It was in 1997 that two-year-old Guo Xinzhen sat out in the garden and played. The mother went in to get something, and when she came out again, the son had disappeared without a trace.
The boy’s father, Guo Gangtang, took a picture of his son with him and set out on a 500,000-kilometer drive in search of the two-year-old. During the trip, he visited 20 Chinese provinces, was involved in a motorcycle accident and was attacked by highway robbers, and at the end of the road he realized that he would probably never see his son again.
Guo Gangtang took this picture of his two-year-old son with him and set out on an enormous journey in search of the boy. 24 years later he was found. The photo was shared by Henan police. Photo: Henan Police
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Became a big movie
Guo’s journey through China in search of the boy touched many, and in 2015 came the feature film “Lost and Love” about the family history with the Chinese superstar Andy Lau in the lead role as Guo Gangtang. By then, the son had still disappeared without a trace.
“I admire Guo’s boldness,” the actor told the newspaper South China Moring Post.
The son is one of several thousand children who fall victim to human trafficking in China every year. Most are never found again. Guo Gangtang chose to dedicate his time to families experiencing the same thing, and has through an aid organization helped seven families find their missing children.
24 years later
In recent years, China has stepped up the use of DNA and genetic research as tools to solve the country’s many disappearance mysteries. According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, it was during an investigation that the police got hits. They acted against an address where they found 26-year-old Guo Xinzhen. At the same time, the police arrested two people.
During the 24 years Guo has been missing, the case has become one of the country’s biggest disappearance mysteries, and the cameras were invited when the parents were to be reunited with their son.
(The case continues below the picture)
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Here, the parents are reunited with 26-year-old Guo Xinzhen, 24 years after he disappeared from the family’s garden. Foto: China Daily/Reuters/NTB
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“My boy, you’re back!” Guo’s mother is said to have said as she threw herself around her son’s neck. The parents never managed to give up hope that Guo would one day return home.
– Now that our child has finally been found, life is smiling again, a tearful Guo Gangtang told the reporters who had turned up, writes BBC.
Two people, a man and a woman, have been arrested in connection with the case, where one of them admits to having abducted two-year-old Guo from the garden in 1997. The woman is said to have explained that she spotted the boy playing in the garden and took the chance as soon as he was alone. She took the two-year-old with her to a nearby bus stop where her partner was waiting for her. The couple took the boy to the neighboring province of Henan and sold him. This is how he allegedly ended up in the system and was adopted into a family in Henan, the same area where he was recently found safe and sound 24 years later.
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