"What is engraved in the gene,
will not change no matter how many years."
Author: Fu Yumei
A journey to find the roots, allowing netizens across the country to know this Taiwanese girl named Lai Lai.
Lai Lai's black hair is shoulder-length, wearing a black floral dress, her voice is light and her eyes are curved when she smiles.
htmlOne night at the end of September, a reporter from " Global Characters " came to her residence in Changping, Beijing. The feeling of meeting was amazing. When she tells a story about root search, she also talks about "magic" several times. These 22 words in the photo are all the information she has. This is an address from the period of the Qing Dynasty (more than 300 years ago), and it is also the "root" of her ancestors before going to Taiwan.
However, this address can no longer be searched on the map now, and she and her family cannot even confirm whether it is true and complete.
With a try-out mentality, she sent the address to the social platform for help.
"After posting, I threw the phone next to it, but it kept vibrating. I opened it and saw that I received a lot of messages, and I was particularly surprised." Lai Lai said.
Netizens showed their magical powers and helped her analyze the address that has evolved to this day based on the county annals, Minnan pronunciation, genealogy and other clues. Some locals also helped her contact the village committee directly.
Only 4 hours later, netizens helped Lai Lai infer that his ancestral home was Xintian Village, Banzai Town, Zhangzhou.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, she set out from Beijing and indeed saw the names of her ancestors on the migration genealogy of Xintian Village. She excitedly called her father far away in Taiwan: "Finished, found!"
, which had been broken for more than 300 years, was instantly connected. "If it weren't for the help of netizens and relatives, if the genealogy could be preserved, any generation in the middle was broken and no step was missing, I would never have been able to successfully complete the root search," she said.
Below is her self-report.
Netizens relay to search for roots
Actually, at the beginning, I didn’t have much expectations for finding my ancestors’ hometown.
only has an address from more than 300 years ago. How to find it? I also told my dad, what if the address is wrong? Is it possible to write a typo?
also decided to find the roots by chance. I grew up in Yunlin, Taiwan and have been working in Beijing for almost 4 years. I like traveling and plan to go to Zhangzhou during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday in early September. When my father found out, he suggested that I go to my hometown to take a look.
He is very concerned about finding his ancestors and always tells me to be cautious in the end and pursue the distance and not to forget his roots.
Our family genealogy is kept by my uncle. My father went to him to ask for his detailed ancestral address and copied it down and sent it to me.
"Shentian Luxi Society, Pinghe County, Zhangzhou Prefecture, Fujian Province", this is the first time I have seen this address. I only knew before that I was from Zhangzhou, Fujian, and I didn’t know the specific counties and villages.
I immediately searched for this address on the map software, but I couldn't find it at all. There are several similar addresses, but it is impossible to determine which one it is.
At that moment, I was actually giving up. But after I talked to my father, I clearly felt that he was a little disappointed.
so I thought that I have seen many help posts on social platforms, and netizens are also very talented, so why don’t I ask?
I am a "novice" and have no fans. That was the first post I posted, so naturally I don't have any hope.
·Lai Lai's post.
Unexpectedly, netizens came to help soon! They began to look up various information and gave me a lot of suggestions.
At the beginning, the most popular one was the comment from netizens @biu:
Pinghe now has Luxi Town , which may be here. I checked the information online: Luxi Commune was established in 1958, the township was changed in 1984, and the township was changed in 1992.
I was very excited and immediately shared the news with my father. At that time, we all felt that this answer was very close, and it was probably Luxi Town.
Then, netizen @Chen Buer gave another answer:
According to the Qing Dynasty, some periods of the Qing Dynasty implemented the "township community system", with townships under the county, and villages under the countryside, and villages led by communities. Because "Shentian" is the Minnan pronunciation of "Xintian", "Shentian" should be Xintian Township (or Shentianbao) in Pinghe County of the Qing Dynasty. Xintian Township is roughly in the current Banzai Town. It is speculated that Luxi Club was the village club at that time, but it is no longer possible to verify it because of its long time. According to the genealogy of the Lai family, most of the Lai families who went to Taiwan were from the Lai family in Pinghe County. Therefore, it is recommended that you go to the Xinta Palace built by the Lai family in Banzai Town to inquire and visit the ancestors.
Is it Luxi Town or Xintian Village? The most critical step was that a netizen from Pinghe County sent me a private message saying that he helped me contact the local village committee and confirmed the statement of "Chen Buer".
only took 4 hours from posting to soliciting the final answer, which was amazing. It was precisely because I contacted the village committee that I decided to go to the local area to take a look.
"Chen Buer" later replied to me: "It is the golden autumn that people are ripe for peace, and the grapefruits are gradually ripe. Welcome the wanderers to go home to find their roots, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be together."
their kindness and warmth really touched me.
Familiarity
September 9, my husband and I drove from Zhangzhou city to Xintian Village early in the morning. I was a little nervous along the way, because only by finding the exact evidence can we prove that we are really from there, otherwise we can only guess. Is it possible to find
? I was not sure.
A little over an hour later, we arrived. The people from the village committee were waiting at the entrance of the village early on, and the moment I saw him, I felt very friendly. Later, he also contacted the president and secretary-general of the Lai Family Temple to come over, and the three of them received us together.
After entering the village, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. The architectural style and street scenery here are particularly similar to those in Yunlin, Taiwan. Moreover, I talked with the three elders of Lai in Minnan dialect throughout the whole process, and their accent was almost the same as Yunlin's.
It seems like I was back to where I was born and raised, and suddenly I felt that there might be people who are related to my blood here.
The first stop we went to was Xintiangu. From the outside, this is a typical Fujian-style building.
