Liu De-wen operates at a sensitive space in Taiwan’s history, as Beijing demands reunification with the island
I
n the leafy back blocks of a military cemetery in northern Taiwan, Liu De-wen strides through a room holding rows and rows of shelves. He stops and stoops to the lowest row, opening a small, ornate gold door. He pulls out an urn, bundles it into his lap, and hugs it.
“Grandpa Lin, follow me closely,” Liu says. “I am bringing you back home to Fujian as you wished. Stay close.”
Inside the jade green urn are the ashes of Lin Ru Min, a former soldier who was 103 when he died in Taiwan, far from his home village in China’s Fujian province. Lin is among hundreds of people whose remains Liu, a 58-year-old Taiwanese man, has helped return to China over the past 23 years.
