Nearly seven hours after embarking on the high-speed train at Hong Kong station, we arrived at Zhengzhou, Henan Province in the afternoon on March 19.  Four brothers of us, and our aunt(姑姑 now at 84) too, came to visit our another aunt(姨媽 now at 85).  Two aunts were close friends when they were in their adolescene before 1949 at Shanghai.

My 姨媽 and my grandma came with my families to Hong Kong after 1949, but in that time my father, a KMT official with no specialities, was unable to gain a sustainable living in a highly commercialized place like HK for so many people.  Hence, my grandma and my 姨媽 returned to Shanghai; since then, we have separated decades until in the middle of 80s when my 姨媽 and an uncle came to Taiwan to visit us.  But her eldest sister, my mother, had passed away long ago.  If she and my grandma were able to survive in HK and later come to Taiwan with us, most likely my mother would not have died that young.  So to a great extent, my 姨媽, though she is only thirteen years older than I, is the incarnation of our late mother.

I am happy to see her lead a relatively decent life in Zhengzhou, the biggest city of Henan.  My two cousins hire a caregiver to tend to her, and repair to her place by their SUVs, which are much better than the car I have in Taiwan.  She must have experienced an eventful life in the past; otherwise, she would not settle down in Zhengzhou instead of Shanghai, the place she used to be familiar with.  It may not appropriate to describe her life, as well as China Mainland today, as an old saying goes: variety is the spice of life; but again, I am really happy for her and for China.