After walking into the door, I saw the wall full of photos of the Lai clan relatives. The Secretary-General introduces the origin and development of Lai’s family to us along the way.
According to the genealogy, since the third generation, more than 120 ancestors of the Xintian Lai family moved to other places, and the most moved to Taiwan in the early days, with 96. Today, the population of descendants of the Xintian Lai clan who moved to other places has exceeded that of the ancestral land.
I am most likely one of them is also a descendant.
Immediately afterwards, we came to the Lai Family Temple, which was filled with tablets of our ancestors. This is the first time I saw my surname in the temple, and my first reaction was to open a video for my dad. He has been waiting on the other end of the screen, and the moment he answers the phone, I feel he is much happier than me.
0 Clan relatives also told me that in the early years, some people from Taichung also went back to Xintian Village to search for their roots. At that time, the village was not well-off, so after they came back, they raised funds to build schools and build ancestral halls.
President is a post-80s generation. He said that many of his stationery and books when he was a child were given by Taiwanese clans.
·Planning photo of Taiwanese clans in the family temple.
Hearing this, I felt a very magical and heartwarming feeling. It turns out that no matter how long we are separated, we will give our best help in times of difficulties. This bloodline connection is very powerful.
I also shared the story of my coming here with them, and everyone was surprised. They said that if people in the past want to come back to find their roots, it would be a long process to confirm the address and contact and inquire. The transportation is not as convenient as it is now. There is no high-speed rail and you have to follow the old roads in the village. It takes a whole day to come back.
is completely different now.
Although we saw the family temple and relatives with our own eyes, we still did not find the names of our ancestors when we left at noon. The Secretary-General said he needed to go back and search for the genealogy and compare it. So my husband and I returned to Zhangzhou city to wait.
may be the wish of several generations
9 The evening of the night was my most exciting moment.
Secretary-General sent a document called "Records of the Relocation of Ancestors of the Xintian Lai Family", which records the relocation period and address.
·Records of the Xintian Village family genealogy.
line 99, climbed Fang Gong and moved to Yunlin, Taiwan. This name can also be found in the genealogy given to me by my father. In the 14th generation, the information is in line with it.
·After moving to Taiwan, the genealogy kept by Lai Lai's home.
This is my ancestor, it really comes from Xintian Village. Found it! It was only then that I was sure that I really found it!
The line that had been broken for more than 300 years and was connected in an instant. This feeling is particularly magical. I quickly called my father on the other end of the screen again, and he kept saying, "It's great, I've found the right place." Everyone was relieved of their hearts.
I really feel very lucky. With big data and enthusiastic netizens and relatives, a seemingly arduous task was completed quickly.
I posted the entire experience to the social platform, originally to thank netizens. Unexpectedly, people contacted me one after another, hoping that I could help them find their roots.
There is a young man named Lai, who is in his 20s, and he also wants to confirm whether he is from Xintian Village. I really found the name of his ancestor in the list sent by the president. There are also relatively regrettable cases of
. A friend of surnamed Chen contacted me and provided information on his ancestral home. He hoped to contact people related to his ancestral home like me.
But to be honest, I think it's quite difficult. Because Chen is a big surname, and the clues are scattered and difficult to confirm.
But this friend said that the family of their family has never given up going back to the mainland to search for roots, but has never found it. Therefore, this carries the wishes of several generations.
I decided to give it a try, even if it was just to help him find more clues.
"Let me thank the netizens again, because of your kindness and heartwarming, my story with you can influence more people. Do you think this is a cycle of goodness?"
I wrote this sentence in my post. Netizens are also very helpful and provide a lot of help. There was also a person from the Chen family's ancestral temple in Zhangzhou who came to contact me, but in the end it was confirmed that it was not theirs.
·Netizen's message. I still can't find
, and I feel very uncomfortable. I hope that one day he can realize the unfulfilled wish of this family.
From this series of experiences, I gradually understood the meaning of "root" to wandering children.
I still remember the wonderful feeling of walking in Xintian Village. My ancestors left here more than 300 years ago and moved to the other end of the strait. The process must have been very difficult.
The moment I returned to Xintian Village, I immediately found a sense of belonging. Everyone and every scene I saw were as friendly and familiar as the other side of my home. This is what is engraved in the genes and will not change no matter how many years it takes.
Another big gain in this journey is that I have met many friends in Fujian. The netizen who helped me contact the village committee at the beginning did not come over on the 9th because of something. Later, she specially sent two boxes of Fujian grapefruit to Beijing to me.
Although they have never met, they are willing to provide me with so much kindness. It is really touching.
When I have the chance in the future, I must take my father and family back to Xintian Village and walk this magical and heartwarming road again.
[Afterword]
On September 28, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, congratulated Lai Lai on successfully finding the roots of his family. She said that we are very grateful to netizens and Xintian Village villagers for their enthusiastic assistance and reception for Lailai, and jointly create a moving story of "one family on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and reunion together in the Mid-Autumn Festival".
The root-seeking actions of the vast majority of Taiwanese compatriots show the most basic fact. The compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have the same roots, the same language and the same species. They are a family connected by blood. Common national and cultural identity are innate genes. They can withstand the wind and frost of time, and no one or any strength can be changed. We warmly welcome Taiwan compatriots, especially young friends, to return to their hometowns to take a look, and take a wonderful journey to search for roots like Lai Lai, understand family history, and feel the spiritual roots and sense of belonging.
Director-General Producer: Lu Hong
Supervisor Producer: Zhang Jiankui
Editor: Xu Chenjing
Editor Review: Ling Yun
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