Chinese man abducted 32 years ago as toddler reunited with birth parents thanks to facial recognition tech

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A Chinese man who was kidnapped as a toddler 32 years ago was reunited with his biological parents during an emotional news conference Monday after police used facial recognition technology to track him down and confirm his identity, according to reports.

The man born Mao Yin was just 2 years old when he was abducted in 1988 outside a hotel entrance in the Chinese city of Xi'an, in Shaanxi province, the BBC reported.

He was walking home from a nursery with his father, who had stopped at the hotel to get his son a drink of water. Mao Zhenping said he took his eyes off his son just briefly before realizing he was gone.

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This photo taken on May 18, 2020 shows Mao Yin (C) speaking with his mother Li Jingzhi (L) and father Mao Zhenping (R) in Xian, in China's northern Shaanxi province. - A Chinese man who was kidnapped as a toddler 32 years ago has been reunited with his biological parents, after police used facial recognition technology to track him down. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The child’s mother, Li Jingzhi, then quit her job and began a decades-long search for her abducted son, which involved sending out more than 100,000 flyers and making television appearances, including one as recent as January 2020, in which she pleaded for his return, South China Morning Post reported. She followed 300 leads but none drew her closer to her son.

Through her work with the non-profit "Baby Come Home," she has helped reunite 29 families with their own missing children, The Guardian reported.

“I would like to thank the tens of thousands of people who helped us,” Li told Xinhua news agency. “I can’t believe that after helping 29 missing children find their families, I am able to find my own son.”

Police held a news conference Monday to reunite the couple with their son. Parents Mao Zhenping and Li Jingzhi sat on a stage before Mao Yin was called out. Their son then ran into his mother’s arms, China’s state-run outlet CCTV reported.

This photo taken on May 18, 2020 shows Mao Yin (R) reuniting with his mother Li Jingzhi (C) and father Mao Zhenping (L) in Xian, in China's northern Shaanxi province. - A Chinese man who was kidnapped as a toddler 32 years ago has been reunited with his biological parents, after police used facial recognition technology to track him down. (Photo by STR / AFP) / China OUT (Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The now 34-year-old man was raised by the name Gu Ningning some 380 miles away in the city of Mianyang, in the Sichuan province without ever realizing he was the subject of the decades-long search seen on TV. He said he planned to stay in Xi’an for a couple of days to spend time with his birth family.

“To be honest, I’m not quite sure about the future yet,” the son told Xinhua news agency.

Authorities now say the boy was sold to a childless couple by his abductors for 6,000 yuan (about $845 today). It remained unclear if the adoptive parents were aware of the kidnapping plot.

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It wasn’t until late April that police received a tip about a man in the Sichuan province who had purchased a child in the late 1980s from Xi’an. Investigators then used a photo of Mao Yin as a boy to create a simulated image of what he might look like as an adult.

Police then ran that image through a government database to check for matches, CCTV reported. They identified a man living in the city of Mianyang that posed a close resemblance. After tracking him down, investigators conducted a DNA test, which confirmed he was the kidnapped son.

Child abduction has been an ongoing problem in China for decades. Some kidnapped children are sold into the sex trade, forced into slave labor, or coerced into begging and panhandling. Others are exploited by orphanages looking for payouts from international adoptees or even domestic couples wanting a son to carry on the family name, The Guardian reported.

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Chinese authorities have used DNA tests to reunite some 6,300 kidnapped children with their biological parents during the last year alone. Though the Chinese government does not release child abduction figures, the U.S. State Department estimates some 20,000 kids are kidnapped in China a year, or about 400 a week, the BBC reported.