Chinese father reunited with kidnapped son after 24 years of search | Chinese News

After traveling 500,000 km across China on a motorcycle, Geo Gangtang finds his long-lost son in Henan province.

A Chinese man was reunited with his kidnapped son after a 24-year sweep on a motorcycle he saw traveling a million and a half kilometers across China, following suggestions about the boy’s possible location.

Guo Gangtang’s son was just two years and five months old when he was kidnapped in front of the family home in eastern Shandong province while he was playing without attending.

The traffickers caught the boy and sold him to a family in central China, the public safety ministry reported on Tuesday.

Kidnappings and child trafficking spread in China in the 1980s, when the draconian rule of the only child came into force, and a cultural obsession with children prompted the demand for kidnapped boys.

After years of searching, police on Sunday told Guori that a DNA test confirmed that a 26-year-old teacher living in central Henan province was a long-lost son.

Meeting

Guo is seen sobbing among the palms as his wife hugs Guo Zhen’s son during a reunion ceremony in a photo released by the public security ministry on Tuesday.

“Since the baby was found, everything can be happy from now on,” Guok said in tears in a video posted by the state’s China News Service.

After his son was kidnapped in 1997, then 27-year-old Guo quit his job and drove across the country on a motorbike, with large flags tied to his back with a photo of his son.

His 500,000-kilometer (310,000-mile) cruise — fighting highway robbers, sleeping under bridges, and begging for money — also inspired his 2014 Chinese blockbuster, Lost and Love.

Over the years, Guo has helped seven other families find lost children and has begun to raise awareness about child trafficking – which is still a taboo subject in China.

Guo told reporters that he had previously visited the city where his son grew up to help find the boy kidnapped by another father.

Arrests

Two suspects linked to the case have been arrested, the state told the Global Times. Police did not provide details about the family that bought Guore’s son.

A new high-profile reunion sparked an emotional outburst on social media with more than nine million views.

“Parents never give up on their children! Guo’s struggle shows the depth of his father’s love, ”one user wrote on Weibo, China’s social media platform.

Since the DNA database of the missing relatives was launched in 2016, police said they have helped more than 2,600 people kidnapped by children – some more than 60 years ago – find biological parents.