Couples tie knot across Straits (2)

Email|Print|Comments       twitter     facebook     Sina Microblog     reddit    

Some of the 35 women from Chongqing who have married men from Taiwan. Provided to China Daily

One-China policy

In the 1950s, the village was of immense strategic importance to the defense of the mainland in the event of an artillery attack by the Kuomintang, which fled to Taiwan in 1949 in the wake of their defeat in the Chinese civil war (1945-49). Indeed, in 1958 the village was almost reduced to rubble by a massive bombardment.

Hong Jiancai, a war hero and former militia leader, was worried that cross-Straits relations would become tense and fractious and have serious ramifications for his family. "If a war occurred someday, would my role as a former mainland soldier jeopardize my daughter's situation in Taiwan? A conflict would probably mean that I would never see my daughter again," he recalled.

When the two sides reached a consensus in 1992, in which both agreed to abide by the one-China policy, Hong Jiancai began to bank on peaceful relations and gave the green light for his daughter to marry Chen.

However, his wife, Jiang Meili, argued that cultural differences would make life in Kinmen hard for Hong Shuangfei. She was also concerned that she would lose contact with her daughter because of the difficulties experienced by mainlanders who wanted to travel to Taiwan.

"I allied with my father to convince my mother that things wouldn't be that bad," said Hong Shuangfei, adding she promised to visit her mother regularly, irrespective of the inconvenience.

"As it turned out, things were really not bad at all," she said.

The links between Weitou and Kinmen are deep; the forefathers of many Kinmen residents hailed from southern Fujian and so the language, food and culture are similar. "Even our god is the same. We all worship Mazu, the Chinese goddess of the sea," said Hong Shuangfei. However, she remembered that one of the few problems she encountered after relocating was that some people in Taiwan didn't understand the mainland very well.

"Many people came to check on me and were surprised that I actually looked nice. They thought people from the mainland were all hillbillies," she said, adding that she wanted to take them to the mainland to see the reality for themselves, but was discouraged by the travel difficulties.

Unlike Kinmen residents, who could travel to the mainland by sea as long as they owned a boat or fishing license and an ID card, people from Weitou had to apply for official approval before traveling.

If approval was forthcoming, prospective visitors had to travel to the coastal city of Xiamen, then fly to Hong Kong and transfer to another flight to Taipei before finally arriving at Kinmen. The seemingly straightforward journey usually lasted two days.

We Recommend

• Air Forces arrive at designated area to join China-Russia drill
  
• China’s weekly story (2013.7.27-8.2)
• Top 25 museums in the world in 2013
• National Geographic Traveler 2013 Photo Competition
• Autumn begins, not in terms of temperatures
• Photo story: Will Wulin gain its former fame