Seeking relatives in the century, reunion across three places is just around the corner
Our reporter followed up on the follow-up of Sanmei Lu’s search for relatives, telling the story behind 75 years of separation
In her free time, Sanmei Lv would often take out old photos of her parents, brothers and sisters to look at.
Photo by intern Chen Rong
Lu Sanmei, 87 years old, was born in Hong Kong. In 1945, she moved back to her hometown of Foshan with her parents and siblings due to the war.
That year, she was transferred to Liangkou Town, Conghua, Guangzhou to be a child bride-in-law, and then completely lost contact with her relatives.
75 years have passed, Lv Sanmei has never given up looking for her native family.
This year’s Mother’s Day (May 10), with the help of media reports and the assistance of “Baby Go Home” volunteers, Lu Sanmei successfully got in touch with two sisters in Guangzhou and a younger brother in Hong Kong, and completed the confession through video. Two younger sisters have married to Macau.
The eight brothers and sisters have now become a prosperous family across Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.
National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival are approaching, and Lv Sanmei will also celebrate her 88th birthday.
She and her siblings have already met to hold an offline confession meeting in Guangzhou in October. The family members who have been lost for 75 years are about to meet again.
Nanfang Daily reporter Wu Yang and intern Chen Rong
memory
From the exit of Daguang Expressway to Yangxi Team of Hequn Village, Liangkou Town, it takes half an hour to drive along the winding mountain road.
Since Sanmei Lu came here when she was 12 years old, she rarely walked out of this mountain village surrounded by mountains.
The elderly lived very early in the morning, washing, cleaning the house and drying clothes in the early morning.
Even though she is very old, Sanmei Lu is still used to keeping the house tidy.
Mr. Lu Sanmei’s eldest grandson Chao said that the elderly have been very interested in recent days.
This is not only because this year's National Day Mid-Autumn Festival is her 88th birthday, but also because her family told her that she will be able to meet her sister and brother soon after an appointment.
October 1st is Lv Sanmei’s birthday, but it is not counted.
Because she was very young when she was resold to Liangkou Town, and she had forgotten her birthday.
After discussing with the children, they decided to celebrate the birthday of the elderly on National Day every year.
Although Lv Sanmei has recovered her relatives, the practice of celebrating the National Day has been retained.
"Sanmei Lu" is the name she has kept since she was born, and it is also the only proof of her blood connection with her biological parents.
Although 75 years have passed, Lv Sanmei still remembers many details of her childhood life with her parents and siblings.
According to Lu Sanmei’s oral statement, she was born in Hong Kong in 1933. Her father’s name was Lu Junchao. She used to travel between Hong Kong and Guangzhou Yide Road for a long time in a seafood business. Her mother was called "A Rong", a middle-aged woman who still likes to dress up. Woman.
In addition to her biological parents, Lv Sanmei still remembers the names of many siblings, namely: eldest sister Lv Liyan, second sister Lv Lilan, older brother Lv Peihua, second younger brother Lv Dongpei, and younger sister Lv Lier.
She is the "youngest" in the family, so she got the name "Sanmei".
Due to the age, Hong Kong's life fragments have been a glimpse of Lu Sanmei.
She vaguely remembered that her house was built on a hillside, and there were many foreigners living nearby. You could see the sea and ships soon after walking.
Lu Sanmei once went to the "Tung Wah Hospital" and "Gao Sheng Theater" near her home (the two locations were verified to be located near Sheung Wan, Central and Western District, Hong Kong). The roar of the double-decker trams passing by on the street impressed her young .
When she was in Hong Kong, Sanmei Lu and her two sisters studied at a girls’ school called Tianguanfang. She remembers that she had read in the class “The Beginning of Human Beings Are Good at Nature.” Due to subsequent changes, the study failed to continue.
Lost contact
When the Pacific War broke out in December 1941, Hong Kong fell immediately, and the once safe haven was overwhelmed with clouds and no longer safe.
In order to avoid the war, Lu Sanmei's father took the whole family to Foshan and Hong Kong, and Lu Sanmei also ended her carefree childhood.
Sanmei Lv still remembered that she followed her family on a coal-burning steamer, and continued to ride the car after getting ashore, bumping all the way back to a place called "Nanheli" (sound) in Nanhai, Foshan at that time, living in her mother-in-law's house.
She didn't live long in "Nanheli". She vaguely remembered that there was a dyeing factory not far away. Because of the dyes, a nearby river became black, the opposite road was a miscellaneous market, and the sound of iron strikes could be heard.
This is the last memory of her life in her native family.
In the same year, as the eldest sister got married, the second sister was sent as a child bride, and she was also sent for adoption.
