A father who spent decades searching for his kidnapped son in China was finally reunited with him after 24 long years.
Guo Gangtang’s world was shattered in 1997 when his then 2½-year-old son, Guo Xinzhen, was abducted outside his home, according to theSouth China Morning Post.
And on Sunday, he finally got that moment.
After police tracked down Xinzhen and confirmed his identity through DNA, the now-26-year-old man was reunited with his parents for the first time in over two decades,BBC Newsreported.
“Now that the child has been found, everything can only be happy from now on,” Gangtang told reporters at the scene, according to BBC News.
“Today is very important for me,” he added on social media, per theMorning Post. “My kid has been found. The future is full of happiness. God treats us kindly.”
In the month following the kidnapping, Gangtang lost more than 40 pounds, going from 80kg (176 lbs.) to 60kg (132 lbs.), and had all of his hair turn white, according to the outlet.
He then vowed to do something with his devastation and set out to find his son, journeying across all mainland provinces and regions in China (except Tibet and Xinjiang) to pass out flyers and gain information, theMorning Postreported.
During this time, Gangtang was a victim of road accidents and bullying and even had to sleep under bridges when he ran out of money for hotels, according to the outlet.
He also wore out 10 different motorcycles — all of which had a large banner with his son’s photo and information attached. It was that photo of his son that ultimately prevented Gangtang from taking his own life at one point during his arduous journey.
“My son seemed to be saying to me, ‘Dad, Xiao Liu [the boy’s nickname] is accompanying you in the rainstorm,'” Gangtang said, per theMorning Post. “Many people say I am a great father. But I am not great at all. I am helpless. I just lack the courage to restart life after experiencing tremendous hardship. Therefore I kept on searching.”
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His relentless pursuit to find his son later inspired the 2015 film,Lost and Love, which starred Hong Kong actor Andy Lau, theMorning Postreported.
“Only on the road, I felt I am a father,” Gangtang told the Shandong-basedQilu Newsin 2015, per theMorning Post. “I have no reason to stop [searching]. And it’s impossible for me to stop.”
It wasn’t until this past June that police in Henan found Xinzhen and ran a blood test on him, later confirming him as Gangtang’s son, according to theMorning Post.
The couple took the boy to the province of Henan, where Hu sold him, per the outlet.
Tang, 45, was arrested last month while Hu, 56, was already in a Shanxi jail for a different crime when police connected him to the kidnapping and identified him as a suspect, according to theMorning Post.
The family who raised Xinzhen was believed to be “financially decent” and reportedly gave him “a university education,” Peng Sanyuan, the director ofLost and Love, told theChutian Metropolis Newsafter the reunion, per theMorning Post.
Lau also spoke out after Xinzhen reunited with his parents, whom he got to know while filming, and said he felt “happy and thrilled” for the family.
“I’d like to say to Brother Guo that I admire your persistence. I also want to salute the police authority for their years of efforts,” Lau said, before calling for public support of the police and their anti-abduction work, per theMorning Post.
source: people.com
