【Listening to the tide on both sides of the strait】
Author: Tu Zhiwei (Vice President of Fujian Minnan Culture Research Association, President of Zhangzhou Minnan Culture Research Association)
In Hokkien dialect, letters are called "batches". Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, a large number of Fujian-Taiwan letters have been produced between Fujian and Taiwan, which is a special product of the large-scale migration of Hokkien people to Taiwan. Some of the letters approved by Fujian and Taiwan are letters exchanged between relatives and friends in family affairs, some are vouchers for the "integration of bank and letter" with the function of remittance, and there are also correspondence exchanges covering the content of official documents. The letters of approval from Fujian and Taiwan since the Japanese occupation of Taiwan can also be called "letters from both sides of the strait."
The true stories of small people in the big era recorded in the Fujian and Taiwan approval letters outline the rheological pulse of the history of moving to Taiwan page by page. This is an important carrier carrying the common memory of compatriots on both sides of the strait, and it is the emotional support for Fujian and Taiwan compatriots to pour out their homesickness and homesickness. The protection and study of these documents that bear witness to the relations between Fujian and Taiwan and the family ties between the two sides of the strait will help people, especially young people in Taiwan, feel the national feelings of the blood ties between the two sides of the strait, so as to promote more interaction and exchanges.
The historical witness of "one family on both sides of the strait".
It can be divided into six stages: the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty, the middle of the Qing Dynasty, the late Qing Dynasty and the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the period before Taiwan's liberation to the founding of the People's Republic of China, the period of isolation between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and the opening up of the hometown to visit relatives in 1987. The Fujian-Taiwan approval letter is an important historical material for the study of the family history, the history of moving to Taiwan, and the folk customs of Fujian and Taiwan since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is an important Taiwan-related document.
The author has sorted out 3 batches of Chinese and Western documents and materials collected in Chinese and Western documents before and after Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan, dozens of letters of approval and related documents and materials of the people of Fujian and Taiwan, which truly record major historical events such as Zheng Chenggong's recovery of Taiwan, the care and love of the people of Fujian and Taiwan for their relatives and friends during the war, and the real life experience, feelings, and war experience of the people of southern Fujian after moving to Taiwan. There are also letters about the maritime trade between the merchants of Fujian and the Dutch, the correspondence between Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Chenggong and their families, foreigners and Qing court officials during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the correspondence between the main local officials of Fujian and the Spaniards and the Dutch during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It can be seen from the contents of a large number of letters approved by Fujian and Taiwan at various stages that the people of southern Fujian have started a family in Taiwan, multiplied and formed a clan, and have been successful in reclamation or trade, and have not forgotten their ancestral hometown, but have actively donated funds to participate in public welfare undertakings such as building ancestral temples, repairing genealogies, and building schools in their hometowns, thus forming close economic and cultural relations between Fujian and Taiwan. In 1930 and 1931, Chen Ding and his son, who settled in Taoyuan, Taiwan, successively sent letters of approval to their clan relatives in Longshan Town, Nanjing County, Zhangzhou, Fujian, eager to restore contact with their hometown clansmen and seek genealogy. The letter said: "After the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, because of the restrictions on returning to the mainland, [my father] often missed it, and when he was in his 60s, he still had secret correspondence with his ancestral family, and my father was very happy. "The genealogy of our ancestors, I hope that my nephew will ask someone to copy a copy, so that it can be passed on to the children and grandchildren to see, and I will send it to me." ”
These letters not only carry the misfortune of Taiwan's separation from the mainland, but also maintain the family ties between the two sides of the strait that are linked by life and death. There is flesh and blood affection in the family letter, and there is a deep desire for reunion between the two sides of the strait. In the 20 th century, during the years of isolation between the two sides of the strait, many letters from both sides of the strait were delivered through a third place, often in large envelopes with small envelopes, which were first sent from Taiwan to overseas Chinese, and then forwarded to their hometowns after the envelopes were replaced. There is a letter sent from Penghu to Dongshan County, Zhangzhou City, after 43 years of many times, many people relay their true feelings, many efforts to find relatives, and finally received by Dongshan's relatives, but the Taiwan compatriot who sent the letter has long since passed away. In the end, his ashes were transported back to his hometown for burial, fulfilling his last wish to return to his roots.
Rescue and protection efforts are speeding up
In recent years, people have paid more and more attention to the work of rescuing, protecting, collecting, and researching Taiwan-related documents and materials, such as a large number of Fujian-Taiwan letters and letters from families on both sides of the strait, which are scattered among the people.