Mr. Chao said that his grandmother Lv Sanmei had told him many times that she was first sent to Guangzhou, and then to Qingyuan Fogang after living for more than ten days. After living there for a while, she was sent to Conghua Liangkou Town, Guangzhou. At the home of his parents, he was finally sent to a village by his adoptive parents to become child brides-in-law.
Before leaving, Sanmei Lv’s mother told her that there were too many people in the family and she couldn’t have enough to eat. She wanted to send her away because there is only hope when she is alive. She also gave her a note with the address written on it to let her grow. The queen must follow the address to find her mother.
However, this piece of paper was accidentally caught in the clothes and was soaked in water when Sanmei Lu was washing clothes. The only clue to finding her relatives was lost.
"Grandma Lv Sanmei never hated the mother who agreed to send her away." Mr. Chao said. Grandma always remembered that her mother loved her very much when she was a child. "In the era of war and chaos, everyone just wanted to live, she understood very well."
In the mountains of Liangkou Town, Sanmei Lu began a new life.
Mr. Chao said that although his grandmother Lv Sanmei was a child bride-to-be, the grandfather was an honest teacher who had always treated his grandma very well during his lifetime. The two had 7 children together.
Three or forty years ago, Sanmei Lv’s husband went to Nanhai, Foshan to help her find her relatives, published newspapers, broadcasted the radio, and contacted the public security department, but there was no news.
"At that time, the communication was not developed and the family was relatively poor, so there was no condition to find people." Mr. Chao said.
Now Sanmei Lu has 13 grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren, and she is a happy and happy family.
She often said to younger generations: "Life is about gains and losses." For 75 years, she lost contact with her original family, but she has relatives in such a big family.
However, as she got older and older, Lu Sanmei began to frequently chat with her family about her biological parents, her sisters and brothers, and the memories of her childhood in Hong Kong.
The family knows that failing to find the original family is the biggest regret for the elderly in many years.
Goodbye
The turning point occurred this spring.
On March 4, Mr. Chao sent out a tracing message again through social media, and then under the guidance of netizens, he found the "Baby Go Home" organization to register for family tracing.
"Baby go home" volunteer Yanzi told reporters that they were very touched after learning about the story of Sanmei Lu and hoped to fulfill the old man's wish as soon as possible. "Every time we help'old babies' find their families, it is a race against time." The volunteers of "Baby Go Home" spread the information of Lu Sanmei on the Internet, and entrusted volunteers in Hong Kong to help find them.
More than a month after the search for relatives was posted, Yanzi received a message claiming to be Mr. Kong that his mother had mentioned that an aunt in the family had been sent to someone else, and Mr. Kong sent a photo.
Lv Sanmei recognized the middle-aged woman in the photo as her mother "Arong" at a glance.
On Mother’s Day on May 10, Lv Sanmei connected with her eldest sister Lv Liyan’s son Mr. Kong through a video.
Mr. Chao said that grandma was so happy that she did not attend to dinner for a day.
Through the narration of her elder sister's family, Lv Sanmei learned the stories of her parents and brothers and sisters after losing contact.
Soon after the war ended, Lv Sanmei's mother hurriedly returned to Foshan to find her adopted daughter.
However, she found out that the family she had sent for adoption had already given away Sanmei Lu to someone else, and she lost contact.
Sanmei Lu’s parents, brothers and sisters later returned to live in Hong Kong.
The parents died one after another in the 1980s.
In the last few years of her life, her mother returned to live in Nanhe, Foshan, where she was separated from Sanmei Lu (today's Foshan Ancestral Temple), hoping to wait until her daughter returns.
Before she was dying, her mother told her children that she must get the third sister back.
Today, the eldest sister Lv Liyan and the second sister Lv Lilan both live in Guangzhou. The seventh and eighth sisters married to Macau in their early years, while the fourth and sixth brothers have passed away. The only surviving younger brother, Lv Peihua, still lives in Hong Kong.
Due to the fact that the two older sisters are too old to travel, and the customs clearance between Hong Kong and the Mainland is restricted due to the epidemic, several elderly people are temporarily unable to meet offline.
However, through WeChat video, Lv Sanmei can still meet and talk to family members who have been separated for 75 years.
In recent months, Lv Sanmei’s family members have sent many old photos through WeChat, and children and grandchildren have helped to wash them out.
Nowadays, when the old people are free, they always like to take out the photos by the bed, scrutinize them carefully, and occasionally tell their children and grandchildren a few childhood stories, and more often they look at the images of their family members in the photos in a daze.
One of them is a photo of Lu Sanmei’s mother with several sisters and younger brothers by the lake. The two younger brothers are dressed in suits with their backs combed and smile brightly. The three sisters look into the distance with different expressions. The mother is standing with a cloth bag. Right in the center.
Coordinator: Xu Mian