San Diego Union-Tribune

PARENTS, ABDUCTED SON REUNITED AFTER 24 YEARS

Father created charity to help find missing children

- BY FU TING Ting writes for The Associated Press.

After 24 years of heartache and searching, a Chinese couple was reunited with their son who was abducted as a toddler outside their front gate.

Guo Gangtang and his wife, Zhang Wenge, hugged their 26-year-old son with tears in their eyes Sunday at a reunion organized by police in their hometown of Liaocheng in the eastern province of Shandong, according to a video recording released by police.

The story of their reunion after Guo crisscross­ed China by motorcycle searching for his son and became an activist who helped police return other missing children to their parents prompted an outpouring of public sympathy and condemnati­on of abductions.

Guo Xinzhen, then 2 1⁄2, was grabbed by a woman and her boyfriend who took him northwest to Hebei province, which surrounds Beijing, the

Chinese capital, according to police. From there, he was sold to a couple in central China.

Abductions of children for sale are reported regularly in China, though how often it happens is unclear.

The problem is aggravated by restrictio­ns that until 2015 allowed most urban couples only one child. Boys are sold to couples who want a son to look after them in old age. Girls go to parents who want a servant or a bride for an only son.

Police experts found Guo Xinzhen in June by searching databases for images of people who looked like he might as an adult, according to a police ministry statement. His identity was confirmed by a DNA test.

The woman and her boyfriend, identified only by the surnames Tang and Hu, were caught and confessed to traffickin­g three boys, according to the ministry. They have yet to stand trial, but potential penalties range up to death.

Blood samples from Guo Xinzhen’s parents were added to an “anti-abduction DNA system,” but no matches were found with boys who were believed to have been abducted, the police ministry said.

Guo Xinzhen grew up in Henan province, according to police, but no other details of his life have been reported. It isn’t clear whether he knew he was abducted.

Guo Gangtang, now 51, started his search carrying a flag with his son’s photo and details, including “a scar on his left little toe.”

Guo wrote on his social media account that he wore out 10 motorcycle­s riding through 30 of China’s 34 provinces and regions.

Guo started a website in 2012 and a charity in 2014 to help other parents of abducted children, according to news reports.

“Thank you for participat­ing in anti-traffickin­g activities for 24 years and helping more than 100 children return home,” the police ministry said on its social media account.

Guo Xinzhen said he will stay in Henan but plans to visit his biological parents regularly, according to news reports.

“He is a great father,” Guo Xinzhen was quoted as saying to reporters. “I am proud of him.”

 ?? CCTV VIA AP VIDEO ?? Guo Gangtang (right) embraces his long-lost son, Guo Xinzhen, during a reunion after 24 years in Liaocheng, in Central China's Shandong province, on Sunday.
CCTV VIA AP VIDEO Guo Gangtang (right) embraces his long-lost son, Guo Xinzhen, during a reunion after 24 years in Liaocheng, in Central China's Shandong province, on Sunday.

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