Thanks to DNA tracing and a father’s devotion, one man in China was reunited with his son after 24 years. When Guo Gangtang’s son was just two, he was kidnapped by human traffickers outside of their home in the province of Shandong, China.
In 1997, when his son was taken, the suspects planned to kidnap and sell the child for money.
China’s Ministry of Public Security said the police were able to trace his son’s identity and find him through DNA testing. Global Times reported two suspects, who were dating at the time, planned to kidnap the child and sell him. The female suspect, named Tang, took Gangtang’s son while he was playing outside of his home. Then the son was sold in a neighboring province called Henan.
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On Sunday, the father and son were photographed embracing each other for the first time in 24 years. His son was found living in the same province where he was kidnapped more than two decades earlier.
The reunion was broadcast on Chinese state television CCTV, during which the mother could be heard crying, “My baby, you came back.”
“Now that the child has been found, everything can only be happy from now on,” Gangtang said during the reunion. “It is an important day for me.”
While searching for his son, Gangtang traveled over 310,000 miles on his motorbike. He spent years searching but also helping reunite other families in China, according to the Global Times.
Gangtang’s journey and dedication to finding his son were the inspiration behind the film “Lost and Love” starring Andy Lau and Jing Boran.
“I’d like to say to Brother Guo that I admire your persistence,” he said, according to the South China Morning Post.
“Only on the road, I felt I am a father,” he told the Shandong-based Qilu News in 2015 before the movie was released. “I have no reason to stop [searching]. And it’s impossible for me to stop.”
