TAIPEI: Two lovers separated for more than six decades by the Chinese Civil War have wed. The groom 92-year-old Lee Fu-tang arrived for Sunday`s ceremony wearing a trim business suit to marry his bride Kuan Wen-ying, 85. Lee kissed a shy Kuan on the cheek during the ceremony. They vowed to keep each other company for the rest of their lives. The ceremony took place in the courtyard of Lee`s home in Yuanlin township in the central county of Changhua. After exchanging vows, the couple celebrated their union with a wedding banquet which also was held in the courtyard.

Lee and Kuan had been married long ago in their hometown in the northern province of Shandong. They were neighbors in their early years and played together as children. Their first wedding was arranged by their parents. It was a simple ceremony over a table at a small restaurant. The only wedding guests that day were their parents.

Three years later, Lee left his wife, his new born son and his boyhood home to fight the Japanese aggression as a soldier of the Nationalist army. Then, Lee says, silence came between them. The couple had no contact again until 1993 when Lee was able to contact Kuan and the couple`s only son. They began exchanging photos. Lee and Kuan were remarried by then. Hope of their ever seeing a reunion appeared dim. The years went by. Lee`s wife and Kuan`s husband passed on. Then, Lee traveled to Shandong in 2007, to bring Kuan to Taiwan to live with him.

The couple`s wedding was organized with the help of the Taichung city-based Hondao Senior Citizen`s Welfare Foundation. The foundation offered to help organize the wedding after hearing of Lee`s long-held hope that someday he and his wife could renew their wedding vows at "more formal wedding ceremony".