Respect to ancestors crosses Taiwan Straits

By Ma Lie (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-06 13:47

XI'AN: He was only one of 10,000 to pay their respects to the founder of the Chinese nation on Saturday, yet as honorary chairman of the Kuomintang, Lien Chan was the highest ranking official of the KMT in 60 years to attend the mourning ceremony of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor.

"People living across the Taiwan Straits share the same Chinese roots, the same ancestor. Nothing can, or should, separate them from each other. Blood is thicker than water," Lien said.

He led a 35-member delegation from Taiwan to join the ceremony at the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum on Qiaoshan Mountain in northwest China's Shaanxi province.

He was in Shaanxi for a four-day visit starting Thursday.

"The Tomb Sweeping Day is a time for Chinese to trace their origins and pay respects to their ancestors," Lien said.

On the other side of the Straits, Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou presided over a ceremony Friday paying respects to the Yellow Emperor at the Martyr's Shrine in Taipei, one day before the annual Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day.

The Yellow Emperor, often considered the common ancestor of the Chinese people, is believed to have reigned from 2,697 BC to 2,598 BC. He is recognized as having invented carts, boats, bows and arrows, among other things. Traditional Chinese medicine is attributed to him.

One of his imperial historians is believed to have created Chinese pictography. These landmark achievements were indispensable to the later success of China as one of the world's four great ancient civilizations.