According to an incomplete investigation, there are about 10,000 cross-strait family letters in Zhangzhou, which are at risk of loss or damage. In 2012, the Zhangzhou CPPCC began to carry out an investigation and collection of information on the collection of letters from Taiwan and Zhangzhou. Since 2018, Dongshan County has continued to carry out the collection of letters from families on both sides of the strait. Many national, provincial, and municipal people's congress deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Fujian suggested that Fujian collect Taiwan-related literature and materials, mainly from the two sides of the strait, such as family letters from both sides of the strait, mainly "Taiwan approval."
In November 2021, the Fujian Minnan Culture Research Association and the China Fujian-Taiwan Border Museum held a seminar on Fujian-Taiwan people-to-people exchanges and cross-strait family letters. In March 2022, the Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of Fujian Province, the Provincial Archives Bureau, the Provincial Federation of Taiwan Compatriots, and the Provincial Archives jointly issued an announcement to collect archival documents on "Memories of Relocation to Taiwan" at home and abroad. In July, the Fujian Provincial Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and other units held the 10th "Village of the Same Name, Heart to Heart" friendship activity in Xiamen City with the theme of "Writing the Same Ink", and held the "Common Home, Common Memory -- Archives and Documents Exhibition of Fujian-Taiwan Relations" to display a number of precious family letters from both sides of the strait, reproduce the true historical features of Fujian and Taiwan since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and deepen the correct understanding of the historical origins of Fujian and Taiwan among compatriots on both sides of the strait. At present, the collation and research of archival documents of "Memories of Relocation to Taiwan" have been included in the "14th Five-Year Plan" of Fujian Province.
The villagers of Xu's family, Yanta Village, Shancheng Town, Nanjing County, Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, collected more than 20 manuscripts of letters exchanged with relatives in Taiwan a hundred years ago. After the information appeared in the newspapers, in October 2012, Xu Yingyi, then 73 years old from Changhua County, Taiwan, led a group of 13 people from the clan in Taiwan to Yanta Village to recognize their relatives and worship their ancestors. This is the second time that the blood ties between the two sides of the strait have been rewritten after more than 90 years of interruption of the correspondence between relatives in the two places. In May 2022, when Fujian Province was soliciting these letters, the Xu clan in Taiwan replied: "Such a precious manuscript needs to be properly preserved and environmental. The authorities have taken great care to preserve the evidence of our blood recognition, so that our heirlooms have a permanent home. ”
Enhance the family affection and friendship of compatriots through activation and utilization
The two sides of the strait are close to each other, and the family letter is worth 10,000 dollars. Rescuing, protecting, and activating the use of historical materials such as Fujian-Taiwan approval letters, cross-strait family letters, etc., is conducive to enhancing the family and hometown friendship of compatriots on both sides of the strait, and promoting the construction of a demonstration zone for cross-strait integrated development. Next, we can continue to do the following work.
We will continue to intensify the collection of letters from Fujian and Taiwan and letters from families on both sides of the strait. Southern Fujian is an important ancestral hometown of Taiwan compatriots, and the family letters from both sides of the strait have a long duration and a large number, so they should focus on collecting them and do a good job for a long time; they can contact relevant Taiwan organizations to jointly carry out a two-way collection of family letters from Fujian and Taiwan to enhance the integrity of family letters from both sides of the strait; and continue to openly collect archival documents on the "memory of moving to Taiwan" at home and abroad, so as to increase the number of family letters collected on both sides of the strait.
Discover the touching cross-strait family story behind the Fujian and Taiwan letters. Through the Internet, we can search for the descendants of the Hokkien people and Hakka people who migrated to Taiwan in the early days, collect and record the touching stories and oral histories of the people who migrated to Taiwan and their family relatives and friends; hold the "Cross-Strait Family Book Fair" and hold roving exhibitions on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and promote integration with affection through audio-visual records and historical collections, so as to form a strong atmosphere of family relations on both sides of the strait and relatives between Fujian and Taiwan.
In-depth study of the value of letters from Fujian and Taiwan and letters from both sides of the strait. It can organize experts and scholars on both sides of the strait to carry out academic and non-governmental exchange activities, hold academic seminars and symposia in Fujian and Taiwan, establish a platform for sharing and exchanging digital resources of "families who moved to Taiwan" on both sides of the strait, and implement the project of displaying and tracing the history of Fujian and Taiwan, and actively apply for the national, Asia-Pacific and United Nations intangible cultural heritage and memory of the world registers, so as to activate the common memory of compatriots on both sides of the strait and deepen the integrated development of the two sides of the strait.
Guangming Daily (2024-04-09 12th edition)
Source: Guangming Net-Guangming Daily