Charter flights grant wings to Chinese tourists´ cross-strait dreams

Source: Xinhua | 07-04-2008 16:57

By Xinhua Writers Bai Xu and Gui Tao

BEIJING, July 4 (Xinhua) -- For a retired teacher, the trip to Taiwan carried special significance.

Fan Qingju was in the first group of mainland tourists to set foot on Taiwan soil. It was her first chance to visit her brother after more than half a century, despite the fact that her southern Guangdong Province home was just a short way across the sea from Taiwan.

After the civil war (1945-1949), Fan's elder brother and sister-in-law went to Taiwan with the fleeing Nationalist Party ofChina (KMT).

"In the past, they came to visit us every two years," recalled the 66-year-old academic. "But recently, they are not in good physical condition. How we wish to visit them."

Fan was among 106 Guangdong residents, the first mainland tourists to start a 10-day trip to China's largest island.

At the beginning of the year she didn't tell her brother she had overheard that Taiwan might be open soon to mainland tourists and she had applied to the Guangzhilu (GZL) International Travel Service Ltd.

"If I couldn't go, they will surely be disappointed," she said.

When the agency called with the good news, Fan described her feeling "like winning a lottery." The delighted woman then went about buying gifts for the trip -- clothes for her brother and Olympic souvenirs for her nephew and niece.