there is a sister in mainland China, and they will be reunited after six years of searching for relatives" 20220811
