"Crossing thousands of rivers and mountains, through the vast sea of people, I want to go home, I want to find my relatives." This is the voice of many family seekers.
According to historical data, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, many families in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai were unable to support their flesh and bones for various reasons. In order to allow their children to survive, these families were forced to abandon their children to Shanghai, Jiangyin, Hefei, Wuxi, Chongming, Suzhou and other places, and many of them were adopted by families in the north, and these children were called "orphans in Jiangnan".
A relatives-seeker told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that for so many years, the "Jiangnan orphans" living in Yangquan have experienced their own sour, sweet and bitter, some have been favored by adopted families, and some have experienced various hardships and tribulations. But no matter what, they all have a common wish, that is, in their lifetime, they hope to clarify their own origins, find their relatives, and find their "roots".
A few days ago, the Shanxi Evening News reporter interviewed several "Jiangnan orphans" who came to Yangquan in the mountain city, listened to their stories of searching for relatives, and truly felt their desire for "going home".
The "Dream of Going Home" of an Old Man with a Flower Armor
Yangquan has a special "Jiangnan orphan", she is already the year of Hua Jia. Ten years of searching for relatives, she has a new identity - the head of the Shanxi station of the Jiangyin Family Search Association, her name is Liang Suying.
Liang Suying learned from other people from a young age that she was brought back from Shanghai, but she did not know where she came from, who her surname was, and how many months and days her birthday was. She only vaguely remembers that when she was six years old, her uncle left her on a road in Shanghai, after which she was carried into the Shanghai Children's Welfare Institute. A few days later, an uncle took her away and then took her to Beitouling Village, Chakou Township, Pingding County, Yangquan City.
"I was afraid of hurting my adoptive parents' hearts, so I never had the idea of looking for relatives for most of my life." Then my adoptive parents died, and with the persuasion of my children, I embarked on a search for relatives in 2011. After that, Liang Suying went to Jiangnan several times, participated in family search activities, contacted the Shanghai Orphanage, checked the archives, posted on the search for relatives, and asked relevant personnel... She told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that on the road to find relatives, in the face of every family information, she read carefully, afraid of missing a little family information; in the face of unfamiliar faces, she carefully identified, afraid of missing an opportunity to recognize her relatives; in the face of yellowed paper that may be broken at the slightest touch, she carefully screened her information, afraid of which page was missed. However, after ten years of hard work, "going home" is still a bubble.
In the process of searching for relatives for many years, Liang Suying gradually learned that Yangquan has many people with similar experiences to her, most of them have low education level, and even some of them are illiterate, let alone online, which increases the difficulty of their search for relatives. The pain of these people's search for relatives is felt by Liang Suying. Therefore, while she is looking for relatives for herself, she also actively runs around for other "companions".
After retiring, Liang Suying not only built her own WeChat group and WeChat public account for family search, but also got to know some Shanghai family search volunteers, and also joined the family search volunteer association. She said: "In order to find my relatives, I went to Shanghai seven or eight times. So far, I have found the adoption information for hundreds of orphans, most of them know their birthdays, adoption times, and many people also know their original home addresses and real names. I also went to the Wuxi Orphanage, Changshu Old People's Home, Zhejiang Jiashan Police Station, Shanghai Bansongyuan Police Station, and found Teacher Qu, who had worked in the Shanghai Welfare Institute, where I found information about more than a hundred orphans. Now many people do not have to run to Shanghai, as long as they check here, they can find their household registration information. ”
Over the years, Liang Suying has spent time, energy and money, going south and north, running around, constantly looking for clues to the relatives of "Jiangnan orphans". "I'm 67 years old and I want to help everyone more when I'm still running. Helping others is helping myself, and maybe one day I will find my own family. My biggest wish now is to let more brothers enter our big family and help more orphans find their homes! Liang Suying choked up and said that when she saw the experience and encounters of "Jiangnan orphans", she often shed tears involuntarily.
After 60 years, the brothers in Yangquan shed tears of recognition
Not long ago, in a small hotel in Pingding County, a special fraternity party made all the people present excited and wept.
"Brother! I really can't dream that I can still find you in this life! The 65-year-old Wang Yinbao hugged his 67-year-old brother Zhang Fugui, and two lines of hot tears gushed out. After more than 60 years, this pair of brothers from Jiangnan finally recognized.
It turned out that Zhang Fugui and Wang Yinbao were both "orphans in Jiangnan", Zhang Fugui was a retired worker in an iron factory in Luxian County, and Wang Yinbao was a retired worker of Huayang Group. They didn't know each other before, but it was a DNA test report that let them know that the brother they had been looking for was nearby.
Zhang Fugui and Wang Yinbao, two brothers from Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province, whose real names were Jiang Wanyang and Jiang Wancai, were sent to the Shanghai Welfare Institute by their parents because they could not support them. After that, the brothers were sent to Yangquan at the same time, the older brother Jiang Wanyang was sent to a family surnamed Zhang Fugui in Lu County, named Zhang Fugui, and the younger brother Jiang Wancai was sent to the family of a wang surname, named Wang Yinbao.
Older brother Zhang Fugui told reporters: "I was two years older than my brother, and I was six years old at the time, so I still remember the river, bridge, brother and sister in my hometown." More than 30 years ago, I began to search for relatives, wrote letters to Shanghai Television, and also contacted the "Waiting for Me" program team, and the Jiangyin Public Security Bureau collected my blood information. It was only later that I was able to compare my brother's blood type successfully. ”
Younger brother Wang Yinbao told reporters that he had been searching for relatives for a long time without results, and just when he was discouraged and planned to give up, it was the good elder sister Liang Suying who helped him collect blood samples and released blood information. "She is particularly enthusiastic, although we are not related by blood, but we are all 'Jiangnan orphans', we feel very close." Without her, my brother and I might have missed it. Wang Yinbao said.
