President Chen Shui-bian on July 1 joined the 320th birthday celebration of Chen Wu-gong, the first Chen ancestor who came to Taiwan from China.
"Why did our ancestors decide to leave China for Taiwan over 300 years ago?" The president asked. "It was not only Chen Wu-gong's personal choice, but also the collective decision made by most of the people at a time when plagues and natural disasters devastated the Fujian Province in the 20 years following 1700," he told other worshippers in the ritual. "Like the British immigrants who never returned to Britain after having lived in and identified with their new land in the United States, our ancestors, after they finally arrived ashore from the turmoil of their native land 300 years ago, conceived Taiwan as their new homeland, and since then had never returned to the place where they were originally from," he added, emphasizing that it was this precise spirit all the worshippers should be aware of.
After the traditional worshipping ritual, the president greeted those who also shared the "Chen" family root.