Xinhua News Agency, Taipei, October 18 (Reporter Chen Jianxing) The Shilin District of Taipei, near Waishuangxi and away from the downtown area, is quiet in Yusheng Street.

　　The 86-year-old Gao Binghan introduced the reporter to his home and went straight to the small study on the basement floor.

All kinds of "collections" make the space cramped, and they are all the "treasures" of the elderly.

　　"This scarf was taken by my mother when I left and put it on for me." In the autumn of 1948, the sky was getting colder, and 13-year-old Gao Binghan left his hometown in Heze, Shandong alone in order to avoid the war.

He traveled all the way to the south and crossed the sea to Taiwan.

Who ever thought that it would be 40 years after returning to his hometown.

　　Xinhua News Agency's "National Album" recently released a micro-documentary "Return, Return", Gao Binghan is one of the protagonists.

To complete the interview, the reporter went to the old man's home in Taipei and listened to him talk about the past.

"That day, my mother sent me to the east gate of the city and said with tears:'My son, live, mother is waiting for you to come back!'" Gao Binghan stroked the scarf with sad eyes, "This is the only mother who has been with me for decades. When I went back, she had been away for 10 years."

The elderly Gao Binghan was interviewed by a reporter from Xinhua News Agency.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Jianxing

　　"How many Gaotang Mingjing has white hair, how many wives have kept empty draperies for many years, how many children do not know the life and death of their fathers, and how many foreigners dream about China." After 1949, the two sides of the strait were trapped in a long-term isolation and confrontation. Far away, life is separated into death, and the endless misery of longing becomes inevitable homesickness.

　　The day before visiting Gao Binghan's house, it rained heavily in Taipei.

When the reporter left, he saw the wet fallen leaves on the ground and looked back at the old man standing at the door of his house. He couldn't help thinking of tears for a long time from the rain all night.

　　Tears are lonely thoughts and hope for reunion.

In 1979, the mainland first advocated the opening of cross-strait exchanges.

When the news came, Gao Binghan and many people with the same fate saw hope of returning home.

He quickly sent the letter to Shandong through his friends overseas, and his sister's reply came the following year.

Old man Gao Binghan at his home in Taipei (profile photo).

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Yingquan

　　Elder Gao took out a thick stack of home letters sent from the mainland, and carefully flipped through the yellowed letter paper, like a few treasures.

The reporter also saw a small sculpture made by Gao Binghan in a corner of the study. It was a scene in his memory of his mother teaching him to read and write.

An altar of ashes was on the side.

"This is a veteran who came to Taiwan to take him home." Gao said.

　　In 1987, many homesick veterans from the mainland took to the streets of Taiwan and set off a movement to return home to visit relatives.

In October, the Taiwan authorities announced that some Taiwan compatriots would be allowed to return to the mainland to visit relatives, and the barriers of separation between the two sides of the strait were finally broken.

The following year, Gao Binghan returned to his hometown, but some old people he met were unable to return home due to old age or illness.

"I have been taken care of by veterans since I was a child, and I must take them home." Since 1991, he has continuously crossed the strait and sent the ashes of nearly 200 veterans back to their roots. Although he is now very old, the pace of fulfilling his promises has not stopped.

　　The other protagonist in the micro-documentary is Liu Dewen, the head of Xianghe Lane, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City.

When the reporter went for an interview a few years ago, he was catching up with him to deliver lunch to the military village.

When meeting Liu Lichang, the old people in the military village greeted him cordially.

The old people spoke with a strong accent from all over the mainland, and reporters sometimes had to carefully identify them, but he communicated without hindrance, and proudly introduced which battle each old man had participated in the war of resistance.

　　Because of the words of an old man before his death many years ago, "The chief, can you help me take the ashes home", Liu Dewen has carried the heavy columbarium on his back again and again, and traveled to various parts of the mainland at his own expense to send away the wandering souls. Back to the origin of life.

　　Gao Binghan and Liu Dewen, one is a "provincial native" who came to Taiwan in the late 1940s, and the other is a "provincial native" whose family has moved to Taiwan for several generations.

At first, they were all entrusted by acquaintances, and then strangers came admiringly, and they all took on the mission without hesitation.

Seeing "Return, Return", their reply to reporters actually meant the same thing: I hope the epidemic will pass as soon as possible, and there are still ashes waiting to be sent back to the mainland.

　　Liu Dewen showed reporters a photo of him with the family of the veteran when he brought the ashes of the veteran back to the mainland (profile photo).

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Wei Peiquan

　　The tide of the strait is bursting, the huge historical current is surging, and the flesh and blood connects the compatriots on both sides of the strait.

Gao Binghan and Liu Dewen also have a common wish, that is, that the tragedy of separation of relatives will not be repeated, and that future generations will not suffer from the turbulent life.

　　The two sides of the strait have not been completely reunified so far, which is a trauma left by history to the Chinese nation.

The story of Gao Binghan and Liu Dewen demonstrates the natural emotion and national identity of the two sides of the strait that blood is thicker than water, and the mutual assistance is expressed. It embodies great love, righteousness and general trend.

However, at present, some forces and people on the island of Taiwan have abandoned the idea of ​​blood relationship and family affection, have forgotten their ancestors, cut the cross-strait, restricted exchanges, and created opposition.

The reporter recently took a taxi in Taipei. Taxi drivers berated the DPP authorities all the way: "Our family has come to Taiwan from Quanzhou for several generations. My dad said that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family, so we should communicate well. Why do we do this now? ?"

　　The flesh and blood of the Chinese people on both sides of the strait and the love of their compatriots can not be changed. It can not only heal the pain of history, but also become a force to gather the common will to grasp the present and create the future.

The Taiwan issue arises from the weak and chaotic nation, and will surely be resolved with national rejuvenation.

This is the general trend of history, and it is also the hope of the same heart.

　　Taiwan Island, like a ship, carries the common destiny and pursuit of hundreds of millions of compatriots on both sides of the strait.

The years are full of joys and sorrows, and Taiwan will eventually return to sail, and the nation will eventually be reunited.