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Family reunions on the Island of Kinmen
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MORE than half a century of family division ended in hugs and tears of joy on Tuesday after the first Chinese mainland ship to sail to Taiwan since 1949 arrived at the island of Kinmen.
The ferry named Gulangyu, carrying some 90 people, sailed in to a warm welcome from dragon dancers, bands and some 200 residents at Liaolo harbour after the two-hour voyage from Xiamen in China's southeastern province of Fujian.
Among the passengers were 76 mainland citizens born in Kinmen -- an island a few kilometres off China's southeastern coast and controlled by Taiwan authority -- who had been separated from their families since the civil war ended in 1949. They will tour scenic spots on Kinmen, pay respects to their ancestors at shrines and join relatives before returning on Friday.
The visitors, smiling broadly, were embraced by their relatives as firecrackers exploded to mark the occasion. Also welcoming the visitors were Kinmen magistrate Chen Shui-tsai and Teng Chen-chung, local official consulting for relations across the straits. Red banners reading "Welcome Kinmen compatriots living in Fujian returning for visit" flew on major streets in Kinmen and on a fortress guarded by soldiers.
Among the visitors was Li Mingfu, 80, a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, who was reunited with his 89-year-old sister Xu Liqin.
``I never thought I would see you again here,'' he said, tears streaming down his face as he embraced his sister who was too frail to walk.
"This is my first trip home," said another excited visitor Wang Jiahua, 69. Wang left the islet for Southeast Asia when he was just three years old with his parents in search of a better life. The family later moved to Fujian.
Hsu Nanlai said he went to Fujian at the age of 18 after World War II, seeking job opportunities. Now 73 he had only returned to Kinmen once in 1994 travelling via Hong Kong.
"By returning to this ancestral land, I fulfilled my parents' dreams," said 71-year-old Tsai Guochuan.
The Tsai family moved to Xiamen in 1937 when he was seven. He visited Kinmen in 1948 from Southeast Asia, where he had been living in Hong Kong and the Philippines, and had not set foot on his homeland since 1952 when he entered a university in Xiamen.
Reports have said some 4,000 Kinmen natives are now living in Fujian with 3,000 in Xiamen.
The ferry returned home later Tuesday carrying 138 Kinmen residents of the Lee clan, who were on a heritage-seeking, four-day visit to Fujian.
Taiwan had banned direct contacts across the strait until January when it opened the "three mini-links" of direct trade, transport and postal services between its outlying Kinmen and Matsu islets with selected Fujian ports. Two Taiwanese vessels made the pioneering voyage from Kinmen to Xiamen on January 2. Another ferry sailed directly from Matsu to Fujian's Fuzhou on the same day.(SD-Agencies)
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