Cross-strait ties improve 25 years on

Hu Zongyi was nostalgic for his home village after leaving central China's Hunan Province for Taiwan in 1949.

Hu was only 11 years old when he and his mother boarded a ship bound for Taiwan's Keelung from east China's Fujian Province that year. He was too young to understand his mother's hopelessness, neither could he understand the situation that caused the separation between the mainland and Taiwan.

Although Hu grew to miss his sister and former home after growing up, he couldn't even think about going back until 1987, when the high tensions between Taiwan and the mainland were broken.

In November 1987, Taiwanese authorities gave approval for their citizens to return to the mainland, most of them military veterans or refugees who came to Taiwan with the Kuomintang (KMT) in 1949. The move broke the 38-year-long absolute separation between the two sides and triggered a rush of Taiwanese people visiting the mainland.

The year 1949 witnessed great vicissitudes in China, as the Communist Party of China (CPC) won a civil war against the KMT after the two sides failed to reach an agreement concerning the arrangement of state power following the War Against Japanese Invasion (1937-1945).

No one could escape the suffering caused by the civil war. Many ordinary farmers joined the war, most of them involuntarily, or left home to flee the violence. They died on bloody battlefields or retreated to Taiwan with the KMT.

It was estimated that almost 2 million servicemen and civilians went to Taiwan in 1949. Only those who left when they were young were old enough to witness 1987.

Hu joined Taiwan's army and was stationed in Kinmen, only miles away from the mainland city of Xiamen, in the 1960s. Tensions were high between both sides at the time.

"I often stood under the night sky, staring at the mainland with tears in my eyes," Hu said. "I didn't think I would have a chance to go back home, believing I would have to live and die on the island."

When Hu learned that Taiwan authorities were allowing citizens to return to the mainland, he burst into tears of both joy and sorrow, as his mother had already passed away on the island.

After he retired from the military, Hu finally went back to Hunan via Hong Kong, as the two sides had not established direct flight links at that time.

"I felt excited, but also sad, because I knew some of my relatives were gone," Hu said. "When I saw my uncle, we embraced each other, crying bitterly, as we never thought we would meet again."

Conversely, there are also Taiwanese who ended up living on the mainland due to the civil war. In 1946, 15-year-old Taiwanese Hsu Zhao-lin was sent to the frontline of the civil war on the mainland and stayed there from that point on.

After 42 years, Hsu became head of an association helping veterans in Taiwan return home to the mainland. Hsu received the first group of people to visit their homes in Beijing.

Hsu envied them a great deal, because he, vice chairman of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, was not allowed by Taiwan authorities to go back home.

In 1994, Hsu was allowed to go back Taiwan.

The 86-year-old He Biao is another Taiwanese who lived on the mainland. He left his home in Beijing in early 1945 and joined anti-Japanese guerrilla forces at a time when Taiwan was still under Japanese occupation. He never thought that he would have to wait for half a century to go back home.

After the victory over the Japanese in Sept. 1945, his parents and younger brother all went back to Taiwan from Beijing. The separation of the mainland and Taiwan prevented him from knowing about his father's death in 1955 for 20 years.

In 1984, He's mother returned to Beijing from the United States, and in 1987, the family reunited in the United States.

He finally returned to Taiwan in 1995 for a seminar. He brought sandalwood from Beijing's Lama Temple, white wine from the mainland and flowers, bowing deeply in front of his father and grandmother's memorial tablets.

"My family took half a century to reunite," He said.

Exchanges between the two sides have grown ever closer since 1987. In December 2008, the two sides established direct mail, transport and trade links, facilitating more frequent contacts between people across the strait.

After rebuilding his old house, Hu now goes back to his hometown in Hunan and lives there for two months every year. Hu rebuilt his family' s ancestral hall and established a scholarship foundation to support college students from younger generations.

In 2012, a family composed of a husband from Taiwan, a wife from the mainland and a six-year-old daughter began their seventh year of familial ties in Beijing. Jackie Yang, the husband and father, met Zhang Ming in Melbourne, Australia, and in 2005 they married in Beijing.

"Beijing is where my home is," said Yang. "Of course I miss Taiwan a lot. Now it's very convenient to go back to Taiwan, so we stay there for a long time every year."

Zhou Ying, an employee at China Eastern Airlines, has spent three Spring Festivals in Taipei.

Spring Festival is the most important festival in Chinese culture, as family members spend the holiday reuniting.

The upcoming Spring Festival will be different for Zhou, as the family members of mainland employees are now allowed to visit Taiwan for family reunions.

"We can enjoy the festival in Taipei," said Zhou. "We no longer feel alone."