For 24 years, Guo Gangtang rode around China on a motorcycle with posters showing photos of his son, kidnapped when he was 2 years old
After 24 years of tireless searching, Guo Gangtang has just been reunited with his son. The Chinese Ministry of Public Security has confirmed that Guo Xinzhen is among those located as part of its ‘Reunion’ campaign, launched in late 2020 with the aim of finding missing children across the country. The Guo’s reunion is being celebrated across China, because the father has been touching the hearts of his compatriots for years. His story is literally worthy of a movie.
THE GANGTANG ODYSSEY
Guo Xinzhen was kidnapped by human traffickers when he was two years old. They took him away when he was playing alone outside his home in Shandong province, adjacent to Henan. It happened on September 21, 1997. The father responded to that blow with a promise: he would not rest until finding his son.
Guo Gangtang then began a tireless search that has taken him more than 500,000 kilometers on roads and highways. For more than two decades, the man has crisscrossed China with a motorcycle from which always hang two posters each showing a picture of his son.
By his own count, there have been «twenty provinces and ten motorcycles». Also several bone fractures in traffic accidents. But the man never despaired. «Only by hitting the road in search of my son did I feel like a father,» he once told Chinese media.
The Ministry of Public Security has explained that its police force was able to trace Xinzhen’s identity through DNA testing. It has also reported the arrest of two people suspected of kidnapping Xinzhen in 1997.
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According to the police account, the boy was abducted by a woman whom they have only identified by her surname, Tang. Authorities explain that the woman and her boyfriend immediately sold the child to a family in nearby Henan province.
Xinzhen still lives in Henan. The 26-year-old is a teacher.
«Now that they have found my son, everything will be ok from now on. I consider the couple who raised my son as my relatives.»- Guo Gangtang
A REUNION CELEBRATED NATIONWIDE
Guo Gangtang’s perseverance has long since attracted media attention in China. So did the empathy and respect of a citizenry sadly familiar with the problem of child abduction.
In 2015, the story of his quest even inspired a movie, Lost and Love , starring actor Andy Lau, one of Hong Kong’s most famous stars.
On Tuesday, national media outlets across the country echoed the Guo family’s touching reunion. On social media, related hashtags have been read hundreds of millions of times, with many people sending their best wishes to the family.
On Weibo, there are many messages of congratulations to the father, but also many calls for harsh punishment for the kidnappers. People also want a sequel to Lost and Love, that reflects the happy ending of Guo Gangtan’s epic.
AN ENTRENCHED PROBLEM
Child abduction has been a persistent social problem in China for decades. Disappearances number in the thousands every year. Fortunately, technologies such as DNA analysis and facial recognition have recently helped to solve many cases that have been stalled for years.
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The Reunion campaign, launched at the end of 2020, relies on a DNA database to reunite missing children with their families. The Guo’s reunion is not an isolated case. According to the Ministry of Public Security, 2,609 people who went missing as minors have been found under Reunion.
The finding of these minors – many now adults – has led to the arrest of 372 suspected kidnappers and traffickers.
