From Taiwan to Youxi,
Coming across the mountains and seas,
What is the origin of couples on both sides of the strait?
Zeng Yunqing, Zhou Minghui and his wife
Walking into a small farmhouse courtyard in Houlou Village, Yangzhong Town, Youxi County, Zeng Yunqing and Zhou Minghui were busy watering flowers and weeding, tending to fruit trees, and a cat and a dog were playing in the grass, a happy scene.
62-year-old Zhou Minghui is from Yilan, Taiwan, and Zeng Yunqing, 52, is from Yangzhong Houlou. In 2014, Zhou Minghui settled in Youxi with Zeng Yunqing and lived for 10 years. During this period, the couple worked together to create a beautiful courtyard and carry out public welfare education activities, and their family was also awarded the "2022 Fujian Green Family".
Renovate a beautiful courtyard
In 1991, Zhou Minghui followed the tide of reform and opening up to Shenzhen to do business, and in 2013, he became acquainted with Zeng Yunqing because of the Internet.
At that time, she took me to visit Zhuzi Cultural Park, Jiufu Mountain and other scenic spots in Youxi, and gradually, I fell in love with this small city with beautiful mountains and waters. At that time, she was working as a music teacher at a school in Youxi City, and after we got married in 2014, we lived together in Youxi. Zhou Minghui said.
In 2016, with his love for his hometown, Zeng Yunqing applied to transfer his job to Yangzhong Town, where he could take care of his elderly parents and promote the development of local music education. In order to support his wife, Zhou Minghui moved from the city to live in Houlou Village with him.
On the basis of retaining the original ecology of the old house, Zeng Yunqing and his wife built a porch in the yard, built a tea pavilion, set up a fence, planted fruit trees such as star fruit and barley, as well as wisteria flowers, spider plants and other flowers and plants, and used bamboo plaques, old wooden tables, clay pots and cloth paintings to set up the scenery and strive to create a beautiful courtyard. Now, walking into the small courtyard, the lantern flowers on the vines are swaying in the wind, the red and hollyhock flowers are in full bloom, and the perfume lemon on the branches exudes a light fragrance.
In the small courtyard, they also hold small concerts from time to time, cook tea and invite relatives and friends to celebrate. With the growing popularity, it has attracted many tourists to check in and take pictures.
"In recent years, with the loss of population, the countryside has gradually fallen silent, and there is an urgent need to attract young people and tech-savvy talents to return to revitalize the countryside. Therefore, we wanted to use the creation of a beautiful courtyard as a window to slowly influence everyone to participate and rejuvenate the countryside. Zeng Yunqing said.
Carry out rural public welfare
While creating a beautiful courtyard and experiencing the comfortable life in the countryside, the couple also carried out public welfare activities such as donating money to education.
"When I was a child, I couldn't learn my favorite instrument due to poor family conditions. Nowadays, considering the limited music education and facilities in rural schools, we would like to donate musical instruments to help complete the aesthetic education curriculum for rural children. Zeng Yunqing said that music can nourish children's minds and is conducive to the development of memory and thinking.
Since 2021, the couple has donated pianos, guitars, African drums and other musical instruments to Houlou Primary School and Youxi No. 1 Middle School and Yangzhong Branch 4 times, with a total value of more than 200,000 yuan, and opened music classrooms for voluntary teaching.
At the same time, for the poor people in the village, the couple went to visit from time to time, and gave rice, flour, grain and oil, and love red envelopes. Last year, a student in Houlou Village was admitted to a key county high school, but due to his family's financial difficulties, he could not afford to pay for his schooling. After Zeng Yunqing learned about it, he mobilized relatives and friends to donate, and finally raised a fund for his child to go to school.
I look forward to the spring flowers blooming on both sides of the strait
In Zhou Minghui's eyes, Yilan, Taiwan is a very beautiful place, surrounded by mountains on three sides, facing the sea on one side, with delicacies from the mountains and seas, and hot springs. "When I miss my hometown, I cook Taiwanese dishes such as pineapple and bitter gourd chicken soup. Taiwanese cuisine often uses spice nine-story pagodas, and You Xi does not have this plant, so I grow it myself to retain the local flavor. Mr. Chou said he had not been back to Taiwan for seven years.
The Pingtan Strait Highway and Railway Bridge was fully put into use on December 26, 2020, which was a great surprise for the couple.
"We have been looking forward to the peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait at an early date, and then we can go to Taiwan along the Pingtan Strait Highway and Railway Bridge, by bullet train, or even by car." Zeng Yunqing said longingly.
"Take that bullet train to Taiwan, just in 2035, go and see the love song Alishan, and the magical Sun Moon Lake......" Zhou Minghui unconsciously hummed the song "2035 to Taiwan", and then, he waved his hands excitedly and said, "When the two sides of the strait are peacefully reunified, I will invite you to Taipei to eat hot pot, and then listen to the song "Come to Taipei to See the Rain in Winter" together. ”
"In January this year, I applied for a resident ID card, and I am now an official villager in Houlou Village. I would like to thank the motherland for its love and care for the Taiwan compatriots. During the chat, Zhou Minghui proudly displayed his People's Republic of China resident identity card.
In recent years, the couple has also actively participated in a series of activities such as Zhu Zi's birth anniversary, the Straits Forum, and the cross-strait ethnic groups working together for a common future.
"We want to be a matchmaker between the two sides of the strait, and we are planning to use music to establish a bridge of communication between Yangzhong and Yilan schools, and to realize the compatriots on both sides of the strait holding hands and realizing the Chinese dream together by building a sister friendship school between the two places." Zeng Yunqing said.
Source: Youxi County Rong Media Center (Xiao Dan, Lan Jingyun, Lin Jing, Wu Dewei)
New Media Editor: Chen Ying
First trial: Wang Fengrong
Re-examination: Huang Ranran
Final review: Chen Zengwei