Far from the zoo of Taiwanese politics, in a rugged mountain village on China's poor southeastern coast, hundreds of people named Chen are watching the saga of a man who shares their name -- and their heritage.
President Chen Shui-bian (
Come Saturday, Xingdoulou's residents will watch their kinsman, whose family left town in the 1700s, face a tight race to win re-election. And they will hear the continuing scorn of China's leadership, which brands him a separatist who barters his people's security for political gain.
"Speaking purely as a relative, I hope he wins re-election," Chen Shuigun (
As he spoke, he sipped tea in the stone village hall.
"But," he added hurriedly, "I also hope he works for unification between China and Taiwan and leaves a great legacy for the Chen name in history."
The views of the 800 residents of Xingdoulou -- all named Chen -- show the enduring importance of clan links in China. They're also more nuanced than those of many Chinese, who are fed a steady stream of anti-Chen invective in the state-controlled media.
The villagers' attitudes are a twist on China's oft-repeated claim that Taiwan's cultural and historical links with China trump any political differences between them. The men and women of Xingdoulou show that may be true in ways the Beijing leaders don't expect.
Chen Shui-bian has never visited the ancient community that his ancestor, Chen Wu (
Yet clan loyalties remain important in this tradition-bound part of China, in the southern corner of Fujian Province about 1,800km south of Beijing. In the area's 13 villages, residents immediately acknowledge the link with the president, referring to him by his nickname ``A-bian.''
``We don't really have any opinion on his politics, but he's brought real glory to this place,'' said Chen Zhangyou, another Xingdoulou resident.
Most Taiwanese trace their ancestry to Fujian and Guangdong Province. Scores of Taiwanese, including Democratic Progressive Party politicians, have returned to worship at family shrines in the area.
Despite such ties, Chen Shuigun said he learned of the president's roots in the area only after Chen Shui-bian was elected president in 2000.
"We all hope that A-bian can come home here to visit sometime. Of course, I don't think that's likely as long as he's president," said Chen Shuigun, who gave his age as "over 60."
"But if he happens to lose the election," he added, "he is always welcome as a private citizen."
Xingdoulou villagers are Hakka. The area is poor, with villagers eking an annual income of about 2,000 yuan (US$250) a year out of their harvests of tea, plums, longan and other fruit trees growing along the scraggly ridges.
Chen Shuigun said he would be watching election coverage Saturday via the Hong Kong-based Phoenix satellite channel, picked up by a massive dish that sprouts incongruously from the roof of the village hall.
Over more cups of tea, Chen Shuigun, a small, trim man with slick black hair and a mouth full of gold and silver teeth, forgoes the opportunity to lay the blame for continuing tensions between Bei-jing and Taipei at his relative's feet.
"We know democracy is pretty complicated, and it's hard for everyone to pull together in the same direction," he said.
In the traditional round Hakka dwelling where Chen Shuigun lives and maintains the family shrine, freshly painted door couplets bear one of the few signs this place is special to relations between China and Taiwan.
"Revitalize China," says one. And another: "Hope for peace between the two sides."
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