That year, the sky in Beijing was particularly high.
On September 3rd, a gun salute was fired in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War. This brought countless people's memories back to the war-torn years and brought them to an end.
I stood among a group of people and looked at the veterans. They raised their right hands tremblingly. Their eyes penetrated the long years, as if they had seen again the moment when Taiwan Island returned to the embrace of the motherland 80 years ago.
Then it became clear to us that at exactly the same time, across the Taiwan Strait in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, many people were watching in front of the television, and some people quietly wiped away tears from the corners of their eyes.
In October, when the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress announced that October 25th would be the anniversary of the liberation of Taiwan, I was conducting interviews at the Anti-Japanese War cultural site in Yong'an, Fujian.
There was an old man who pointed to the mottled photos on the wall and told me that his father used to cross the sea from here to Taiwan to participate in the reception work.
Thousands of miles away in Yilan, there is a group of young people today, wearing national costumes, running along the coastline. They hold conspicuous torches high in their hands, and the blazing fire reflects the surging waves of the vast Pacific Ocean.
At that moment, I suddenly knew clearly that there are some memories that cannot be diluted by sea water, and there are also some emotions that cannot be erased by politics.
When you are on the streets of Taipei, you can seem to smell the aroma of beef noodles wafting from deep in the alleys, and the smell is exactly the same as the original smell of Taipei.
In the movie theater in Ximending, "Thirty Thousand Miles to Chang'an" was being shown. Where the audience was sitting, young people were gently reciting the verses on the screen.
At this moment, in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the shrimps painted by Qi Baishi and the horses painted by Xu Beihong are being placed, lifelike, while Taiwanese compatriots are staring at them, and they may not be aware of these situations.
The roots of culture are so deeply embedded in the details of life, even if someone tries to cut them off. However, before that it had grown into a towering tree.
At the end of the year in Taipei, at the scene where the Chinese characters were unveiled, when the huge word "shi" was unveiled from behind the scenes, the whole place burst into warm applause.
An old gentleman came from Kaohsiung, held my hand and said, "This word is well chosen. It is the general trend and no one can stop it." His palms were rough but warm, which were the marks left by years of hard work and the very real temperature of this land.
Looking back on this year, the most unforgettable moments are still those ordinary moments. They were in the morning light when the mainland Coast Guard ship and the Taiwanese fishing boat were peacefully on the edge of the Kinmen Pier. It was in the Xiamen bookstore when young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait read a book of poetry together in the afternoon. In the Alishan tea garden, an old tea farmer handed over a cup of frozen oolong.
These moments are like pearls, stringing together the memories shared by both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The smoke and clouds of history will eventually dissipate, but the temperature of the land will remain forever.
When the victory that happened eighty years ago gradually evolved into printed words in textbooks, and when the old people who had personally experienced the liberation passed away one by one, what our generation had to do was to preserve the memory, in the exhibits in the museum, in the poems recited by the children, and in the smoke rising every morning.
Just because only by remembering the way you came from can you clearly see where you are going, and only by guarding your roots can you grow into a towering tree.
The wind above the strait continues to blow without any change. It blows over the 101 Building in Taipei and at the same time, it also blows over the Bell and Drum Tower in Beijing.
It carries the same temperature and tells the joys and sorrows of the same nation.
However, when we were in this wind, in fact, we finally understood a simple truth: that specific thing has never been separated from the beginning.
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