A man raises a banner to welcome Wang Qi back to China at Beijing Capital International Airport before Wang transferred to a flight to Xi'an on Saturday. (Photo: Li Hao/GT)
A Chinese veteran who was stuck in legal limbo and trapped in India for more than 50 years has finally arrived home after the bilateral governmental efforts of China and India.
During the Lantern Festival this week, Wang Qi finally stepped back onto Chinese soil after being stuck in India for more than half a century. After landing in Beijing, he went straight to his long-missed hometown of Xianyang, Shaanxi Province.
His son, one of his daughters, daughter-in-law and granddaughter also came with him. His Indian wife and other daughter were delayed in India because of visa issues.
More than 40 of his Chinese family members and former army comrades waited to greet them at Xi'an Xianyang International Airport. Wang Zuguo, one of Wang Qi's comrades, said he had brought a gift for Wang.
"Though all those years have passed, we've not forgotten him," he said.
Wang Qi was a soldier dispatched to the China-India border in the 1960s to work as a surveyor building roads. He wandered into Indian territory by mistake one day and wound up behind bars for several years. After his release, he was not allowed to leave India and ended up marrying and having children. After years of efforts by his family, the media and the Chinese government, he finally came home this week.
Sudden disappearance
Wang Zhiyuan, the 84-year-old eldest brother of Wang Qi, told the Xi'an-based Chinese Business View that they are two of seven siblings from Xuezhainan village, Xianyang.
Wang Qi was the third child of the family. He was born in 1937, attended a local elementary school and went to Xianyang for middle and high school with Wang Zhiyuan.
After graduating from high school, he played basketball for the Shaanxi provincial team. Then, in 1960, Wang Qi asked a mutual friend to tell Wang Zhiyuan that he was going to join the army in Northwest China's Qinghai Province.
After signing up, Wang Qi was only able to keep in touch with his family through letters.
In 1961, their mother told Wang Zhiyuan she missed Wang Qi. So he took her to Qinghai to see him. When they arrived, the commander said Wang Qi would soon be dispatched to another place, and granted Wang Qi a week's vacation to see his mother.
The three of them took a photo that week which turned out to be the last photo all three of them would ever take together.
Years later, Wang Zhiyuan realized that they visited just before his brother was sent to the China-India border, which was why the director granted his brother a week's leave to be with his family.
After this meeting, the family lost contact with Wang Qi. After the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) started, Wang Zhiyuan asked the army for news of his brother, and was told he had gone missing near the border. The army said it had looked for him without success.
In 1983, their mother died without ever finding out what had happened to her missing son.
A strange letter
In the summer of 1986, Wang Zhiyuan, who was back working in Xianyang at that time, received a phone call from one of his other brothers, saying they had received a letter with some strange foreign writing on it. Wang immediately rushed home, hoping this letter might have something to do with his missing brother.
When he saw the writing on the envelope, his eyes immediately filled with tears, because he recognized his brother's handwriting.
Since nobody could recognize where the letter came from, Wang Zhiyuan asked around in Xianyang. Finally he was able to discover that the address was located in an Indian village.
The letter read, "Dear mother, dear brothers and sisters, how are you? It's been decades, now I've finally got the chance to write and tell you how I'm doing."
The letter was only one page long. Wang Qi told his family he had gotten married and had two sons and two daughters. He said that his children were in school and that he has a business which supports his family.
But his eldest son died from disease in 2007 as his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.
The first thing Wang Zhiyuan did after receiving the letter was to burn incense at his mother's tomb and read the letter aloud there, he told the Chinese Business View. Then all of the siblings started writing to Wang Qi in India, updating him on their lives.
