The central message of the poem, which was written decades ago, has not been diminished by the passing of time. Its verses still resonate with the heartache of those stranded by the ebb and flow of history.

"When I was young, my homesickness was a small stamp. I was here, my mother was there. After growing up, my homesickness was a narrow ticket. I was here, my bride was there.

"Later, my homesickness was a little tomb. I was outside, my mother was inside. And now, my homesickness is a shallow strait, I am here, the mainland is there."

The poem, Homesickness, (also translated as "nostalgia") was written in Taipei in 1971 by Taiwan's preeminent poet, Yu Kuang-chung, when Yu was 43. At the time, he had not been back to his hometown in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, for more than 20 years because of the tide of events after the Kuomintang was defeated by the Communist Party of China.

The poem is still popular with people from both sides of the Straits, but enhanced economic and people-to-people exchanges in recent years have put an end to any sense of isolation that previous generations suffered.

"We learned the poem in primary school, but I couldn't understand it then. Neither could most of my classmates because they had never been to the mainland before," said 25-year-old Alice Lin, who is now in Pingtan, the closest place on the Chinese mainland to Taiwan, where she runs a chain of bed-and-breakfast guesthouses.

Lin, whose father is a legislator in Taiwan, said she knew little about politics - either in the Chinese mainland or in Taiwan.

Many other young people in Taiwan have also expressed the opinion that they don't care too much about cross-Straits politics, even those that have businesses on the mainland. They have said they are confident the mainland's supportive policies toward Taiwan investors will not be changed.

A number of young Taiwan entrepreneurs have made their choice: They have come to the mainland to start up their own businesses amid the "mass entrepreneurship and innovation" campaign boosted by the central government, and they have also enjoyed policy benefits, including tax reductions and lower rent for housing.

When asked about their expectations from cross-Straits relations, the most frequent answer I got was, "No matter who takes office in Taiwan, developing ties with the mainland will be a must."

They may not be able to recite the poem Homesickness as fluently as their parents did, but their ties with the mainland are just as tight.

Contact the writer at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 05/16/2016 page5)