Text/Photo Zhang Huiyuan
From the middle of the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century, affected by the war, many poor people in China at that time were forced to work as coolies in the world for their livelihood, mainly engaged in heavy physical labor such as mining and planting, relying on manual labor in exchange for a meager income to survive, many people were maimed and killed, and a few sent bones back to their hometowns for burial. The earliest places where Chinese appeared in Latin America were Cuba and Peru, and the number of Chinese in Cuba reached a maximum of 140,000, which was the largest Chinese settlement in Latin America at that time.
Now tell my story, I was born in a happy and well-off family, I have been loved by my elders since I was a child, my parents have given me a good education, my grandmother is still healthy at the age of 97, and my father has retired to share the world with my children and grandchildren at home, everything is very happy. However, every festive season, the fathers who think of their relatives and enjoy the joy of the world have always had an unfinished wish, perhaps also a knot that cannot be released, and at a family gathering, the father and uncle whispered: "If you can't find the tomb, go grab a handful of dirt and come back..." This is a painful memory, the fathers rarely mentioned, they have always hoped to find the bones of their father who are far away in Cuba.
Our Zhang family was originally from Xinhui Yaxi, Guangdong Province, when the family was poor, and in order to make a living, our grandfather Zhang Hualun crossed the ocean to Kamagüe, Cuba in 1950 to join his great-grandfather Zhang Kongzhen, who was engaged in business, and through hard work, he earned money to send back to his hometown to support his wife and children. When the Revolutionary War in Cuba broke out in 1953, it was difficult for my hometown to receive letters or remittances from my grandfather. Later, the villagers came back to tell them that their grandfather Zhang Hualun died of an acute illness in 1962. Fellow villager Zhang Chunyu helped bury his grandfather in the Havana Chinese Permanent Cemetery, which was later re-installed in the Havana Longgang Institute.
My father's three siblings have always wanted to find my grandfather's remains, and my father has been paying attention to Cuba through the news media to relieve the suffering of his relatives and to go to foreign affairs agencies to find a possibility to contact Cuba. In November 2015, my father obtained contact information from the Cuban Chinese Association, longgang office, Guanghua Newspaper and other contact information through the Xinhui Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Bureau and handed me over to me, but due to language and other reasons, I could not contact them.
In recent years, under the "Belt and Road" initiative, Jiangmen has begun to have economic and trade delegations visiting local Cuban overseas Chinese leaders, and we seem to see a glimmer of hope. In March 2019, by chance, my husband and I handed over the correspondence, photos and some fragmentary memory information kept by my father to a Chinese Cuban friend of my classmate Mr. Zhong to help find my grandfather's remains.
▲ The key evidence of Cuba's "search for relatives"
▲ A letter sent by great-grandfather Zhang Kongzhen to his aunt Zhang Lanfang in 1968
Look for the bones, because after nearly 60 years of personnel changes, everything has become uncertain. In October 2019, Mr. Zhong's friend Mr. Li in Havana, Cuba, received news that no record of his grandfather had been found. Havana is where my grandfather worked and died, and we remembered my grandfather's great-grandfather who had defected to Camageu when he first arrived in Cuba, so we told Mr. Lee the only remaining message of hope. Mr. Lee promised us to keep looking. On October 8, 2019, Mr. Li set off from Havana and took a 600-kilometer bumpy car to reach the original address of Kamagüe's great-grandfather in 9 hours, but unfortunately the old house had long been empty and the surrounding side was desolate. After successive visits and inquiries in the local area, Mr. Li finally ushered in hope, and he went to more than 100 kilometers to find our relatives in Cuba, my grandfather's half-brother - Uncle Ya. Uncle Ya's daughter began to exchange emails with me, and we were able to learn about some of my grandfather's living conditions in the later period in Cuba, as well as precious photos of my great-grandfather and grandfather in Cuba.
▲ Great-grandfather's original address in Camagüey
Reminiscing about his great-grandfather's past with his Cuban relatives
Mr. Lee returned to Havana and forwarded the information to another Of Mr. Zhong's Chinese friends, Ms. Mao. Ms. Mao contacted the relevant personnel of the Cuban government and spared no effort to check the tombstones one by one. In the early morning of October 14, 2019, good news came from Cuba that the remains of my grandfather had been found! The news came, excited! lament! In particular, the three elderly people of the father's generation have been looking for half a century, and finally their dreams have come true and found the bones of their grandfathers who have been cut off half a century later! After learning the news of his grandfather's remains, the elderly in the family were as happy as children, trying to remember the memories of their father.
▲ Cuban friends finally found their grandfather's ashes
▲ Conversations with Cuban friends
▲ Went to Cuba to pick up my grandfather "home"
▲ Find the basement where your grandfather's ashes are stored
We are all looking forward to my grandfather's return to his homeland and the roots of the fallen leaves, and in November 2019, my father, aunt and uncle set off for Cuba, successfully returning my grandfather's bones and returning to China, fulfilling a long-cherished wish of a lifetime. The distant years may be dusted, but the kindness and compassion of Chinese and the feelings of hometown have been inherited, and with the help of Zhong, Ms. Mao and Mr. Li, we have successfully realized our dreams.
▲ The three siblings of the father and father took a group photo of "looking for relatives" in Cuba
We know that the happy life of the present generation is the great efforts and sacrifices of generations of indomitable ancestors! Today's China is prosperous and strong, we live in this happy country, extremely proud, no matter where we go in the world, the strong motherland is our strong backing.
Operation | new media department of Rong Media Center in Xinhui District
January 14 Xinhui Overseas Chinese Daily