The red shoes are the same pair seen in the photo where Peter is on the back of his mother Helen, who holds Peter's brother, Bruce, by her side. MINGMEI LI/CHINA DAILY

Following the war, Donald returned to China and continued teaching at Fukien Christian University in Fuzhou, where Peter was born. In 2004, at the age of 84, he made another trip to China to teach. Donald passed away in the US a year later, and in his will he expressed a wish for half of his ashes to be scattered in the Minjiang River.

"As I was growing up, we (Peter and his brother Bruce) would ask my father. My father had slides, and he put the projector on and put the slide up on the wall," Peter recalled. However, it was with Elyn that a deeper connection to the town emerged. Together, the couple began to gather "Friends of Kuliang", a group of individuals who shared similar family experiences to theirs.

Elyn and Peter crossed paths at Harvard University, where Elyn was studying religion but with a deep interest in China and Chinese culture, while Peter was majoring in East Asian studies.

As they found themselves in the same Chinese language class, working together on class assignments and school projects, Elyn gradually developed feelings for the "Chinese boy".

"You know, in our American way of thinking, wherever you're born and grow up, that's who you are. So he was Chinese! And I thought, oh, this is great," Elyn laughed and said. "When I was a child, all I wanted to do on a trip, you know, our family would take little trips, and all I wanted to do was go to Chinatown. I also want a Chinese baby. I don't know why, I was born to love China, an instinct."

Peter said with a smile, "Perhaps in a former lifetime, she was Chinese."