In my childhood/Homesickness was a small stamp/I was here, and my mother was over there/When I grew up/Homesickness was a small tomb/With me outside, and my mother inside/But now/Homesickness is a shallow strait/I am on this side, and the mainland is on the other.

This is a well-known poem written by Yu Guangzhong, a renowned writer from Taiwan. Entitled "Homesickness", the oft-quoted poem vividly depicts the flesh and blood relations between people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits. The shallow strait might separate the two sides politically, but it will never sever the cultural bond. Yan Yinan has more.

In his forties, Li Ming is a businessman from Taiwan who has been staying in Beijing for 14 years. Now operating a cultural company, he aims to promote mutual understanding and cultural exchanges between people across the straits. As he says, the traditional Chinese ethical philosophy is his favorite part of Chinese culture. He thinks it is invaluable to him in his work and life today. It is all attributed to the education he received in his childhood.

"During the 30 years I grew up in Taiwan, my education focused on Confucianism, as well as the many other contents in the traditional Chinese culture, including ethics and the philosophy. They continue to exert a great influence on me, by teaching me how to behave myself. I think this is a basic condition to succeed in one's career. There is no doubt that the essence of traditional Chinese culture will always be a guide for my life."

Li Ming says besides traditional Chinese culture, Chinese history and geography were also important elements of their school curriculum. That's why when he came to work on the mainland and traveled to many places around the country, he really felt at home among all the local scenes and folk customs.

Such feelings are shared by many people from Taiwan who are now working or studying on the mainland. 50-year-old Liu Guoji is one of them. Obtaining his Ph. D degree in China Renmin University based in Beijing, he is now working at an advertisement company in Changsha City, capital of south China's Hunan Province.

"We are quite familiar with the Chinese civilization of more than 5,000 years. The study of the Chinese geography gives us a clear idea about the provinces, the mountains, the rivers, and even the mineral resources in various places throughout the country. They are like the cultural memories kept in the minds of people from across the straits."

Having been working on the mainland for more than a decade, both Li Ming and Liu Guoji feel very accustomed to the life here. To them, the cultural difference between the mainland and Taiwan has been dwarfed by the cultural identity.

"Actually there is little difference in culture. It is natural and easy for people across the straits to communicate with and understand each other."

"We have to admit that the different political systems would cause some difference in people's minds, but even this gap is gradually narrowing. From the aspect of traditional and popular cultures, covering various fields in people's daily life, I think they are almost the same between people on both sides of the straits."

Liu Guoji says he has brought his two children to the mainland, sending them to study in mainland schools and receiving the same education with those children on the mainland. Although they felt a little bit inconvenienced due to the difference between the simplified and complex Chinese characters at first, they became accustomed to the study environment here in no time, and now his daughter can even speak the local dialect fluently and communicate well with the locals.

Unlike Liu Guoji, Li Ming didn't bring his son to study on the mainland. However, he would make use of the boy's winter or summer holidays to take him to travel around the country, giving the child a better and more direct understanding toward his motherland.

As businessmen from Taiwan, both of them believe with the rapid growth of the trade exchanges and economic cooperation across the straits, the cultural communication will also be enhanced, which would naturally lead to a closer cultural bond linking the two sides of the straits.

Editor: Catherine