Completion nears on quest to retrace ancestral roots

At a time of heightened political friction across the Taiwan Strait, a monumental four-year grassroots project to bridge the lineage of 100,000 divided clan members is nearing completion in a small village in Fujian province — counting Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's own family among its historical branches.

In Xintian village of Pinghe, Fujian, the historical point of departure for generations of Chinese mainlanders moving to Taiwan, an eight-volume, co-compiled genealogy book will be unveiled this October.