On November 5, 2021, Liang Suying accompanied Zhang Fugui and Wang Yinbao's brothers on the road back to Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, to visit their relatives. The brothers thought on the way, separated for so long, it is estimated that the family has long forgotten them. What they did not expect was that the moment they met their loved ones, the pre-assumed scene completely "collapsed", and they were facing the family's warm reception, "I saw my brother and sister, there was really no sense of strangeness, and I felt like I was back home!" Zhang Fugui told reporters. The brothers learned from their older brothers and sisters that they regretted it after their father sent them away, and they had gone to Shanghai to find them many times and had not found them. Knowing this situation, the "heart knot" that Zhang Fugui and Wang Yinbao had hidden in their hearts for many years also opened.
Zhang Fugui and Wang Yinbao brothers are now living happily, both have a son and a daughter, and after recognizing their relatives, the brothers often chat through video. Wang Yinbao said that he also rode a motorcycle to see his brother not long ago, "More relatives, of course, more worries!" ”
Wang Yinxiao told reporters that in the Shanghai Welfare Institute that year, his brother and his numbers were "368" and "369", respectively, "this number is auspicious, destined to meet." Although the brothers experienced many hardships on the road to find their relatives, in the year of Hua Jia, they fulfilled their "dream of going home", found their relatives, and found their own "roots".
Feel the sweet and sour together on the way to find your relatives
"Although we know that life can no longer be changed, although the way home is elusive, after half a century in the psychological state of hunger, complaint, touching, concern, and helplessness, we still hope to exchange 60 years or even a lifetime of misfortune for a moment of luck." More than 60 years of thoughts and tears, countless times of searching, we only hope that in our lifetime, we will see the home in the dream and see the relatives in the dream! Know where our roots are! This is the "wish" written by Liang Suying on the paper not long ago, which is painful to see.
Over the years, in addition to Yangquan, Liang Suying also went to Linfen, Changzhi, Jinzhong, Taiyuan and other places to help some family search objects improve the information on family search. "As soon as I have the opportunity, I send information to other websites, such as Nanjing TV, Baby Homecoming Network, China Family Search Network, etc. I also participated in family searches held in Suzhou, Jiangyin, Jiaxing, Chongming Island and other places..." Liang Suying said that over the years, whenever she saw her brothers and sisters get their adoption materials, she couldn't help but shed tears and laugh with them. On behalf of all the orphans attending the meeting, Liang Suying told his family on behalf of all the orphans attending the meeting on the scene of a family search program on Shanghai Education Television In 2018: "We only want to see the home in our dreams, we only want to see our relatives in our dreams, and we have nothing else to ask for." ”
At the recent "Jiangnan Hometown" friendship meeting, Liang Suying happily announced: "According to the DNA identification report, 64-year-old Li Haishu and his brother in Jiashan, Zhejiang Province, were successfully compared; Guo Yanhui, 64, was successfully compared with his brother Zou Zhigang in Jiashan, Zhejiang; guo Laxiang, 65, was successfully compared with his mother, 86, in Nanjing..." The scene was full of joy. Liang Suying told the Shanxi Evening News reporter that since 2014, she has successfully helped 27 family seekers find their relatives.
On October 3, 2021, Liang Suying accompanied Guo Laxiang, 65, of Yangquan, back to his hometown of Gaochun in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, to recognize his relatives. Liang Suying and Guo Laxiang met in 2015, and with her help, Guo Laxiang went to the Shanghai Welfare Institute to find adoption information. After DNA comparison, it was successfully compared with Yu Xuemei, the mother of Lishui and Feng in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province. It turned out that in 1960, in order to let her daughter Shen Shengfeng survive, Yu Xuemei arrived in Shanghai with her 4-year-old, hoping to meet well-wishers for adoption. Unexpectedly, the daughter was then sent to the Shanghai Welfare Institute, and then adopted to Yangquan, Shanxi, where her adoptive parents named her Guo Laxiang. After Yu Xuemei's living conditions improved, she went to Shanghai many times to look for her daughter, but it has been fruitless, and the mother and daughter have missed it, and the difference is 61 years.
On the way to recognize his relatives this time, Guo Laxiang told Liang Suying: "Sister Liang, you can rest assured, I will not cry!" Happy to see your family! Unexpectedly, at the moment of meeting with her 86-year-old mother and 94-year-old father, Guo Laxiang couldn't help but kneel down on her knees, and the family of three hugged and cried. Liang Suying said that in the face of family affection, people are the most vulnerable, and over the years she has accompanied these family seekers to feel the sour, sweet and bitter on the road to find relatives, crazy together, crying together, laughing together.
Long search for relatives, leisurely unrequited love. On January 13 this year, Liang Suying will "take off" and take Liu Haiping of Changzhi back to her hometown in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, to recognize her relatives. Another "orphan" is coming home! With the development of society, the distance between people is getting closer and closer, and the country is also implementing the "reunion plan", and there are many family-seeking volunteers like Liang Suying, who are helping those who seek relatives to complete their dreams of returning home. In the near future, this road to find relatives will surely become shorter and shorter, the pace of returning home will become faster and faster, and the dream of reunion will no longer be far away.
Shanxi Evening News reporter Wen Lifang
(Editor-in-charge: Wen Wen)