Heartfelt letters tell of hope of family reunions

Keeping posted

More letters were sent after postal communication between the two sides was allowed in 1988. Separated families were eager to inquire about the well-being of their relatives across the Strait, search for missing loved ones, and seek information on the procedures for returning home.

From April 1988 to August 1992, over 40,000 items of mail passed between the two sides on a daily basis, statistics show. However, these letters were scattered among people, and experts in Fujian have been calling for their urgent rescue and preservation.

The collation and research of these documents have been included in the 14th Five-Year Plan of Fujian from 2021 to 2025.

Last year, several provincial departments jointly issued a notice to collect them.

In 2020, the China Museum for Fujian-Taiwan Kinship, located in Quanzhou, southern Fujian, established a team to collect these family letters from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. They have so far gathered 3,200 letters. In May, the museum launched an exhibit showcasing the letters that has attracted a stream of visitors from both sides.

One envelope tells the story of a cross-Strait family reestablishing contact through the letters.

Li Lanfeng, a native of Nanping, Fujian, was separated from her family when she was young and later adopted and taken to Taiwan.

In her first letter to her younger brother in Fujian in 1988, she wrote, "It's not a dream, it's real, it's real!" From 1988 to 2001, she sent her brother one telegram and 14 family letters, recalling the process of her separation and expressing her longing to see her family.

However, due to the onset of Alzheimer's, her connection with her hometown was once again severed. Her son discovered the letters his mother had kept and dialed a phone number written on one envelope, and the broken family link was once again restored.

Zhang Xiao, a museum staff member recalled when Li's letters were donated. "It was very touching. Her relatives from Fujian said the letters were memories of their elder sister. We all cried," Zhang said.

Tu Zhiwei, deputy director of the Southern Fujian Culture Research Association, said through countless real stories of ordinary individuals, the letters document the intimate interactions between people on both sides of the Strait.

"They are precious historical documents that serve as powerful evidence of the familial bonds between the two sides, and bear witness that the two sides belong to one China," he said.

These family letters will help younger generations on both sides recognize their shared roots, encourage more communication, and connect the new generation in Taiwan with their ancestral homeland, he added.