Paying respects to their ancestors was the greatest wish of Liu Shiyao upon returning home. With the support of his younger sister, sister-in-law, three nephews and cousin, the elderly man arrived at his parents' gravesite, lighting three incense sticks. Liu stood for a long time in front of the stone stele inscribed with his parents' names. He wanted to kneel but his aged knees would not allow him to do so.
With the help of many people, Liu Shiyao stepped through the door of his house. The old house where he used to live still exists, though now it is unoccupied and filled with clutter.
Finally, he could return home for the Spring Festival. Two days ago, accompanied by volunteers, Liu arrived at Chiang Mai airport. To return home, the old man had to endure a long journey, flying from Chiang Mai to Kunming and then transferring to Nanning. This trip home was another long journey for the veteran soldier Liu Shiyao after 72 years.
An unexpected incident occurred during boarding. As the old man thought that when one grows old, they no longer travel much, he never applied for a Thai ID card and continued to hold a refugee certificate until today. When leaving Thailand from Chiang Mai, he encountered problems and could not pass customs for a while. Fortunately, with the coordination of the Chinese Consulate General in Thailand, this longest journey home was finally realized.
At his parents' gravesite, Liu offered three incense sticks that were decades overdue. His aged knees could no longer kneel on the ground, and his family thought he had already died for his country, establishing a small tomb for him 67 years ago.
At 4 PM, the veteran finally returned home. The lively lion dance and thunderous firecrackers made the scene like a triumphant return after winning a war. Another veteran from the Old City Village also came to welcome Liu. He was a student of the 16th class of the Whampoa Military Academy and yesterday at the scene, he sang anti-Japanese songs for the young people.
Due to his advanced age, Liu underwent a health check-up as required before departure. The results showed that the elderly man was very robust, and he did not need to use a wheelchair throughout the journey. When having blood drawn, his fists were tightly clenched. Seeing this scene, the volunteers present were deeply moved.
The most difficult journey home began from the departure from Nanning airport, which took three hours by car.
What surprised the villagers of Old City most was that Liu Shiyao could still speak fluent Cantonese. During the Anti-Japanese War, everyone in Old City Village spoke Cantonese, but later fewer and fewer people spoke it. Now, six elders in the village who could speak Cantonese have passed away successively.
To fulfill the dream of the elderly man's return home, through the joint efforts of various parties, especially the strong support of the Chiang Mai Consulate, Chinese and Thai volunteers joined hands in love. In August 2011, they finally found relatives in his hometown and obtained a certificate for Liu's return to China. His hometown is located in Jiucheng Village, Dongmen Town, Fusui County, Guangxi (formerly Suilu County, Nanning, Guangxi).
A Guangxi traveler discovered the veteran in the Golden Triangle.
Liu's 90-year-old sister, who was in Ganzhou, Jiangxi in 2011, stood at the center of the welcoming crowd under the support of many people. After standing for a long time, someone persuaded her to rest inside, but she insisted on staying.
Volunteers accompanying Liu back home said what moved them most was the elder's deep affection for his hometown. Liu did not eat Thai food but drank plain porridge; the second day for breakfast, everyone ate Thai noodles, but Liu refused and wanted dumplings instead. Finally, when everyone invited Liu to drink coffee, he insisted on drinking tea.
In Jiucheng Village, Liu's fellow villagers were busy preparing a feast and fireworks early in the morning, welcoming the wandering son back like a great hero. At the entrance of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Jiucheng Village, the villagers specially wrote a couplet for Liu: "Young men far away fight a hundred battles in foreign lands, armor shattered; In old age, they return to their homeland, remembering the fragrance of osmanthus." The horizontal scroll reads "Veterans Returning Home."
Not far from Liu's parents' grave, there was an inconspicuous small tomb, which was Liu's tomb. Originally, Liu's family thought he had already sacrificed himself for the country and could not return, so they built a small tomb for him, which has been there for 67 years.
At noon yesterday, the old man finally arrived at Nanning Airport. The moment he walked out of the airport, seeing the flowers and red carpet specially prepared for him, Liu could not help but shed tears.
Reported by Cheng Ji of the Evening News
The most touching moment was certainly the reunion of brother and sister. "This is your sister, this is your sister-in-law," following everyone's gestures, Liu saw his 90-year-old sister. Although he could no longer remember her appearance, the two elderly people's hands were still tightly held together. Blood is thicker than water, moving many people present to tears.
Liu Shiyao enlisted in 1939, originally a soldier in the 82nd Mortar Company of the Provisional 55th Brigade of the 6th Army. In 1941, he went to Burma to fight against Japan, and after being scattered, he was assigned to the 93rd Division’s Defense Artillery Camp stationed in Chaili Fo Hai. After the victory in the Anti-Japanese War, he lived in the border areas between China, Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. He is currently stranded in the Measua area of Thailand, holding a refugee certificate issued by the Thai government, stateless. His wife is Burmese, married for nearly 60 years. Although Liu left home 72 years ago, he can still speak Cantonese and never expected to have the opportunity to return to his hometown.
The reason why the 94-year-old veteran Liu Shiyao could return home was due to a chance encounter. More than two years ago, a Guangxi friend traveling in the Golden Triangle met Liu. Knowing that Liu fought against Japan for five years, stayed in Vietnam for three years, and then fled to the Golden Triangle, every nightfall, the old man sat alone at his doorstep gazing into the distance. When parting, the old man wrote down his home address, shaking his head as he wrote, "Can't find it, can't find it." At the time, Zhou Jian, who discovered Liu, noticed that the house he lived in and the food he ate were still built and flavored according to the style of his hometown.
Facing the ancestral graves, he wanted to kneel but couldn't bring himself to do so.
Liu Shiyao's family now lives in poverty. All three of his nephews' families are among the poorest in the village, living in debt, but to welcome their uncle home, they borrowed money to prepare a sumptuous family banquet.
Seeing this scene, Sun Chunlong, the initiator of the "Veteran Returns Home" activity, recalled a poem by Lung Ying-tai: "When he is old, he can return home, the mountains and rivers remain, spring stays the same, only the graves of his parents are hidden deep in the grass, and his old, stiff knees cannot kneel."
"Departing young and returning old, the accent remains unchanged, but the hair has grown thin." Yesterday, after 72 years away from home, the anti-Japanese war veteran Liu Shiyao, after several transfers from Chiang Mai, Thailand, Kunming to Nanning, finally returned to his old home in Jiucheng Village, Dongmen Town, Fusui County, Guangxi. Waiting for the 94-year-old man at home was his 90-year-old sister.