For over sixty years, retired Taiwanese lieutenant-general Liu Jizheng has never stopped longing for a return to his original homeland.

Exhibits in the calligraphy and water painting exhibition.

"The Straits have been denied any form of connection for more than a "jiazi" (Chinese: 甲子, the equivalent of 60 years). That is just too long," said Liu.

"We are all descendants of the Yanhuang (Chinese: 炎黃, the symbolic forefathers of Chinese) and we are one family," the former lieutenant-general said. Liu joined nearly a hundred military retirees and painters in Guilin to participate in a calligraphy and water painting exhibition on Dec. 27.

As head of the delegation consisting of Taipei Whampoa Military Academy alumni, a historical school which Mr. Sun Yat-sen established in an effort to improve the unsmooth revolutionary course of his republican dream, Mr. Liu used the brush and ink to express his long since bottled up emotions of longing.

"The unification of both cross-Straits sides lies within the natural course of history. It is a goal shared by all Chinese," Mr. Liu said.

"To achieve this goal, the Chinese will first have to be strong and unite," he said.