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During World War II and the years following it, communism increasingly spread around the globe. One such place where this occurred was China. By 1946, the Nationalist party, led by Chiang Kai-shek, and the Communist party, led by Mao Zedong, were engulfed in a civil war. As the war progressed through 1949, Communist victory became more and more likely. As early as 1947, the Nationalist government, known as the Republic of China (ROC) Government, was considering Taiwan as a place they and their allies could retreat if they lost. In October 1949, Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China and the Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan.
"My family sits in the middle of that"
Veronica's paternal grandparents found themselves right in the middle of this history. They lived in Shanghai in mainland China with three young daughters and were not wealthy. Her paternal grandmother stayed at home with the children and her grandfather worked as a small business man. The family had ties to the Nationalist party prior to the civil war so, when the Nationalists lost, they, along with approximately 1.2 million people from China, made the difficult decision to retreat from the mainland to Taiwan. However, due to the chaos of the situation and the danger of the journey to Taiwan (they covertly escaped in the night), they decided to only bring one of their daughters, the oldest one, with them when they fled. The two other daughters, ages around three and one, stayed in mainland China with relatives. The plan was to return to the mainland within a year or send for their daughters. However, this never came to be because Communist China disengaged from the outside world, withdrew into itself, and imposed policies that did not make it possible for the family to regroup.
Nationalist forces board a ship bound for Taiwan.
"I don't think my grandparents on my Dad's side ever really felt like Taiwan was their home."
This immigration story was filled with sadness, loss, and grief. The parents were often filled with guilt for leaving behind two of their daughters. They regretted the choice to leave the girls behind and wished to reunite as a family. Although they were able to have some communication via letters and phone calls with their daughters back in the mainland, they were never able to feel that Taiwan was their home because of the distance between them and their daughters. Getting familiar with life in a new place was difficult too. Veronica's grandmother spoke only the dialect of her hometown, and her grandfather spoke Mandarin in addition to the dialect, making language a barrier in Taiwan, where they spoke Taiwanese. Additionally, as is often the case with newcomers, these new immigrants were looked down upon by the people who already lived there, in this case, the Taiwanese.
In 1956, about six or seven years after their immigration to Taiwan, they had a son: Veronica's father. He grew up in Taiwan with his older sister, always knowing that he had two other sisters but never getting the chance to meet them until he was an adult (in 1990). In Taiwan, he and his sister were able to get a good education and go to college. This was starkly different from their sisters' lives under the communist regime in mainland China. Those sisters were never able to be educated past elementary school and they spent their whole lives working in factories. Veronica's father also served for two years in the Taiwanese military, due to the compulsory military training.
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