Identity: Zhongshan Zhuang

In 1949, the Chinese civil war came to an end. The Liberation Army achieved a landslide victory. The defeated Nationalist government hurriedly retreated to Taiwan Island.

Tian Wang, a Nationalist Army officer rushed back home to gather up his family for the ordered relocation. His wife had just given birth to a baby girl, and in their delicate condition they could not travel. Wang promised he would make arrangements to promptly bring them to Taiwan once they got there, and reluctantly bade his beloved wife and newborn daughter goodbye, and departed with their toddler son. Wang’s home town fell to the Liberation Army quickly after.

For the next 40 years, silence fell between the Mainland and the Island. Wang and his son on the Island, tragically separated from his wife and daughter in the Mainland, across the narrow yet infinite width of the Taiwan Strait, longed with ever fading hope for reunion.

In 1989, the governments on the Mainland and the Island endorsed an open policy to allow people from Taiwan to visit Mainland China. Wang, however, as a career Nationalist officer, fell in the category of exceptions, and was prohibited by his authority from the cross-Strait visitation. With advancing age and failing health, Wang despaired hopelessly for never being able to see his wife and daughter again. In 1993, on his death bed, Wang asked his son to carry two items back to his wife.

Fulfilling his father’s wish, Wang's son took his family and the two items to China and located the whereabouts of his mother and sister. The two items he brought to his mother were Wang’s ashes and his old shirt, a Zhongshan-Zhuang. The Zhongshan-Zhuang was hand-sewn by Wang’s wife for Wang for their engagement a half century ago.

The old shirt, a Zhongshan-Zhuang, is a handsome male top garment design named after the pioneer revolutionary of modern China, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who was also known as Sun Zhong-Shan (1866-1925). It was the customary top garment worn by Dr. Sun and his revolutionary colleagues. During most of the 20th century, it was the most common wear for men in both Mainland China and Taiwan. Today, Chinese dignitaries continue to don the Zhongshan Zhuang in national ceremonial events. Zhongshan-Zhuang has come to be recognized as a distinctive symbol of Chinese identity in modern history.

Identity: Zhongshan Zhuang is a poignant story of one family, but it captures the tragic experience of diaspora shared by a great many Chinese during the past 100 years as a result of political and regime change. Despite the turmoil and tribulations through the ages, the Chinese culture, identity and hope for unification endured.

二十世紀四十年代末, 駐紮在中國東北的國民黨軍隊里有一位年青的軍官。他與妻子有一個一歲多的兒子和一個尚在襁褓中的女兒。一天, 軍官突然接到了部隊轉移的命令, 可女兒剛出生四天, 妻子無法跟隨丈夫一起走, 只好讓妻子帶著襁褓中的女兒暫時留在東北, 軍官只帶著一歲多的兒子隨部隊踏上了征程。他們萬萬沒有想到, 這一次的分離竟成永別。

中国内战结束, 國民黨撤退到台灣, 軍官與妻女分離, 各據一方。他們心中充滿了惆悵和無儘的思念。

四十多年后, 天空出現了曙光。大陸張臂歡迎海峽對岸同胞回大陸探親, 可丈夫當時因是軍職人員, 仍舊不能回大陸去。不久丈夫因年事已高且身患重病, 無法啟程去大陸與妻女團圓。臨終前, 他囑咐兒子為他做兩件事: 一是他逝后, 將其骨灰帶回老家安葬(意表他對中國故鄉的歸屬感); 另一是將當年他與妻子訂婚時妻子親手給他縫製的中山裝帶回大陸交給妻子(一則表示他對妻子深切的感情, 再則那是中國人的形像與榮譽)。

軍官去逝後, 兒子打聽到母親和妹妹的下落, 帶著自己的女兒踏上旅程, 回大陸找母親。經過家鄉田間的小路上, 他們終於走到了一間農舍小院的門前, 用手輕輕推開了院門……白髮蒼蒼的老母親在妹妹的攙扶下出現在他們的面前, 兒子步履蹣跚地走到母親面前, 跪倒在地。母親用顫抖的雙手捧起那件已經洗得發白的中山裝, 它顯得那樣的沉重。這件中山裝不單表達了軍官對家人的懷念, 也承載著軍官的中國心與民族情。它意味著中華兒女回顧歷史, 秉承時代使命, 團結力量, 共同振興中華, 這是長久以來全球華人的美好希望。