Ancestral villagers and Taiwan businessmen will never forget Zhang Kehui's "cross-strait love"

【Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Special Line】Ancestral villagers and Taiwan businessmen will never forget Zhang Kehui's "cross-strait love"

Zhangzhou, January 1 (ZXS) -- Villagers and Taiwan businessmen in the ancestral land will never forget Zhang Kehui's "cross-strait feelings"

China News Service reporter Zhang Jinchuan

He returned to his hometown three times to pay homage to his ancestors and relatives, which fully demonstrated his deep love for his hometown and his strong homeland affection. Upon learning of Zhang Kehui's death, Zhang Qunhe, chairman of the Zhang clan council in Matang, Anhou Town, Pinghe County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province, couldn't help but recall the past and sighed.

On January 1, Zhang Qunhe (left), chairman of the Zhang clan council of Matang, introduced the story of Zhang Kehui's three visits to his hometown to seek his roots. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Jinchuan

Located in Shuangma Village, Anhou Town, the Matang Zhang's family temple was built in 1601 with the hall name "Jingai Hall". This is the ancestral hometown of Zhang Kehui, former vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, former chairman of the Central Committee of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League, and former president of the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots.

Zhang Kehui, born in 1928, is a native of Changhua, Taiwan. He died in Beijing on January 1 at the age of 11. In the past few days, reporters from the China News Service have come to Zhangzhou to visit the Zhang's family temple in Matang and the ancient town of Yunshui, and talked with his ancestral villagers and Taiwan businessmen, and truly felt Zhang Kehui's strong and deep "cross-strait feelings."

The picture shows that in the Zhang's family temple in Matang, the plaque inscribed by Zhang Kehui "Inheriting the Past and Opening the Future" is hanging high on the front beam of the gatehouse. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Jinchuan

"Zhang Kehui has a deep affection for his ancestral land. Zhang Qunhe sighed that after finding the ancestral hometown of the Zhang family temple through the genealogy, Zhang Kehui returned to his hometown three times in 1999, 2007 and 2010 to pay homage to his ancestors.

The plaque of "inheriting the past and opening up the future" is hung on the front beam of the gate tower of the Zhang family temple in Matang. Zhang Tiantian, the former president of the Zhang clan council of Matang, who is over 80 years old, has twice received Zhang Kehui, who has returned to his hometown. He recalled that Zhang Kehui was very concerned about the development of his hometown, and what impressed him the most was that he always talked about "unity" and donated money to his hometown to repair the family temple and repair the school building.

Today, the Matang Zhang family is all over Taiwan, and clansmen on both sides of the strait frequently visit each other. Zhang naturally has also been to Taiwan twice to carry out clan exchange activities, "Taiwan's Zhang clan relatives all say that 'parents have come to see their son', very enthusiastic."

The news of Zhang Kehui's death also made Taiwanese businessman Huang Wenguang "very reluctant." He told reporters that in 2010, Zhang Kehui came to the coffee garden he founded in Nanjing County, Zhangzhou City, and cared about and encouraged the development of Taiwanese businessmen.

"Zhang Kehui also shared his 'cross-strait love', and inscribed 'cross-strait love, coffee fragrance' to me, at that time chatted for more than two hours, in Hokkien language, very cordial. Since then, Huang Wenguang has also met Zhang Kehui many times in Beijing.

After returning to the mainland in 1948, Zhang Kehui has been close to his relatives in Taiwan since then, and he has not been able to return to Taiwan for funerals when his parents died. Taking advantage of this special experience, he wrote the true stories of himself and many Taiwan compatriots he met into literary works, which were filled with strong nostalgia and sentimentality, and even more full of fiery patriotic feelings.

The films "Once Upon a Time in Taiwan" and "The Ballad of Yunshui", adapted from the screenplay written by Zhang Kehui, are precious epitomes of the vicissitudes of history on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. In 2005, Zhang Kehui's film literary script "Searching" was adapted into the movie "The Ballad of Yunshui", and the filming location of "Yunlin Xiluo" in the movie is the Yunshui Ballad of Nanjing.

Yunshui Ballad, formerly known as Changjiao, is a place where Hokkien people and Hakka people mingle, located in Nanjing County. After that, Changjiao became famous because of "Yunshui Ballad" and was renamed "Yunshui Ballad Ancient Town", and the long ancient road in the village was also named "Yunshui Ballad Ancient Plank Road".

The picture shows tourists taking a group photo with the inscription of "Yunshui Ballad" inscribed by Zhang Kehui in the Nanjing Yunshui Ballad Scenic Area. Photo by China News Service reporter Zhang Jinchuan

On January 2009, 1, Zhang Kehui attended the unveiling ceremony of the inscription of "Yunshui Ballad" written by himself. Locals said that at that time, Zhang Kehui sighed with emotion, "After reading it here today, I feel that the scenery here is better and more beautiful than the description in the novel and the script."

Talking about "Zhang Kehui and the Ballad of Yunshui", local writer He Baoguo said in an interview with a reporter from China News Service that the movie "The Ballad of Yunshui" has driven the tourism effect of the Yunshui Ballad Scenic Area, which has also made Zhang Kehui and Nanjing form a deep relationship since then.

According to He Baoguo, Zhang Kehui wrote the first draft of the script "He Day Hug Again" at the end of 2009, using art forms to express the deep affection of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait with the same roots and blood thicker than water, and also depicting the picturesque life scene of Nanjing Tulou Village. In order to revise the script, Zhang Kehui also came to the symposium twice.

"I come from the east coast of the Taiwan Strait, and Taiwan has the dreams of my childhood, the longing of my youth, and the hopes of my relatives. I came to the west coast of the Taiwan Strait, and the mainland has the ideals I pursue, the cause I love, and the people who share weal and woe. I love Taiwan, I love the mainland, and I love China even more when we move toward a reunified, prosperous, and powerful motherland. The words written by Zhang Kehui in the book "The Heart of the Strait, Cross-Strait Love" may be the best interpretation of his deep love for his homeland. (ENDS)