Restored Photo Helps Chinese Woman, 93, 'Reunite' With Husband After 70 Years

A restored portrait has given Zhao Cuifen, 93, of Liuyang in central China's Hunan province, an emotional "reunion" with the young husband she lost to war more than 70 years ago, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

Zhao reportedly married Zhang Zhixin in the early 1950s. Not long after their wedding, Zhang enlisted in the Chinese People's Volunteer Army. He was among the troops who were rushed in as reinforcements when Kuomintang forces launched a major assault on Dongshan Island when Korean War armistice talks were deadlocked.

The battle was won by the PLA, but more than 1,200 soldiers were killed or wounded. According to the report, Zhang died in the battle at the age of 20. He had no children. The family didn't even have his photographs.

For a long time, Zhao kept a single, but as per Liuyang Daily, Zhang's parents arranged her marriage to Zhang's cousin. She went on to have five children.

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The report further mentioned how technology helped Zhao to see Zhang's picture. Volunteers from Nanjing University of Industry Technology, supported by Hunan authorities, recently worked on a project to record wartime memories from ageing families visited Zhao in Liuyang.

They drew portraits based on facial features, family memories, and historical records. According to the report, the team recreated the images of four Liuyang martyrs with the help of sketches and digital restoration.

They gave the portraits to the martyrs' families on June 24.

The families were left stunned, including Zhao, who broke down in tears when she saw her late husband as a young man.

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"From now on, Father Zhixin is no longer a cold name on a wall of heroes, but a flesh-and-blood relative we can see, honour, and remember," Zhao's second daughter told the local media.

The story was shared on social media, with one user reportedly writing, "The lives of martyrs may take up only a few lines in history books, but to their families, they were husbands and sons. War took them from this world, but not from the hearts of those who loved them."