All eyes were on a pair of old men in their 80s wearing
identical traditional blue silk coats and black broad-rimmed felt
hats as they arrived at Beijing's Honglingjin Park on Sunday.
Accompanied by their children and grandchildren, twin brothers
Chen Sicheng and Chen Siqian joined a crowd of around 600 pairs of
twins for the second China Twins Festival.
The event attracted siblings from across the country, with the
youngest pair, a mere two months old, arriving in a double
pushchair.
"One newspaper said the oldest known pair of twins were 86 years
of age, so we have come to challenge this," said Chen Sicheng, the
elder of the duo, who both live in Beijing. "Today we are exactly
88 years and 224 days old."
The festival offered twins an opportunity also to perform and
share their experiences, with many believing that there have forged
closer relationships than ordinary brothers and sisters.
"We two are just like one," said Hu Beining, the twin sister of
Hu Beilin, both 28. They attended the same kindergarten, middle
school and college, and even shared the same employer for three
years.
"We call each other every day," said Hu Beining. "Our longest
separation was for one month."
Zhang Bo, the 26-year-old twin brother of Zhang Wen, said:
"Twins have some special thoughts and ideas that others can't fully
understand."
The Zhangs, members of the
Hui ethnic group, hosted the festival's opening ceremony. They
both study at Beijing Film Academy.
"Sometimes we just communicate through whispers and eye
contact," Zhang Bo said.
Xiao Jin and Xiao Wei, 48, live in different cities, Beijing and
Zhengzhou, capital of central China's Henan
Province. They can attest to the fact that sometimes pets even
fail to distinguish between their twin owners.
Once, when Xiao Jin took a month-long business trip away from
her home in Beijing, her sister, Xiao Wei, took care of Xiao Jin's
Persian cat. To her amazement, the cat happily greeted Xiao Wei in
the usual way it greets its owner, Xiao Wei recalled.
But the Chen brothers have shared far more than most of the
twins.
The brothers both fought during the War of Resistance Against
Japanese Aggression, and have taken part in nine major events
commemorating the 60th anniversary of victory over Japan.
(China Daily October 4, 2005)