Students turn out in force to welcome 'older brother'
Students lined the route of Kuomintang chairman Lien Chan's motorcade yesterday as it sped towards Peking University, while others poured into campus cafeterias to watch a broadcast of the Taiwanese opposition leader's address to the elite university.
Some onlookers staked their claims to positions along the route as early as 7.30am, two hours ahead of the speech.
As the KMT motorcade sped by, people waved, applauded and greeted the visitors, with some students yelling: 'Old brother Lien! Hello!'
One student scaled a tree to get a photo of the visiting politicians. 'Look at my great picture. I photographed Mr Lien's arm, that's great,' the student said.
'It's a precious historic moment.'
Others were waving banners in front of the lecture hall when Mr Lien arrived to give his address.
One group of first-year students used their banner to ask: 'Mr Lien Chan, how are you?' Another read: 'Old brother Lien, your actions are touching'.
Information technology student Liu Cheng skipped class with his teacher's permission to be at Peking University for the visit.
'We couldn't get tickets [to attend the address], but we had to be here, just to witness history,' Mr Liu said.
'We were nervous about what to write on the banner.
'We gave a lot of thought to whether we should put Chairman Lien or Mr Lien, but finally we decided to choose the intimate way by calling him 'Mr Lien'.'
In Putonghua, the word 'mister' (xian sheng) has an alternative meaning of 'teacher', suggesting obedience and respect. 'We wanted to convey respect from young students to a respectable father figure like him,' Mr Liu said.
Students in the canteens watched Mr Lien's address intently, clapping their approval throughout the speech.
'I was so thrilled to hear Mr Lien saying the two parties should step together for the peace and prosperity of all Chinese, I was tearful!' said PhD sociology student Amy Chan as she left the lecture hall.
English major Xu Sha said the speech reminded her of the saying 'blood is thicker than water'.
'We on the mainland have the same roots as the Taiwan people. We are a family, the old estrangement is bound to be broken as long as we step forward together,' Ms Xu said.
But students also said Mr Lien's speech did not offer a specific solution to the Taiwan issue.
Wang Jingxuan , a second-year student at the school of electronic engineering and computer science, said that as outgoing party chairman, Mr Lien was in too sensitive a position to give a direct proposal to solve a complex issue.
'But he pointed out that the mainland and Taiwanese sides should follow the good example set by West and East Germany. That's exciting enough,' Mr Wang said.
